I am just now taking my first real engineering course, being statics and it is kicking my butt. I have done all right on my first two tests (85s on each) but I feel like I am doing something wrong. It feels like every section I get through (10 pages or so) takes an extremely long time for me to really grasp the material.
Everybody has always told me that the math that engineers do is very complicated. I found trig, calc1, and calc2 to be pretty easy and straight forward. I'm in calc3 and it seems pretty easy.
I am looking ahead and thinking about my curriculum, and thinking about the courses that will follow. dynamics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, etc. And I keep thinking to myself about statics is apparently the easiest of all of these and it intimidates me greatly. Is it normal for students to invest this much time into grasping the material from these engineering courses? I feel like once i get to dynamics, and further down the road that just two of these courses alone constituting a 6 hour semester is enough to keep me busy all day every day.
Mapes
Sep23-08, 08:55 AM
It's true that statics is only the first step in a long road of ME courses. But nearly every student feels overwhelmed by new material. If the faculty at your university are doing their job well, then classwork will always be at the edge of your capabilities. You can't take on dynamics now, but next semester you'll know much more and be better at solving problems. I disagree that the math is difficult; I think what's difficult is the correct abstraction of a physical situation to be able to use math. It requires strong visualization skills.
Are you still intrigued by visualizing complex tools involving heat and mass flow and being able to analyze and design them using your new abilities? If so, ME is for you. Good luck.
minger
Sep23-08, 08:57 AM
I defintely wouldn't say that it's the easiest. I found them all fairly equal in difficulty, but with each building on the previous. I found statics somewhat hard, but dynamics for me was extremely difficult.
At our school, that second year was definitely the "weed-out" year; if you make it through that, you'll be fine.
stewartcs
Sep23-08, 08:57 AM
I am just now taking my first real engineering course, being statics and it is kicking my butt. I have done all right on my first two tests (85s on each) but I feel like I am doing something wrong. It feels like every section I get through (10 pages or so) takes an extremely long time for me to really grasp the material.
Everybody has always told me that the math that engineers do is very complicated. I found trig, calc1, and calc2 to be pretty easy and straight forward. I'm in calc3 and it seems pretty easy.
I am looking ahead and thinking about my curriculum, and thinking about the courses that will follow. dynamics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, etc. And I keep thinking to myself about statics is apparently the easiest of all of these and it intimidates me greatly. Is it normal for students to invest this much time into grasping the material from these engineering courses? I feel like once i get to dynamics, and further down the road that just two of these courses alone constituting a 6 hour semester is enough to keep me busy all day every day.
I remember feeling that way at times. I too found mathematics easier to grasp than other courses. I always felt that the courses which involved more interpretation/translation of words to get the concept were more difficult (relatively speaking). Since mathematics deals with numbers it seemed to me that I understood it more easily since there was only one interpretation for a number (so to speak), whereas with other courses, interpreting the problem (reading comprehension) was open to a certain degree of subjectivity.
BTW, you will be spending ALOT of time studying if you take a full load in Engineering.
Good luck.
CS
FredGarvin
Sep23-08, 09:18 AM
I can reiterate what the guys have already mentioned. I remember statics being tough not so much for the content, but because that was one of the first engineering classes that made you think like an engineer. That takes time to get used to and to develop. Yes, the class is tough, but I thought the process of formulating a problem and then being maticulous with your process of solving was tougher for me.
We all made it through though. You will too. If anyone else around you says they don't have any thoughts like you, they're fibbing. Now would be a good time to not be a loner and get some kind of study group. Even if it meets at a place for 10-20 minutes. Just talking over problems with people in the same class can be a huge help.
stewartcs
Sep23-08, 09:34 AM
Now would be a good time to not be a loner and get some kind of study group. Even if it meets at a place for 10-20 minutes. Just talking over problems with people in the same class can be a huge help.
That's a great suggestion by Fred.
Also, most colleges have tutoring programs to give you some one on one time to ask those embarrassing questions that you won't ask in class!
CS
Topher925
Sep23-08, 09:54 AM
I must be different or maybe my school is. At my school the math is extremely difficult. Like your lucky if you only have to take calc 2 twice kind of difficult. Both statics and dynamics were very easy for me, I never studied and can answer every problem in the text books. However I know a lot of people did have trouble with those courses and to be honest most of those people became business majors.
Engineering courses are not strait forward or abstract like mathematical courses and require a very different kind of thinking in order to be good at solving engineering problems. The problems are more about how you derive the equation and less about how you solve it. Like suggested above I would find a study group as they can really help.