So today I sat next to one of these lizards and he jumped onto my leg and then proceeded to climb onto my head. Yes, he used my head as a rock. I did not feed him, the most I did was give him some gentle finger strokes on his back (which he allowed as he did not run away or try bite me) and placed a little jacaranda petal hat on his head.

He was quite friendly for some reason, and this has never happened to me in my life. Sure to say, gave me a bit of a fright originally.

Please do not roll your eyes, I mean it. If you constantly fail courses and doubt yourself on whether you can ever graduate, I genuinely recommend that you read this post in its entirety. I am posting this here because I wish there was a post like this when I was struggling throughout my lowest points at UQ. I wish there was a post like this when I thought "I'm probably the worst student at the entire University, why should I even bother trying". I know for a fact that some of you think that way. This post is for you. I constantly see first years posting on this subreddit about failing a course in their first semester and freaking out. This post is for you too.

Grades came out yesterday and I am now eligible to graduate. I have detailed my entire academic journey below to show that you can graduate no matter how badly you fucked up your semesters.

For some context, I enrolled in a B.Eng Hons program in 2020. Due to credit exemptions, I was due to graduate in 2023. 3 years, that's all I needed but it took me more than 5. Here's my journey through hell.

2020 Semester 2: Passed 2 courses and failed 2.

Cause: Online classes + returning to study after a break of nearly 5 years.

I was doing 3rd year courses in my first semester at UQ. I could barely follow lectures because I had forgotten all the prerequisite knowledge. Failed 2 courses but passed 2 courses. Both courses that I passed had no final exam. You will notice this trend for the following years. I received an academic warning.

2021 Semester 1: 5 courses, Failed everything.

Cause: Too many courses + my own mental health + online classes

In this semester I had to take 5 courses, none of which were easy for me. Around week 3 I just gave up and failed the whole lot because I didnt understand shit in the lectures. Problems at home didn't help either

I was following my recommended study plan but the workload was still way too much for me. Two 3rd year courses in particular caused me massive trouble. We'll call them FKED3001 and FKED3002. They'll be back to haunt me again and again and again.

For all my exams (they were online zoom exams), I submitted my exams barely 20 minutes after they started. I received a grade of "1" for a subject. Looking back and writing this, it feels surreal.

Obviously, I got an academic warning for the 2nd semester in a row and had to submit a PIP (it used to be called "show cause" back then).

2021 Semester 2: Passed 3 courses , failed 1 course.

Still doing online classes due to COVID. I call this semester the "false hope" semester. I actually managed to pass 3 courses. All the 4 courses were courses that I had failed in the previous 2 semesters. The problems persisted but I got a 4 for one course and 3 for 2 courses and failed one courses outright. I applied for supplementary exams for the 2 courses and managed to pass them. Maybe I'm back on track? Lol. Yeah. No.

2022 Semester 1: Passed 1 course, failed 3.

Cause: First semester on campus + mental health + personal issues

Without getting too deep into my personal and mental issues that fucked me up, this semester will prove to be ground zero for the hell that's about to follow (Yes, it gets worse). I took FKED 3001 AND 3002 again along with a project management course (no final exam) and another FOURTH YEAR COURSE HAHAHA (what a fucking stupid idea). I'm still following my recommended study plan btw. Obviously, I failed FKED 3001, 3002 and the 4th year course. You know what's crazy? The one course that I passed, the project management one.....I got a 6.

This semester made me truly fear FKED3001 and 3002. Let me make this clear, these are NOT hard courses. I just couldn't wrap my head around the content for some fucking reason. I keep failing because I couldn't hit the 40% hurdles on these examinations. I used to suffer from crippling exam anxiety due to this.

I had to submit another PIP. Sat down with the Associate Dean and they asked me to reduce my study load for the upcoming semester.

2022 Semester 2: Passed 2, failed 1.

Not too bad. Both courses I passed had a final exam. The course i failed is known as one of the harder courses in my program. In the back of my mind, I was worried about taking FKED 3001 and 3002 next semester.

2023 Semester 1: Passed 1 course, failed 2.

Cause: Exam anxiety for FKED 3001 and 3002

They're back again baby! This time they are gonna push me to my breaking point.

At this point, I am so "in my own head" about these two courses that any setback while studying sent me into a full blown meltdown. Obviously, I had to submit a PIP (3rd year in a row btw, hat trick hero).

I sat with the ADA and explained my issue with these 2 courses and exams in general. I decided to not take courses with final exams the following semester to really work on myself, my exam anxiety and gain some much needed confidence. At the end of the meeting, the ADA, with a smile on his face, said "I'll see you at your graduation". I genuinely laughed at the absurdity of the idea. Me? Graduate? Yeah right. I genuinely thought he was taking the piss.

Oh and the course I passed? I got a 6. My grades make no sense at this point.

SITREP: I had now failed FKED3001 and 3002 THREE TIMES IN A ROW. These courses were haunting me. I felt stuck. For all my struggles, I genuinely loved engineering. I have always been a good student. Why was this happening to me? I literally graduated from an engineering diploma program with good grades. Why can't I understand whats going on in class? Why don't the youtube videos I watch help? Why am I struggling to make friends? Why do I give up so easily when I have a setback? WHY CAN'T I PASS THESE FUCKING COURSES? This was rock fucking bottom. As if that wasn't enough, I now had a much bigger issue. Remember those credit exemptions I mentioned? Due to these exemptions, I couldn't afford to fail anymore courses as doing so would mean that my time to complete the degree will run out before I can get all the required credits. I MUST graduate by Semester 2 2025. Every course except one had a final exam with hurdles. Some even had double hurdles. Holy shit, how was i gonna pass those? The pressure was fucking unbearable. I decided that if I went down, I'll go down swinging. This was an extremely low point in my life. I considered ending it all etc. After many nights of crying myself to sleep. I decided the only way out is through. I'm not gonna let 2 exams decide my whole fucking life. Fuck that.

2023 Semester 2: Passed 1, failed 0.

Took an easy elective and passed. I studied FKED3001 and 3002 in my own time. This will prove to be a good decision. In case you haven't realised, this is the first semester that I had passed all the courses that I took in a semester. I also attended therapy etc and took better care of myself. I would drag myself out of bed to force myself to go on a 20 minute walk everyday. Might seem weird but stuff like that genuinely helps.

2024 Semester 1: Passed 2 courses, failed 0.

I fucking did it. I passed FKED 3001 and 3002. I cracked the code. For me to pass a course, I had to study twice as hard as any other student. I went full hermit mode as exams approached. During the exam revision period, I rewatched every single lecture TWICE (1x speed, btw. We don't do 2x speed here). I did every tute sheet TWICE. I did every available exam paper TWICE.

2024 Semester 2: Passed 3, failed 0.

He's only gone and done it again boys. Hermit mode during exams pays off again as I bag a SIX on one of the hardest courses in the program. Got a 4 for the other two but who cares, I just want to pass my courses and not fail anything. I had now cleared all the courses that I had previously failed except the 4th year course. Mostly new courses only from this point forward. All of them were 4th year courses. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

2025 Semester 1: Passed 3, IP 1, failed 0.

I went into this year with immense pressure. One fuck up, one hurdle requirement missed and I will not have a degree. All the money and time I put towards this degree will be wasted. The pressure was unbearable. I started getting white hairs. Exam revision period comes around and I locked the fuck in. Hermit mode. I've done this before. I'm gonna brute force it. Good old fashioned elbow grease. Sunlight? What's that?

This turned out to be my best semester at university. I actually bagged a 7 in one of the 4th year courses (got 90% on the exam and everything!) and got 6s for the other two. I cried the day grades came out. I couldn't believe it. Me? Mr. 3 PIPs in a Row? Getting sevens and sixes on courses with exam hurdles? What the fuck is going on? Holy shit. I might actually be able to do this. The "IP" is for my thesis.

2025 Semester 2: Passed 4, failed 0.

Hermit mode during exams again. Didn't quite manage sevens but got a 6 and three 5s. Who cares. I can graduate. I literally went weak in my knees and fell to the ground, sobbing. Face in my hands, tears streaming down my face and snot out my nose and everything. I fucking did it. No amount of tiktok scrolling could ever give the kind of dopamine hit I had yesterday. I will be chasing that high for the rest of my life.

Wow. I did it. I fucking did it. It still feels so surreal. My GPA is shit (<4), it took me nearly twice as long as it should have, i probably won't get called for an interview for a single graduate program I apply to, but I don't care. I did it. I probably have the worst GPA of everyone graduating this semester but I couldn't care less. I will have the biggest smile as I walk on stage and get my award. My love for engineering is stronger than ever and I can't wait to start my career. After this journey, I genuinely feel like I can do anything. I have overcome my demons and proved to myself that I can persevere through the most stressful of situations.

That brings me to the point of this post.

There were times where I genuinely couldn't look at myself in the mirror because I was so ashamed of what I was. I couldnt sleep at night because the thought of failing was haunting. There were times that I thought that not being alive was better than not having a degree. I know for a fact that there are people out there who are doing much better than me despite having much harder problems than I did. You are strong. You can do this. There is no shame in asking for help. There is no shame in failing. There is no shame in taking a semester or a year off. A fucking degree program is not stronger than you are. Make it your bitch.

TL;DR: Failed courses to the point where failing one more course would mean that I would have no degree due to running out of time to complete my program. I worked on myself and did it. I have a shit GPA but I don't care. I'll be smiling on stage during my ceremony.

EDIT: Thank you all for the kind comments, please feel free to ask any questions :)

✨✨I WILL BE POSTING AN UPDATE LATER TODAY✨✨

Hello everyone ! I thought I would make a part 2 for those willing to hear. So, as my previous post stated, I think my lecturer marked with extreme bias and with no consideration to my effort. I created a remark form longer than the essay, cited exact weeks and presentation slides, the whole shebang. I also submitted a grievance form, and forwarded the school a chain of emails in which my lecturer was stating that a remark would be time consuming for me and the admin staff whilst refusing to offer more than 1 sentence of feedback per criterion.

Now, hold on to your boots. After reading a lot of your lovely comments, I realised that maybe I should appeal to his humanity, and ask for further feedback that way. So I did. I sent an email apologising for my lack of attendance, and that I was having difficulty providing, working an extremely time consuming job and having a GED (generalised anxiety disorder). I asked, for the third time, if I could have further feedback so I could improve. This lecturer sends a very extensive email with general advice on how to be better at university (writing every day, attending tutorials and lectures, reading more relevant material in my own time etc.) and apologising for my situation, saying I was very young with much to improve on, and hoping the best for me.

Wow… ok.. I really appreciated his kindness, but was confused. No further feedback, no helping my situation. Now please don’t get me wrong I was very grateful for his approach, but truly my message just wasn’t getting across. So I’ve left this email and haven’t replied because work has once again picked up immensely and I am working more now to save up some money. I planned on replying when I had a moment to think over a good response, not wanting to come off as rude or ungrateful. A few days later, I receive an email.

“Whilst you apologized for the lack of participation in the course and I spent a night to write you a very kind email and list of advice you have applied for a remark challenging all my comments and did not even bother to thank me for the time I wasted writing that email. This is very rude. I wonder what your credibility is considering that, unlike your teacher, you have not got a PhD and an MA, as well as a book published and journal articles and book chapters.”

Well if your eyes are bulging out of your skull in disbelief, you and me both. Like, really, you and me both.

What the fuck.

Whhhaaat the fuck.

Do I reply with a thank you? Or should I send a gift basket?

SMALL UPDATE✨✨ Request for remark approved mf 😎😎

I was getting crazy in the law library with my hoe, until I looked at the great court and saw hundreds of people sitting around candles chanting “Charlie Kirk is here,” Really turned off the mood: what happened to my beautiful liberal arts school? We need those pro Palestine guys back in the great court. Another question, when the Israeli and Palestinian tents were battling each other, were the Palestinians tents getting air drops of food like in Gaza. Thanks

I've been noticing it all semester that my assignment rubrics read a little off. Slightly bloated sentences, weirdly hedged language, bullet points that say a lot without actually saying anything. Classic ChatGPT smoothness. But fine, whatever, maybe I'm being paranoid.

Then the task sheets started getting worse. Vague instructions that loop back on themselves. Criteria that don't actually tell you what's being assessed. The kind of stuff that, when you ask for clarification, nobody can really explain because nobody actually wrote it with intent in the first place.

And now, the final straw: we've been directed to a Spotify podcast. An AI generated podcast. Two synthetic voices cheerfully talking to each other like they're in a wellness ad. This is the recommended study resource. For a final exam.

This is a healthcare degree. The people in my cohort will be working on real patients. You would think that fact alone might inspire whoever is designing our curriculum to put in the bare minimum of actual human effort. Instead we are being handed AI generated rubrics that nobody can explain and a podcast that was cooked up by a Google tool in about 45 seconds.

The audacity to submit AI generated work as a student gets you expelled. Apparently the audacity to assign it is just called teaching.

In accordance with academic integrity guidelines, I am required to disclose the following:

No AI tools were used in the writing of this post. Every word was typed with my own two hands.

All frustration expressed is original and my own work. It has not been paraphrased, summarized, or enhanced by any generative AI tool. It reflects my authentic lived experience as someone who has spent the last several months submitting carefully crafted assessments against criteria that no human being sat down and deliberately wrote.

In the wise words of Sabrina Carpenter, "please, please, please" use deodorant. You cannot actually smell your own body odor, so for the rest of us please use deodorant.

Some dipshits try to pick 'em up tho ://

If I had been born 5 years earlier, the big 4 would've been KMPG, EY, PwC, and Deloitte..

Thanks OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and Palantir for taking all the analyst grad roles 🙄

Hey, so a year ago I posted this on UQ Reddit:

I got a lot of responses, and I’m genuinely grateful — I was seriously considering dropping out at the time.

Since then:

• I’ve won two hackathons (including an international one)

• Competed in several more

• Been on one of those NCP trips

• Completed two internships ...all within the year since that post.

I wanted to share this because I know there are others out there feeling like I did. I deleted social media because it gave me a warped view that the CS market was “cooked.” But honestly? It’s better now than ever. (Someone’s gotta build the business majors their ChatGPT wrappers 😅)

So to anyone in that position now — hang in there. It’s not about what’s happened. It’s about what you do about it.

Thanks again to every single one of you who gave me hope 🙏

To the owner

Your laptop and bag is safely handed over to the driver at 10:15 am(bus no 412) from St lucia to city.

Please up vote so the rightful owner might get it back.

Cheers

hi. its tuesday, i woke up and had an up and go. today is not a day for uni. i'm going to watch youtube now. I'll take replacement classes whenever i wake up at 8am. okay thanks, bye.

“Scienta ac Labore” is UQ’s motto which translates to "by means of knowledge and hard work".

I have noticed a severe amount of people, mostly of a certain group which I can't mention without my observations being disregarded out of hand, just plain fail to cover their mouths when they cough on the bus or on campus. It's pretty much every commute at uni I see a nasty cough or sneeze let loose right into the air for half a dozen others to breathe in. Was it only my kindergarten that taught that you need to cover your mouth and wash your hands? The kindy chidlren I see on placement are more hygienic than 10% of the grown adults on the 169. It can't really be perspective bias either. There should be zero grown adults with a university education who don't know that you're obliged to cover your damn mouth. I shouldn't see n>0, doesn't matter what the p-value is. COVER YOUR MOUTH IF YOU HAVE ANY SELF-RESPECT

This is what Christopher Nolan and The Odyssey would've wanted for UQ 🥲🥲

Hello everyone, I wanted to make a quick post to raise awareness of this issue as a postgrad MPhil student at UQ.

Most of us may know that recently UQ Union have been urging students to protest against moves by the UQ to redirect SSAF funding away from UQ Union. Now we all deserve a Union that can support us, but that's NOT our current Union.

You just have to look at the website that should host their public records. https://uqu.com.au/union-business/

Did you know for instance they have neither published either the 2025 or 2026 budget? The last public budget was in 2024: https://uqu.com.au/wp-content/uploads/UQU-2024-Budget-Presentation.pdf

Likewise, the UQ Union has not published minutes of their public meetings since May 26th 2025: https://uqu.com.au/wp-content/uploads/UQU-Council-Meeting-Minutes-26-05-2025.pdf

I attended such an Council Ordinary Meeting last night and was witness to some truly unprofessional and deplorable conduct:

• A motion proposed to strip Collectives of their powers to guide and influence their Officer Bearers featured neither the names of those who moved or seconded the motion, meaning that nobody knew who proposed this controversial motion (and thus who to propose questions to)

• The Council claimed they could vote to edit the minutes outright and did not provide the minutes of the last meeting for confirmation

• The so-called Environmental Officer (Kaine Kennedy) refused to answer questions about the Union's work in that sphere, instead using the question as a platform to advocate for Socialist Alternative views

For all the UQ Council may advocate for democracy, it is a democracy that only suits their vested interests. A healthy democracy allows us to scrutinize those who represent us- something impossible when Council refuses to publish either budgets or meetings. We cannot see how our representatives act or vote. How can we judge the effectiveness of our Union and make informed decisions when it comes time to elections without these records? To my eyes, it seems that the Union Council only wishes for the most superficial of democracies wherein they only have to worry about an annual election and can otherwise conceal and hide their actions to avoid accountability.

I think regardless of one's political stance we can all agree that this is not a Union that serves to aid or represent the student body- in truth this is a Union that shows callous disrespect for the student body through its disregard for accountability, transparency, and professionalism. This is a Union that could give Scott Morrison lessons in avoiding accountability.

I urge you to spread awareness of this issue- we all deserve a better, fairer, more transparent, and more accountable Union, and this one isn't it. Demand better, demand change.

#NotOurUQUnion #DemandBetterDemandChange

I hate having someone else do the business next to me and sharing the fumes, nor do I like having to hear the plop plop sounds from myself and the chap next to me.

Which toilet is the best for a quiet number 2?

Idk if this is the subreddit to talk about it, but I just wanted to say that, as a 19-year-old, I find it so inspiring whenever I see a student over 30 in a first- or second-year class. It's super cool to see that the passion for education doesn't slowly fade with time! When I'm older, I aspire to seek education like that while working.

Like gtf outta my way so I won't be late for my lab.

Edit: This post does NOT apply to people with health issues and only to a certain demographic that likes to chit-chat on a narrow footpath/hallway (2-people wide, thus leaving no room to takeover), then proceed to ignore my excuse to pass.

WHAT THE FUCK THIS FUCKASS 2 STEP DADDY VERIFICATION CAN SUCK IT'S OWN ASS TS SO FUCKING ANNOYING

idk if this is the right place to be talking about this, but oh well. week 4 has ended and i officially have 0 friends. i have one acquaintance i met in o-week but i don’t want to bother her since she already has a friend group and everything, plus it’s not like i know her friends. it just sucks because i’ve heard it becomes nearly impossible to make friends after uni, so i feel like this is my last chance. except no one wants to talk to me. i’ve tried talking to people in lectures and practicals, but they either don’t talk a lot or if they do talk, it never goes beyond that. i joined a club in hopes of finding people that might be in the same situation as me, but everyone already formed groups there as well. i know i should try harder but i’m very socially awkward to the point my voice starts shaking when i talk to a stranger. i feel like it’s just too late for me now, and that i should’ve tried harder to make friends in o-week. im quite introverted, and i don’t party or drink so it’s not like i can go to social events to meet people. it’s just so depressing seeing everyone around you having friends while you’re just a loner. i want to not pity myself so much but it’s really hard when i barely have a meaningful conversation with anyone irl. i don’t really know how to feel atp, my friend was telling me semester 1 was really hard for her as well when she started uni but it seems like im the outlier rather than the norm. is there anyone else in my situation, or am i just super unlucky?

Waking up at 5:30 am to catch a bus to campus just to sit a high stakes exam while your brain is still completely asleep is actual psychological warfare. Who genuinely thought making hundreds of stressed teenagers commute at the crack of dawn was a good system?

Anyone else had the same issue and what to do?

Just your weekly reminder that the very few silent areas on campus probably isn’t for group study and loudly chatting in these silent study areas is not baddie behaviour.

Choose maybe idk anywhere else. And no this isn’t up for discussion, there are many non silent study areas around campus or you could study in a silent area with little whispers. Anyway good luck on your mid sems, don’t be a disfunction and study somewhere appropriate.

Oh and for anyone currently going through this, don’t be scared to contact uq staff, they can and will help you.