Ask around and check out the overall grades on that test; it could be that it was a very hard test and 53% is a good score!

Sure, all of those things :-) Find some old tests/extra material and make sure you understand where your mistakes were so you do better on the final as well as make sure you get to more lectures if you can (to ask questions or note where you don't understand before you run into problems) and maybe start/go to a study group or talk to a fellow classmate that seems to be doing better, etc.