Struggling to settle in university, any advice?
This post isn't for me, it's on behalf of my boyfriend, so bear with me as I'm not much of a math whizz like he is. We are UK based.
My boyfriend has started university as of ~2 weeks ago, he excelled in college (two A* and two A) and was accepted into all of his uni options. Maths has always been a breeze for him, his absolute favourite subject and always tries to teach me his favourite topics. Unfortunately it's all in one ear and out the other for me, but I still love to listen. But point is, he's a natural and he adores maths.
Despite this, throughout college he always ranted and raved because it was too stressful, too fast-paced, too strict, and felt like he never had any time for his work. Before anyone says it, no, he doesn't waste all his time going out or doing anything other than study. Of course he has free time, but it's fleeting and he never allows himself to truly relax and enjoy it, too worked up about the next test or topic he can't figure out.
Many people had said to him leading up to the end of college that university, at least the first year, would be a lot more relaxed. He'd have more days off (expected ~3 day weeks based on what he'd been told), and that he would be able to do things more or less at his own pace, granted he kept up with the classes.
He's been hit with mental whiplash upon starting university and discovering that it's completely different than the dream of mathematical learning he had been promised. He's in 5 days a week, 9-5 most days excluding travel, and while he seems to be wrapping his head around the teachings of his classes so far, he panics because he feels like his brain is being attacked by too much knowledge all at once, and he physically doesn't have the time to keep up with the workload. He's studying for ~4 hours a day after getting home, and only manages to fully understand one or two small parts of what his lectures had covered that day. He already has a test coming up next week that is sending him spiralling into panic.
I also wonder if he's struggling with the fact that university level maths is genuinely really hard and different (I assume!), so it's taking him longer to understand whereas in GCSE and A-levels he could figure it out as fast as a finger snap. He's stressing and struggling to sleep at night, talking about how he's only been there for 2 weeks and he's already feeling behind and part of him wants to give up. I try to comfort him and tell him that he'll find his rhythm and to allow himself time to settle in and get the swing of uni, as it's an extremely big life change regardless of what subject you take. It doesn't seem to help him.
I never went to university though, so I have no advice to give him about how to make it easier on himself and tackle the workload in the most efficient way without causing burnout or stressing so much. That's why I'm writing this post in hopes that the people in here, with considerably more experience than me, might be able to offer some advice that I can pass along to him so he can start to find his feet again.
Any advice regarding handling the change to uni, dealing with the stress levels, and keeping up with the workload would be appreciated greatly.
Tldr; Boyfriend struggling to handle maths in university, says the workload is too much and he has no time to keep up, extremely stressed about falling behind and failing. Advice for settling into uni and tackling the workload appreciated.