Here we go again ...
Engineering Math is a subject that a lot people fail in my Uni. I know many classmates who are in the same position as me right now who risk being kicked out.
Maybe you are hanging out with the wrong mates? Maybe they are great drinking buddies, but maybe you should look for other role models. Like those who actually passed the test. They must do something right you and your mates didn't.
I can't understand how getting 33% the first time and 9% the second time add up after 3 months of extra work.
Maybe you learned the wrong things. Maybe you didn't understood basics. Maybe you employed old learning techniques from school (memorize everything instead of understanding things). In other words, don't blame other.
I and many others are trying to put this across to the University as having been an unfair exam but time is short and they don't seem to be budging.
This is the completely wrong strategy. This is the strategy of losers. Don't you think your uni has heard this excuses before? I bet they are rather bored and annoyed by this. And I bet they can easily show that the math requirements went down in the last one or two decades. Because it went down everywhere. And I bet they could show you that your math exam was not unreasonable compared to recent ones and was simple compared to an exam ten years ago. Just that they can't be bothered. How old is your uni? 400 years? If so, they have for sure 400 year old records of students complaining about an exam.
Further, "fairness" is a concept that doesn't apply here. This is just whining. Things aren't fair and aren't supposed to be fair. When you enrolled you entered into a kind of "contract" with your uni. You promised to fulfill their requirements, however stupid and unfair they are, in exchange for a piece of paper at the end. "No challenges" was not part of that deal. Now you want to break your part of the deal. The thing is, you can't change the rules while being in the game and playing it. You can't change the rules by giving up. A prerequisite for changing the rules is to have fully understood, mastered and won the game.
BTW, People will telly you that you will never need math again once you are an engineer. It doesn't matter if this claim is wrong or right (according to my experience it is wrong). The point is, you need math now.
I'm gathering my thoughts on what to do next and am considering leaving University with a Diploma to find a starting role at an electronic engineering firm with hope to get my foot in the industry ladder.
That is something you have to decide. If you take this route just don't become one of those people who always claim they could have been an engineer, wouldn't it have been for <insert excuse of the day here>.
I am a bit of an electronics enthusiast
This is maybe another issue you have, enthusiasm is no substitute for knowledge and hard work, it is just one part of the motivation for putting in the work. Every weekend football stadiums are full of enthusiasts filling the stands. Most could and should not play the game professionally, although many might dream they could, because they are so enthusiastic about it.
A lot of times engineering is dealing with cold, hard facts and a vastly unfair reality. Enthusiasm makes you get out of bed every day and go to work. But professionalism makes you come home safely every day, suppressing the urge to kick the living shit out of the bean counters because everything is soooo unfair.
In which case my other option would be to switch course or find another Uni (the latter being unfeasible as I'm already settled into a rented apartment).
What? You claim a fucking rented apartment will keep you from continuing at another uni? So much for enthusiasm. Really, find a better excuse if you want to give up studying, a much better excuse. "I could have been an engineer, wouldn't it have been for settling into a rented apartment. You know, I was young and I needed to settle into that rented apartment.". Oh yes, that will come over very well.
I cannot see myself doing anything other than electronics as this is quite a bit of a passion for me.
Sure, but your rented apartment is more important?
What would people recommend?
What about the following, you keep electronics as a hobby and look for a complete career change? Maybe real estate agent is the right thing for you.
Or you bite the bullet, stop complaining about unfairness and instead learn the stupid math, and whatever else your uni comes up with until they give you that piece of paper.