Hi. A couple of facts before I start:
- Public universities in Poland are free of charge. Students have to pay only when they re-take courses (for example when they didn’t pass some course in a first year, they have to take it again in following academic year).
- To pass the exam, students usually have three attempts: two in consecutive weeks, third some time later.
- In case of spring semester: usually first two attemps are in June, the last one is in September — due to the summer break.
- Usually exams get harder with every attempt.
- I’ve just made it through exam session ending my second year in a college.
- Lectures usually are not obligatory in Poland.
My demotivating learning experience is very similar to Emily’s. In my freshman year I had tons of Mathematics. I’ve always been pretty good at it, but for some reason I couldn’t study well. I felt like something was blocking me… My grades were really low, too. And I was having fun more than I used to in high school.
In the spring semester we had 4 exams. I didn’t pass any of them in June/July. Thankfully I passed 3 in September.
The most demotivating was that feeling I got every time I received my grades. From every exam. Given the amount of energy I put into studying these subjects, I simply was devastated.
Even today I have no idea what was blocking me (my guess: seeing no effects despite how hard I worked). My following academic year has proved that I’m still a decent student and my grades make me feel fair: they’re adequate to the amount of energy I put into studying. I have a good GPA (maybe top 20 students?). I “closed” this spring exam session with 6 exams at the first attempts and therefore have 3 months of summer break. I’m really proud 
What I can take from this and my later experiences:
- less partying, more studying
- it’s worth attending lectures
- if you can’t study in your flat, maybe go to your university’s library
- studying with friends is really effective (I found that out too late!)