Good morning everyone - Let me give you some background info before I ask my question.

I dropped out of high school when I was 16 and had both my children before I turned 21. The thought of returning to school never occured to me (I lied about my diploma to employers and got by on experience), until I met my husband later in life (I was 35). With his encouragement and support I passed the GED in 2009.

I've been mostly unemployed since early 2010. So this summer I enrolled in community college and signed up for 2 classes (English Composition and Business Math). Because the summer term is short (8 weeks as opposed to 16), classes are twice as long, so I have class on Tuesday and Thursday and they are 3 hours each.

I find myself struggling for a number of reasons; My Math professor is exceptionally loud and very rude (we've lost 1/4 of the normies already), he openly belittles people and he gives us an insane amount of homework even before a test.
My English professor is nice however, she too gives us quite a bit of homework. Yesterday I had to post my first draft essay to our class discussion forum and other students have to give feedback based on certain criteria. This I did not anticipate... My other issue is that the majority of my classmates 18-20 years old and we have to work in groups. They don't do the work prior to class, don't follow directions, don't contribute to group work, etc.

On a side note - I am always the last one to leave class becuase I'm trying to finish in class work. I spend almost ALL my time outside of class doing homework. I don't procrastinate, I take notes, I ask questions. I get help if I need it.

I guess these are my questions:

1 - Will is get easier as I go? (Like exercise for the body) Or will I continue to struggle?
2 - Does anyone have any coping mechanisms/techniques/strategies to offer?
3 - Should I consider taking some online courses for Gen Eds?

There is one other thing - I'm taking Dopamax, ugh.

Thanks!