About the need of reviewing previous courses

[ramzerimar]

Hey folks,
As a sophomore in MechE, I'm now taking a first course in Engineering Statics, and the prerequisites to this class are Physics I and Linear Algebra. I did well in those classes in past semesters, but I can't really say that I remember everything. I wonder how much do you usually need to remind?
Also, it's a good idea to be always reviewing such things, or just do it when you really need to?

 

[Orodruin]

If a class has prerequisites, it will generally mean that the knowledge you should have acquired in these courses is going to be used. An important thing to remember here is that doing well on an exam is generally not the same thing as learning. If you feel you do not remember what you have learned and what you should have learned is a prerequisite, it is a very good idea to review the material. It should also be a wake up call to think about evaluating your learning strategy as it will generally be the case that higher courses will build upon earlier ones. You should not expect courses to review the necessary prerequisites for you and not learning and remembering the earlier courses will usually get you into trouble at a later stage.

I am not saying you need to remember everything, but you should at least be comfortable with most of the material or be able to remind yourself quickly. As a university teacher, one of the main problems I see among students is not being comfortable with the prerequisite material.

 

[snowman_]

It's always good to review older material when you get the chance, especially in engineering.

It might even be a good idea to condense a course into a good set of review notes. Right now you're reviewing to help with a new class, later it will be to prepare for an interview. May as well start building the habit/notes now.