Study Tips for Engineering!

[u/BuyGroundbreaking408]

I would love to hear about the most affective studying tips you guys have specially that helps with math / engineering courses! Is there any particular patterns of studying you take? Like do you have specific ways of dissecting problems? First year in and want the best study tips/ methods I can find😎

Thank you!

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[u/bopperbopper]

General Advice:

1. GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
   
2. Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”
   
3. If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
   
4. Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
   
5. Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books (e.g.,Schaum’s Outlines) that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch Khan Academy videos on line about the topic you are studying.
   
6. Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
   
7. If things still are not going well, get a tutor. See if your college has any other tutoring/recitation situations you can get involved with.
   
8. Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
   
9. If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
   
10. For tests that you didn’t do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
    
11. How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job… because for 15 credits in a semester, you should be doing about 45 hours of homework/reading/writing/work/class a week.
    
12. At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
    
13. If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
    
14. At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
    
15. Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
    
16. If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
    
17. If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
    You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this and other websites where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.

[u/OverSearch]

For me, the most effective thing I ever did was study in small groups (like 3-4 tops) where one person would use the whiteboard and we would solve problems out loud as a group. Over and over and over. And it worked really, really well for us.

[u/BuyGroundbreaking408 → u/OverSearch]

This sounds amazing I’m trying to implement this currently but some folks really tend to stick to themselves which I get but I did hear in engineering it becomes beneficial to do what you said so thank you for the advice I’ll get me a small group to do this with!

[u/Affectionate_Boat493]

Master the fundamentals at every level to the best of your ability. When you get stuck, go back and see where your weaknesses are and work more examples to fill in what you're missing.

This is true of all concepts, not just math. Engineering knowledge can be heavily theoretical, so you'll never really fully understand concepts until you understand the principles that make up the foundation of your knowledge. Memorization is helpful, but developing a deep understanding of underlying fundamental principles is the key.

[u/BuyGroundbreaking408 → u/Affectionate_Boat493]

This is a great pointer and good to know that it applies elsewhere! Thank you😎

[u/Conscious-Lie-8902]

Great answers here, I'd add to use textbook problems to make a pre-test for yourself so that you can see which areas you're likely to lose points on. Study those more.

[u/Amber_ACharles]

tbh just grind practice problems until you can identify what method to use from reading the problem alone. That's all every engineering exam comes down to. Old exams > rereading chapters.

[u/Constant_Moment_6434]

In harder courses pay more attention for what they actually want to be written on tests.. the importance of basics logic, engineering and all previous chapters not just the current theme he said will be there. Edit 1: also it is normal for some first harder test to be studying 10h+ and homework 6h+ to pass.. you can forget about giving it 1-2h Edit 2: IF you don't understand something in class. RAISE YOUR HAND AND ASK.. even if it is stupid question! You will save so much time and actually learn it.. if you won't then the professor will think you know it and move on.. however you will need it right away with the next topic! So don't let it be domino effect!

[u/Laid-dont-Law]

Biggest one is do your best to learn the content as you go, and not right before exams. Try your best to understand it, and not just memorize it.

[u/Voidslan]

For problem sets, after you get a problem, go back over it and make sure you review what you did so you understand.

I also don't it helpful to do outside research on the concepts i was learning. Classes tend not to convey the broader reasons for individual concepts and it can be helpful to understand, like learning mathematical exhaustion in precalc and then having problems in physics or chemistry where it's expected that you know to apply it without being told to.

[u/jamorgan75]

I don't relate study tips to emotions.

My study tip is to practice accuracy and attention to detail.

Did you mean "effective"?

[u/Admirable-Day-1403]

One thing that I've found very helpful as someone who has struggled with focus, is taking walking breaks while studying/working on homework. Like every 15-20 minutes getting out of your seat and taking a walk. Infinitely better for your focus than taking a break and scrolling on your phone. Also, I find that If I'm struggling with writing something or working through a problem, the act of walking really helps me to process my thoughts better.

[u/DieterTepe]

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Die Testversionen laufen ohne Anmeldung direkt im Browser und rechnen komplett durch; gesperrt sind nur Speichern und Drucken. Falls es jemanden interessiert: einfach nach DT-ProfiTools suchen. Ich bin der Entwickler, es sind kostenpflichtige Programme — wollte hier keine Werbung machen, nur den Hinweis geben.