Calling all engineers

[CalPolyPilot]

I am currently in my 4th year at Cal Poly Slo in the Aerospace engineering department and starting my second year in BDCP. As you can imagine my course load is very demanding and to keep a long story short, I am having a hard time keeping my grades at the required GPA. Now I hate making excuses for why my grades are dropping, but the fact of the matter is the classes that I am taking are designed so the average is a C- (obviously below the required BDCP min GPA). I don't consider myself to be anything close to a genious, but I do feel that I work very hard and know the material for each class. Even so I still seem to only "get by" in my classes. I feel that my mediocre grades can mainly attributed to the exams I face in each class.

So my question is, for anyone who has been in my position or mastered engineering exams, what kind of test taking strategies should I put into practice. Or, are there any test prep tactics that work better than others? I know its sad that I'm asking this in my 4th year of school. You think I would have figured it out by now. Thats just the thing, I thought I new how to prepare myself, then I hit the upper level classes and well now I'm here.

Anyways, I hope I can get some good feedback as becoming a Naval Officer is of utmost importance to me. To loose the scholarship and my place at OCS with only a year left of school would be heart breaking.

Regards,

David Babka

 

[Jim123]

Hmmm... study habits or how to work smarter, not harder. Well here's what worked for me. Maybe you already do half this stuff anyway-

-Study 45 minutes on, 15 off, repeat, repeat, repeat. Use an alarm to regulate it if you have to. Do your laundry/dishes/go to the can/talk to your roommates who are watching TV in the other room in the 15 minutes off. Better yet study in an empty classroom because that will get you away from the computer and TV.

-Learn to take REALLY GOOD notes in class. I used to write in blue, underline important stuff in red, formulas in green, diagrams in black. Then in the evening copy the days' notes and chicken scratch into a "smooth" version. Having to write things out a second time is a great way to reinforce that days' lessons. I recently found a 3rd year thermo notebook with my name on it and apparently written in my handwriting... but I swear somebody smarter than me must have made this notebook (I'm a clutter-all-around-the-house/scatterbrained kind of person).

-When you study in small groups take turns working through the homework problems on the chalkboard. The better your knowledge the faster you can solve the test problems. You'll also get a better idea of how far ahead or behind you are.

-Once in a while if you're having a really hard time wrapping your brain around some difficult concept try thinking about it when you first wake up- your mind is fresh and sometimes things can just come to you more easily in that time... or if that's just not you then ignore this one point.

-Don't forget the importance of good rest: proper sleep every night and some time off each weekend (yes, even during exams!).

I earned more As in my last semester than my other four years put together... I guess I was just a late bloomer. It looks like you are actually "get" written communication and that is a huge "plus."


Hope some of that helps, good luck.
Jim

 

[S3Dude]

Go Mustangs!!

You're exactly 11 years behind me in pretty much the same program (I was Mech E.) and if I can do it then so can you. Jim has lots of good advice, I think working in small groups is pretty key. Will help you figure out what you don't know before you get to the test.

If all else fails go hit SLO Brew for a burger and some good tunes (is it still there?). I loved that place. Seriously as much as you can enjoy that town, get outside and climb Madonna, go to the beach, go to Morrow Bay, etc. There are so many cool places to go, I look back and wish I would have taken advantage of my time there a little better.

Good luck!

 

[boobcheese]

I'm no genius but I did very well in an engineering major. Some things that I think really helped were:
1) I made friends with guys that were a semester or two ahead of me and got copies of their old exams. There is no better way to prepare for how a given prof will test you on the material.
2) Get the solutions manual for your textbook. For me the only way to get proficient in a math based course is to work a TON of examples. Its nice to be able to quickly see the correct way to work through a problem when you get stuck rather than beating your head against a wall for an hour trying to get the answer in the back of the book. This also allows you to work a lot more examples in the same amount of time and you know you're doing them correctly. Most engineering texts have a solutions manual and google is your friend here. You can often times find them on ebay or other websites for $20-30 bucks for a pdf (well worth it and you could split the cost with a couple of classmates). You might also look at some of the torrent download sites for free.
3) Get a good calculator and learn how to use it. Most of the people in my classes had TI-89s but had no clue how to use some of the best features on it. It can do all the heavy lifting on calculations (integrals, derivatives, dif eqs) as well as quickly solve for all variables in a system of equations. This can save valuable time during tests and I know it made the difference for me on more than one exam.

 

[bucks87]

I'm no genius but I did very well in an engineering major. Some things that I think really helped were:
1) I made friends with guys that were a semester or two ahead of me and got copies of their old exams. There is no better way to prepare for how a given prof will test you on the material.
2) Get the solutions manual for your textbook. For me the only way to get proficient in a math based course is to work a TON of examples. Its nice to be able to quickly see the correct way to work through a problem when you get stuck rather than beating your head against a wall for an hour trying to get the answer in the back of the book. This also allows you to work a lot more examples in the same amount of time and you know you're doing them correctly. Most engineering texts have a solutions manual and google is your friend here. You can often times find them on ebay or other websites for $20-30 bucks for a pdf (well worth it and you could split the cost with a couple of classmates). You might also look at some of the torrent download sites for free.

Both of these are great tips. Im a 4th year Mech E and looking over old tests(most of our professors actually give them to us) and having a huge number of example solutions helped me go from around averaging 2.6 to about 3.3 in my core classes over the past few quarters. Ours are usually designed around a C as well.

 

[CumminsPilot]

Could someone please explain this "designed around a C average" theory to me? I'm just a lowly aero engineer myself, but I never heard of this when I was in school, nor did my courses seem to be this way.

 

[twobecrazy]

Could someone please explain this "designed around a C average" theory to me? I'm just a lowly aero engineer myself, but I never heard of this when I was in school, nor did my courses seem to be this way.

From my experience in college currently our electrical engineering courses are geared towards a C average. I believe the statement "designed around a C average" means that they are curved with the average student achieving a grade in the C range. I could be wrong but the difficulty of the class is determined by the professor and not how well the student does. Basically you have to do better than almost everyone else in the class to get above a C. This is a horrible way to grade students as it discourages rather than encourages students. My school even has a grade distribution website that allows someone to look up how difficult teachers are by the gpa they have given in the past semesters. Most of my instructors have around a 2.2-2.7 gpa distribution. So I would say that my schools/instructors courses are designed around a C average based off their gpa distributions.

 

[picklesuit]

Or you could change majors...Cal Poly SLO has a great Animal Science program...

 

[navymic]

Don't take good notes.
I'm serious.

Some take meticulous notes, but don't learn anything while in class. They just keep writing without processing. They delay their learning until they get back to their room at night to study their notes. Process the info in class and you will come up with your questions while you have the prof there to help. Soak it in; write some notes as a reminder of what you are actually learning in class.

You probably have plenty of classmates who take good notes. Co-operate. I would help them when they looked at their notes and didn't get it. They would help me, show me their notes, when my notes were insufficient to help me remember. Don't mistake it for laziness. You need to concentrate in class, or you classmates will figure you out fast.

Everyone is different though, but it worked for me. I was an engineer as well BTW.

 

[Thisguy]

FYI...the definition of a C is Satisfactory...or average. Somewhere along the line we've felt some sort of entitlement that a B should be an average grade, and an A is good.

I've had classes where I had an average in the 60s and got a C. I'll take that any day.

My best advice is to practice, practice, practice. Do your homework, and actually understand it. The thing about engineering is, if you keep up with your homework throughout the semester you won't need to study that much for the midterms, since you've been actively practicing the concepts.

Best of luck.

 

[NAVYBM2]

Trust me, I understand how you feel! I am a physics/math major, but the school that I go to is geared towards prepping people for masters in engineering. So, I am forced to take all of these classes that a physics degree does not need. You know what I do to balance out my GPA, I take a whole bunch of easy classes that I don't need. I will end up with something like 140 credits, but I am sporting a 3.45, and Military history, or WWII classes tend to push all the right buttons with the NAVY.

Good Luck

 

[CalPolyPilot]

First off I want to say thanks for the great advice. It is motivating to receive so many techniques to help me solve the problem that has dragged down my GPA. To be completely honest, I have no trouble understanding the material in my classes, my test taking ability is the problem. Finals are coming up in a couple weeks and I look forward to putting your advice to use.

If all else fails go hit SLO Brew for a burger and some good tunes (is it still there?). I loved that place. Seriously as much as you can enjoy that town, get outside and climb Madonna, go to the beach, go to Morrow Bay, etc. There are so many cool places to go, I look back and wish I would have taken advantage of my time there a little better. !

S3dude, SLO Brew, I believe, is now called Downtown Brew (still awesome food and beer) and I actually grew up on the central coast so I have been able to experience it for the last 22 years. You are right, it is an awesome place and is the reason for me stickin around to go to school.

Thanks again for all your advice and I will let yall know how I do after finals.

 

[RyanF]

Wow, cal poly was my first choice school, but with a C- average, I'm definitely happy I ended up at Davis where we have a comfortable B- average in Mech Eng. Anyways, here are some of my test taking tips for engineers.

1. Take the first 5 minutes to scan through all the problems. Then set a schedule and commit to it (ie. 20 mins for prob #1, 15 min for prob #3, etc.) You'd be surprised how often people get hung up on the first problem and then run out time. Typically when this happens, problems 2-4 happen to be much easier.

2. Never erase any of your work. Partial credit is key to doing well on exams.

3. Likewise, if you don't know an answer to a question, you should always write the process to solve the question or even just a related equation. Sometimes, if you can't get the numbers to work out, just setup the equation and write "solve". You might get dinged for a couple of points, but probably not as bad if you had the wrong answer down their to begin with. This method is also very useful if you are running out of time and can't calculate everything.

4. If your class allows for a cheat sheet, write down whole hw problem statements and solutions, not just equations. This way you can match up problems on the test to those on your hw and you'll have a good idea of how to solve the problem. Basically, learn how to write really really small.

5. If you get open notes, take time to organize all your notes and hw so you don't waste time flipping pages. Also it may be helpful to make a cheat sheet with info on where to find solutions to so and so problems.

That's all I got for now on that subject. Best of luck! BTW, if you are still struggling, consider picking up a minor. I picked up technology management and have gotten an A in every minor class and pre-req thus far. Yeah, it will take longer to graduate, but its definitely been a big contributor to getting my GPA from my all time low of 2.62 to my current 2.93.

 

[eddie]

There must be people that get A's and high B's, but if an engineer only appears to understand only 72% of what he or she is supposed to have been taught, is he (or she) really that useful in comparison to us mere mortals? I understand it's a curve, yes, just the mentality that is odd to me.

I'm no engineer, but I take some technical classes. I find that sometimes the best solution is to study harder and not "smarter;" practice problems until I've seen every scenario and know how to work through them. And I sleep on it so the paint has time to cure...

 

[Pags]

I'm no genius but I did very well in an engineering major. Some things that I think really helped were:
1) I made friends with guys that were a semester or two ahead of me and got copies of their old exams. There is no better way to prepare for how a given prof will test you on the material.
2) Get the solutions manual for your textbook. For me the only way to get proficient in a math based course is to work a TON of examples. Its nice to be able to quickly see the correct way to work through a problem when you get stuck rather than beating your head against a wall for an hour trying to get the answer in the back of the book. This also allows you to work a lot more examples in the same amount of time and you know you're doing them correctly. Most engineering texts have a solutions manual and google is your friend here. You can often times find them on ebay or other websites for $20-30 bucks for a pdf (well worth it and you could split the cost with a couple of classmates). You might also look at some of the torrent download sites for free.
3) Get a good calculator and learn how to use it. Most of the people in my classes had TI-89s but had no clue how to use some of the best features on it. It can do all the heavy lifting on calculations (integrals, derivatives, dif eqs) as well as quickly solve for all variables in a system of equations. This can save valuable time during tests and I know it made the difference for me on more than one exam.

This guy's got some solid advice. Old tests and example problems are key.

Also, study with other SMART people, not alone. If you get stuck, chances are someone else can talk you through it.