Am I stupid?

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I have issues wherever I go, I have no idea why it is the case. For instance, I have been taking driving lectures but my brain simply does not process the damn information. What happens is I am inside the car making 5 mistakes every minute, not even an exaggeration, I can not even learn how to drive a manual car. I have taken 3 lectures right now, still repeating the same mistakes.

Before I dropped out university, I did also have problems with auditory processing. The programming lectures were harder than the damn physics lectures. Even mathematics was easier than programming, because my brain simply refused to process that information. Yesterday I tried doing some programming for fun but it never made any sense, being able to "translate" a word with the help of programming is just way being my abilities.

Am I stupid or what? If I am stupid I probably would not be interested in physics in the first place...

How come some information is very easy to process yet anything else is incredibly difficult, especially when taught auditory?

I am 19 years old right and will be 20 when attending university (dropped out first year, gonna return) but I do not feel confident enough, feels like I am going to fail because of how inadequate I am. What to do? I am going to study physics again, this time in another city.

Last edited by Quantum on 17 Mar 2017, 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

Nope. You are not stupid.

I am not stupid---and I can't drive a manual transmission car. Only automatic. Are there many automatic transmission cars in Sweden?

Your "problem" might be that your mind cannot process things which do not interest you. You can only focus upon what does interest you. I sort of have the same problem--but, over the years, I've learned to compensate and to "force myself" to think and study about things which doesn't hold my interest.

I did take one automatic driving lecture by accident, my parents got angry and told me to change it to manual. I do not feel like changing back to automatic as I have spent above 100$ on it.

There are different ways of absorbing information. For instance, Temple Grandin learned best via pictures, rather than via words or numbers. An excellent tutor will study his students to determine the best way of teaching them the subject material. He may even realized impediments to learning, such as furniture that is too big tor the small student to learn on.

What is the percentage of automatic cars in Sweden vs. manual cars? If it's like 70% automatic, I would emphasize automatic. I understand you folks spent probably thousands of Krona (or however it's spelled) on it.

in the US, the vast majority of cars, these days are automatic transmission.

In the UK, though, I believe manual transmission still predominates.

I've actually done "personal surveys" on that---keeping in mind that people get paranoid when you look into peoples' cars LOL

If by programming you mean computer programming, it could be that it's not your fortè, or it could be that you just need more time before it 'clicks' for you. My experience is that roughly one in ten educators are competent in that field, and for some people it just takes a lot of time and hard work to understand the fundamentals.

Don't give up if it's something you think is worthwhile. It may take you longer than you expected, but pretty much everyone who can read and write can pick it up given enough time and the right learning resources. I've heard it said that a physicist can turn their mind to any subject. If you're capable of succeeding in Physics, you're almost certainly capable of at least passing everything else the degree requires you to cover.

Yeah I know, my way of learning usually goes like this:

1: Read the material carefully whilst writing it down.
2: Apply the knowledge, whether that is by experimentation or self-testing.
3: Re-read the material.
4: Do practical problems (experiments, problem solving etc...).
5: Done, if still hard just read the notes.

Unfortunately, my way of learning is not that flexible, it takes time. Not compatible with modern day society in my opinion.

The amount of automatic cars in Sweden is about 51.4%, so it is even. Not sure if that source is credible enough, just took it out straight out of Google.

Hands on learning via experimentation is a lot more practical now than when I was a kid. The cost of test equipment for doing experimentation is as cheap as it has ever been if you don't mind buying cheap stuff made in China. And the selection of cheap stuff you can buy online is simply amazing. So is the variety of learning material on the Internet.

This is my opinion: you should learn to drive automatic before you learn to drive manual.

If automatics are available, it doesn't make sense to learn only on a manual transmission car.

This is especially so with us autistic people.

This is exactly how I learn. I can't pay attention if I'm not interested. But I thought that was "normal".

Should I go for physics? I just feel too inadequate. I have no problems with physics and mathematics, programming however is similiar to learning a completely new language. It is quite difficult for me to solve problems in programming.

It can be hard to study if you don't see the relevance of what you are doing.

The more typical approach in the real world is to have a problem and to learn new things to fix it. Maybe you could come up with something you would like as an application and design it for yourself?

I have a relative who learned to drive a manual transmission car. She recommends people to definitely learn to drive the automatic transmission car, if they can help it. Just because manual cars are so much more complicated for everybody.

That varies by country. Here, it'd be harder. You probably wouldn't be able to practise in a parent's car because if they have one it'd most likely be manual, which means you'd need more driving lessons. These are harder to find and more expensive than for manuals. And after you pass your test, you don't even get a full licence. That means you're limited to just automatic cars, which again are harder to find and more expensive. Unless you really can't manage manual it makes sense to learn manual. That way you're not limited since you can always get an automatic car if you learnt manual.

I don't know how it is in Sweden though.

I'm assuming you're from the UK as well? If so, I totally agree. I know this isn't really suitable for the OP and it's getting away from the point of the post, but in the UK an 'Automatic' license allows you to only drive vehicles with an automatic transmission, whereas a regular 'full' license allows you to drive both manual and automatics. Leaning to drive a manual if you can already drive an auto is really simple: you just need to wrap your 'clutch' foot behind your 'brake/accelerator' foot until you get used to not using it. I've had a one automatic (I've owned 10+ manuals and driven a lot more) and although I personally don't like them (those transmissions don't really like Cornish hills) they were easy enough to drive.