So I've got a good one that probably nobody else here has had. (Well, maybe a couple of you.)
In High School, except for the fact I was pretty lazy, I could have been an honor student. There was no subject that was more than a few minutes of work for one problem. I'm not exactly a gift to any subject, except maybe civics (and who cares about governments and economics really,) but I was capable of making any A I wanted.
Flash forward to going to university. I got my butt kicked the first semester. I spent a lot of time calling home and venting, still do really, despite having been here for like a year. They stopped really teaching the material in classes. The style is totally different, they're more interested by far in seeing "who can learn for themselves" and just working examples in class to assist with the work you already should have done. In English, Civics, and any science that's mostly reading, no problem, I have a good memory, so I just have to read and relate concepts. In technical courses like Math and Physics, with complex mathmatical problems, I'm still getting whomped. It's not enough that you have to learn these concepts for yourself, they go the extra mile on the tests and try to make the problems intentionally confusing and difficult.
Tutoring has helped a lot with the former. When somebody guides problem solveing at least once, it gets pretty easy to figure out how the concepts are related and what formulas to use. Even in calculus 2 (my biggest problem course), I can understand the basics and the forumulas pretty easy. They're just purposefully trying to ensure I get it wrong when the real test comes aroudn though and my math skill isn't good enough to recognize how they've changed these problems from the default format.
Oh well, my fault for picking an engineering major at a large engineering school. If I manage to get out of here some year with a degree though, I'll be a very hot commodity on the job market
