@ OP:
I was in the same situation, I started my Computer Science course in Oct 2004, failed 3 out of 10 of my exams (badly, like, one was 5% which I walked out on after 10mins) due to simply not caring about anything and not going to any lectures or doing hardly any coursework, and I wasn't allowed to resit them in September 05 due to my failing by such a big margin, so I had to wait until the next year to take all my first year exams again. In the meantime I found a job at Atkins, and when exam time arrived I managed to scrape all my resits (got 41% average, needed 40%).
So in Oct 2006, there I was doing my 2nd year, and basically history repeated itself. I went to literally no lectures, did the bare minimum coursework to avoid being kicked out, and ended up failing the year again. Only this time I was able to resit exams on September 07, but ended up failing one of them again anyway, meaning, once again, I had to wait until the following year to take all my 2nd year exams again, which I eventually passed.
Fast forward to today, I'm now in my final year at uni (I enrolled on 2004, and its now 2009!
), just about to finish my "3 year" BEng degree in Computer Science, and I must say, this year has been by far the most fun out of my whole university experience (apart from the getting wasted with mates part
), and with luck I'll be graduating with a 2:1, so I am very glad I made the decision to stick with it rather than drop out after 3 years of failing and resitting etc, it was a hard decision to make at the time; the sort of decision I see you are kinda trying to make now.
What you probably don't realise at your current stage is that you probably think that next year will just be the same crap again and you won't feel interested or motivated as you will have nothing to look forward to. But I can assure you that your final year is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting and sticking with it this year to get there will be the best decision you've ever made.
Here's what you should do:
- Using your router, block all URLs with "forum", "news", "reddit", "blog", "facebook", "digg", etc, so you cannot access them. Ask your housemate/parents/etc to change the password on the router and not tell you what it is until after you've finished
- Disable/Uninstall any games you have on your drive, including crap like solitaire etc.
Get out a blank notepad, or exercise book etc, and just skim through your lecture handouts (if you were given them or if you can obtain them), and start highlighting parts you think are relevant, and have a casual read through past exam papers to get an idea of what level of detail you need to learn things, and start making a short list of important topics you need to know. If you find yourself "phasing out" when reading and your mind just wanders distracted (which happened for me
ALL THE TIME), try moving to a different room or go have a cup of coffee. Afterwards, just go through trying to learn each of these topics, crossing them off from your list as you go. Or if you find that simply reading isn't enough, start trying to make a compact version of the notes in your notepad, and the knowledge will stick better. Or better yet: just try answering the past papers, and try going through tutorial questions and reading the solutions if they are available.
You'll find that once you start learning things and getting those "oooooohhh!" moments you'll be able to more easily get into the routine of revising. Without doubt though, the hardest
hardest part is actually getting started.
As for coursework, I think the initial thought of the amount of work that needs to be done can be quite daunting and puts you off getting started. You think "ughh... I don't know where to begin... screw it, I'll worry about it later... right after I've checked GD on OcUK forums..." You just need to tell yourself you need to do it RIGHT NOW. Not in 2 minutes, not in 10 minutes, not in 30 mins, not tomorrow, but NOW, like this
very second. You know you have it in you and it is just a question of motivation.
tl;dr
I was in nearly exactly the same position as you 2 years ago. I decided to stick with it and it was the best decision I ever made. Your final year will be a lot more fun than you anticipate so it is worth it. Stop wasting time, and just start doing your work. And I mean right now.
This second. Not after you go fetch a snack, or check your emails or check reddit/forums etc. Do it
NOW 
. Perhaps I should have turned my bed upside-down....
