Many college students are in serious trouble and don't even recognize it. They think that nothing is really wrong, that everyone else is in the same boat, or that college is just supposed to be hard. Other students are just not sure: "Am I doing bad or doing really bad?" they wonder. "Should I take some decisive action or just wait it out, hoping it'll get better?"

    In order to help you decide whether you're in serious difficulty or just caught up in the ordinary ebb and flow of higher education, here are 10 signs that you're in real trouble at college. If you, or someone you know or love, exhibits any of these signs, it's time to do some major reassessment and make some big changes:

    1. Your average is below C or you're getting D's in some of your courses. Don't kid yourself: C is a bad grade, and D is even worse. Most students in college are getting A's and B's （at many schools the average grade-point average is between B and B+）. So if your quizzes and tests are coming back with C's and D's, be aware that you are learning virtually nothing in the courses you're taking. As you move into upper-level courses, you're likely to find yourself unable to muster even C's and D's and will be ending up with F's.

    2. You're constantly asking for （and even getting） extensions and incompletes. Extensions and incompletes are supposed to be the exception, for very special circumstances, not the rule. If you find yourself depending on them as a regular educational crutch-one day the reading took longer than you were expecting, another time you couldn't get enough pages written, a third time you were busy with your four other courses-you're demonstrating that you aren't able to keep up with the pace of college.

    3. You can't follow what the professor says in lecture-ever. Most students have times when they can't understand a point the professor makes. Professors are used to this and are generally quite happy to answer questions, either during or after the lecture. But if the whole lecture is incomprehensible to you, then consider yourself to be in way over your head.

    4. You're spending every waking moment of the day doing the reading or the homework. Professors are well aware of the time constraints placed on students taking five courses a semester, often working part time, and perhaps participating in extracurricular activities. So the assignments are geared to be done in a manageable period of time: You should be able to do the homework in one to three hours per class. If not, you probably are lacking basic skills expected for the course or using the wrong study strategies.

    5. You're living off your credit cards. If you can't even afford your dinners or textbooks without relying on credit, then you are stretched too thin financially. Going to college is a big commitment of both time and money, and trying to get an education at the edge of bankruptcy is likely to put more pressure on you than the average person can manage.

    當今許多大學生身陷困境卻不自知，他們覺得萬事太平，人人處境相差無幾，或者大學生活本應困難重重。另外有些學生則不確定，“我究竟是有點爛呢還是爛到家了？”他們會自我反省，“我是應該當機立斷、采取行動，還是靜觀其變，等待轉機？” 為了幫助你判斷一下自己究竟是身陷困境，還是在高等教育的浪潮中受到了一點正常的沖擊，在此提供5個征兆，借以參考。如果你，或者你認識的人、你愛的人中，顯現了這些征兆，就要趕快重新認清形勢做出改變。 

    1. 你的評價分已經低于C，或者某些課程你只拿到D。別自欺欺人了：C已經很爛，D則更糟。大部分的大學生都能拿到A或者B（而且很多學校的平均成績在B和B＋之間），所以如果你的小測或者考試成績到手的時候只剩下C和D，就應當意識到你在課堂上其實什么都沒學到。當你晉升到高階課程的時候，你很有可能會發現自己連C和D都拿不到了，只有被當掉。

     2. 你持續地要求開小灶，并且無法按時完成功課。開小灶和拖延功課應當是例外，屬于特殊情況而非常理規則。如果你發現自己過于依賴它們作為學習的拐杖——某日閱讀作業比你想象的要花時間，次日你又寫不滿作文的頁數，再次日你又被另外的四門課程纏身——那就證明你無法跟上學校課程的步伐。 

    3. 你聽不懂課堂上教授教的內容。大部分學生都會有上課不明白教授的觀點的時候，而且教授也都習以為常并且樂于解答疑問，課上課下都是如此。但如果整堂課從頭到尾你都無法理解，你就應當意識到這些超出了你的理解范圍。

     4. 你每日睜眼的時間都忙于閱讀和做作業。通常教授都了解學生們一個學期選五門課、要兼職打工、并且可能還要參加課外活動，時間相當有限。所以功課量都是設定為在一定時間內可以完成的，你應當可以在1到3個小時內就完成功課。如果你做不到，有可能就缺少這門課要求的的基本能力，或者學習方法不當。 

    5. 你超額使用信用卡。如果你離了信用卡連晚餐和課本都買不起，那么你已經在財務上過度透支了。上大學不管在時間上還是財力上都是巨大的負擔，在破產邊緣接受教育通常會給你帶來超出正常人承受范圍的壓力