How can I improve my studying and test-taking skills for engineering courses?

[budala]

After 2 years of Electrical Engineering studies I want to change to something else. What would be the most appropriate field and the closest to engineering but not engineering, sort of?


*****I couldn't handle it, too hard for me. I am so sad and stressed , I am in trouble.

 

[hanson]

I guess you shall provide more background about yourself in order to receive constructive advices.

First of all, don't be sad and stressed.
I guess there are/were many people facing similar problems as you do, and this is a "solve-able" problem anyway.
So, calm down and provide some more background about yourself, like:
Why did you choose electrical engineering?
Are you in trouble with the mathematics in EE or the physics in EE? How's your academic background?
Do you have other interests? etc...

The more background you provide, the better advice will come to you. Cheers

 

[berkeman]

What are your other interests? It sounds like you would do better if you were studying in a field that really interested you. Chemistry, biomedical, finance, etc.?

 

[Maxwell]

After 2 years of Electrical Engineering studies I want to change to something else. What would be the most appropriate field and the closest to engineering but not engineering, sort of?


*****I couldn't handle it, too hard for me. I am so sad and stressed , I am in trouble.

Is it that you do not like the work or that you do not understand it?

If you like EE, then don't leave it. Just work harder. Figure out the source of your troubles and attack it.

If you do hate it, then definitely change majors ASAP.

 

[budala]

I find it too hard.

 

[Cyrus]

I suggest you post more information in this thread so we can help you. Just making a thread and sobbing in it won't do you any good, and quite frankly I find it pathetic and immature.

 

[G01]

I find it too hard.

This won't help. What do you find hard? The math? The Physics? Do you not understand what you are doing? If your problem is just that it is "too hard," they you are in agreement with about everyone. Most normal people find science and engineering to be hard and challenging, even those who do it. The difference is that scientists and engineers love what they do, no matter how hard it is. They're love for the profession greatly outweighs the frustrations occasionally encountered. Maybe engineering just isn't as enjoyable for you as you thought it would be? If you tell us your interests we can recommend some majors or career paths that may interest you.

Without more information, you may end up in the same situation with one of our recommendations.

 

[berkeman]

I suggest you post more information in this thread so we can help you. Just making a thread and sobbing in it won't do you any good, and quite frankly I find it pathetic and immature.

Yeah, I think we all feel pretty similar on this thread. But I know that I had hints of these feelings in my undergrad, as I adjusted from very easy high school acomplishments to the harsh realities of college, so I'm inclined to give the OP one chance to ask for advice to get them back on track.

Hey OP, how hard are you willing to work? What are your passions?

 

[cristo]

I'm not an engineer; my undergrad degree is in maths, but I definitely felt the feelings of doubt in the first year of university. I started skipping lectures, which escalated into missing a good 6 weeks of lectures, as I really didn't follow anything that was being taught to us. I managed to get back on track though by taking some time out and going home for a while.

I'm not trying to put across a sob story here-- it's all a long way in the past anyway-- but I'm merely saying that a lot of people have doubts about their abilities to study their course. It is, in the majority of cases, well worth sticking with it though. I would suggest (to the OP) to go and talk to your tutor (or whatever you call it over there) or maybe a university counsellor, to try and sort things out.

 

[budala]

guys, I really, really do appreciate you are trying to help me. I do want to graduate from EE program. I did study ( at least I think I did) and I got bad marks, I got slightly under 2.0 and it's unacceptable by the university, they put me on probation and limited my courses to 3 courses for September instead of at least 4 or 5 courses for the next semester, and 2 from those 3 courses are repeats bcs I got Ds.
Why I got under 2.0 my GPA is bcs I failed Java course amd got Ds in electrical courses.

I did very good in physics and excellent in math; As and Bs.

I feel I really do have a problem. I don't know how to get better marks on my exams.

Instead of taking my 5th semester (3rd year) courses I was told I have to take those courses where I got 53% (D) last year from my 2nd year.

 

[learningphysics]

guys, I really, really do appreciate you are trying to help me. I do want to graduate from EE program. I did study ( at least I think I did) and I got bad marks, I got slightly under 2.0 and it's unacceptable by the university, they put me on probation and limited my courses to 3 courses for September instead of at least 4 or 5 courses for the next semester, and 2 from those 3 courses are repeats bcs I got Ds.
Why I got under 2.0 my GPA is bcs I failed Java course amd got Ds in electrical courses.

I did very good in physics and excellent in math; As and Bs.

I feel I really do have a problem. I don't know how to get better marks on my exams.

Instead of taking my 5th semester (3rd year) courses I was told I have to take those courses where I got 53% (D) last year from my 2nd year.

Do you think you understand the material well?

 

[budala]

When I do my exercises all questions and checking solutions I get feeling I understand all material and I think I am ready for exams, I do well on lab projects, but I get low % on my exams.

 

[learningphysics]

When I do my exercises all questions and checking solutions I get feeling I understand all material and I think I am ready for exams, I do well on lab projects, but I get low % on my exams.

How about your exam problems... when you get them back and look at the solutions... do you understand them? Are they harder than your homework problems?

 

[budala]

that's true my exam problems are much harder than my home problems and my exams I find are completely different than the material what prof was teaching. I told them and He says; Oh what do you expect you have to know it.

 

[learningphysics]

that's true my exam problems are much harder than my home problems and my exams I find are completely different than the material what prof was teaching. I told them and He says; Oh what do you expect you have to know it.

Hmmm... I think you might just need to work more problems before your exams... if you've still got those tests, and you're repeating the course... then work those problems over and over... Maybe try to find other old tests from the same course... find problems from other texts... try to work the hardest problems... The most important thing I found in EE was working problems... over and over... don't just look through your old solutions... do the exercises again, then when you're done compare it to your old solutions to see if you did it right...

But the question is if you really like EE... is it something you're really passionate about... If you could do any career you wanted, what would you choose?

 

[Defennder]

Well I don't know about your university but for mine, they practise a policy where they refuse to reveal the solutions for their papers even for exams conducted years ago. So, yes you have the questions from past years but no answer to countercheck and certainly no way to know if you're right unless you bug your professor to check your work after you've done them.

 

[G01]

that's true my exam problems are much harder than my home problems and my exams I find are completely different than the material what prof was teaching. I told them and He says; Oh what do you expect you have to know it.

I would suggest working problems that involve multiple concepts as opposed to problems that only focus on one concept (ask a professor or TA for suggestions). This way, one problem can help to cement multiple concepts in your mind. Also, it will help you prepare for exams since these problems will also be more complicated and involved, as it seems your test problems are.

 

[BobG]

guys, I really, really do appreciate you are trying to help me. I do want to graduate from EE program. I did study ( at least I think I did) and I got bad marks, I got slightly under 2.0 and it's unacceptable by the university, they put me on probation and limited my courses to 3 courses for September instead of at least 4 or 5 courses for the next semester, and 2 from those 3 courses are repeats bcs I got Ds.
Why I got under 2.0 my GPA is bcs I failed Java course amd got Ds in electrical courses.

I did very good in physics and excellent in math; As and Bs.

I feel I really do have a problem. I don't know how to get better marks on my exams.

Instead of taking my 5th semester (3rd year) courses I was told I have to take those courses where I got 53% (D) last year from my 2nd year.

If you did well in physics and math, then perhaps it's just the circuits and you'd do better in a different engineering field. Probably not, though.

Generally, your early physics and math courses consist of learning how to use a tool - science or math. You don't put a whole lot of original thought into it. Not completely true, since the real challenge to calculus is in setting up your equation and that takes some analysis of the probem you're trying to solve, but neither involves design.

I'm suspecting that the design portion is the part you're having problems with. Personally, I think that would be better taught in the lab projects, since you have more time to think and you don't toss in the stress element, but forcing some serious thought on the tests isn't unusual.

Any engineering field you pick, it's not going to be the type of major where you learn how to do things by a checklist. You learn something and then have to use what you learn to create something new (probably not new to the world if it's a college course, but pretty new to you). That's an approach that takes a little getting used to at first.

I wouldn't necessarily decide electrical engineering is too hard because of a Circuits I course being to difficult. It's going to be incredibly difficult for two reasons:

1) You're going to use things like Node Voltage Analysis and Mesh Current over and over and over and if you don't know it cold, you might not pass a single course after Circuits I.

2) You ought to toss in a pretty good discriminator pretty early into the curriculum. If a person can't handle a particular major, it's better to find out in the first or second year rather than senior year. Finding out you were in the wrong major senior year would be pretty crushing.

Courses in your major probably won't get harder. They probably won't be that much easier, either. One of the wisest decisions I saw was the guy who finally passed Circuits I on his third try, then decided to change majors. Overcoming a serious obstacle through persistence and determination took some character, but he was honest enough about his own capabilities to decide he wasn't going to do that year after year.

 

[budala]

Thank you very much. Next week I will go to talk with my Dean and ask if I could take some more courses. Personally I think if they give me a chance to take some more new courses that I would do much better this time instead of repeats. What should I tell him? Thanks.

 

[chroot]

Let's look at it like a flowchart. The way I see it, there are really only two top-level reasons why you can fail a class:

1) You were not given sufficient instruction.
2) You did not exert sufficient effort.

Let's look at a (non-exhaustive) list of possible supporting causes of both:

1) You were not given sufficient instruction.

• The instructor's lectures were not clear.
• You were not able to pay close attention to all lectures.
• The instructor did not cover material used on tests.
• The instructor did not make it clear what he/she considered "mastery" of the material.
• You are suffereing from dyslexia, poor eyesight, or some other condition which is preventing you from learning normally.

2) You did not exert sufficient effort.

• You did not attend every class.
• You were distracted by family problems, depression or other mental illness.
• You had poor study habits, procrastinated on your assignments, etc.
• You did not ask questions when topics were not clear to you.
• You did not attend office hours or seek additional help outside of class.
• You did not make effective use of resources available to you: TAs, textbooks, study groups, etc.

Some of these failure modes could indicate a clearly "fixable" problem. For example, if you have a psychiatric condition or a minor learning disability, you can seek help and probably overcome it in time.

Some of these failure modes indicate that you're not using the educational system effectively, and can also be fixed. For example, TAs' and professors' office hours are not superfluous; they are an integral part of your education. You're paying for those hours, so you should use them. If you feel behind or lost in a class, you should be present at the professor's office hours every single time until you're back on track.

So, budala, can you tell us which of these factors are involved in your poor performance? Maybe we can give you some more pertinent advice.

- Warren

 

[kdinser]

Do all the homework problems over from scratch at least 3 times. By the time you are doing them for the 3rd time, problems that took you an hour or more the first time will only take you 10 mins or so. If your solution is different then the one the professor used or one used by another student, try to understand why and how they both work. If you do this, you will find that you will:

1. Blaze through any problem that is similar to a homework problem leaving you more time to work on the harder ones.

2. Recognize familiar concepts that may be combined in a new way to make a harder test question. This will also save you time.

3. be more likely to solve or partially solve the problems that require you to go beyond the material taught in the class because you will be calmer and have a lot more extra time to work on them.

I'm a senior EE major and when I started approaching my problem solving classes like this, I went from getting mostly B's and C's with an occasional A to getting almost all A's and B's. My junior year, I got 1 C and it was because I choose to take a job that prevented me from attending lecture for 80% of the semester. Good luck, don’t give it up if it’s something that you really want.

 

[symbolipoint]

Maybe you have trouble with a course because you try too many courses per semester. If you repeat a previously unsuccessful course, then take fewer courses during that semester so you can put extra study time on the course which you are repeating. You must ALWAYS pass a course which you repeat, and much much more successfully than the previous time you studied it.

Another thing to consider - be extremely honest with yourself about this: Are you weak on any prerequisite concepts or skills? If this is the case, then you know what to do about.

Another idea - can anyone prohibit you from studying a course (except for laboratory sections) during a time in which you are not enrolled in it? If you fail a course in the spring, then you have all summer to restudy it before retaking it in the Fall term. This means that in the Fall, you are studying this course for the THIRD time and absolutely you should pass it successfully.

 

[physpro]

I think one of the things that you said really indicates why you're having trouble. You said that you
THINK you understand the concepts, but fail on the exams. Try a practice that will allow you to KNOW. I've always found that I learn more when I teach than when I first took a course. One time, as a grad student, I was forced to teach a course I'd never taken. I REALLY learned then.

Try finding a buddy in the class or seeing the TA each week. Teach them what you're supposed to know and solve problems for them, explaining each step. Answer as many questions from other students as you can - struggling through them will teach you more. Other students will have questions you never thought of, and this gives you access to completely different points of view.

Make sure you study each subject EVERY DAY. Keeping the subject fresh in your mind will force your brain to think about things when you think you're not working - on the toilet, in the shower, etc.

I learned this method when I was an undergrad, and when I did, I finally pulled straight 'A's. I now teach the method to my students.

If you have the money, duplicate your EE labs in your home. Tinkering around with things related to your classwork makes you generate an intuition that you will be able to depend on. For JAVA, get it on your computer and program every day. Each day finish at least one program, making more and more complex ones as the days go on. You'll find that the class is a breeze if you can program at home.

If you're doing well in physics, your problem isn't your mind. Physics is the most challenging subject (in my opinion), and if you can handle it, you've already got a lot going for you). The problem is your strategy. Keep making adjustments to your strategy (lighting, study environment, exercise regimen, food you eat, friends you study with - or not, etc.) until something works.