How to improve in engineering exams

[Granger]

I don't know if this is the right place to put this, but here it goes...

I'm here to ask you what advice can you give me to achieve better results in engineering. I'm currently on my 5th semester and I'm still not managing to get good results. I really put effort on things, prepare myself, study hard both theory and exercises, and still manage to achieve poor results on tests, exams and lab assignments. I don't understand what I am doing wrong, but I'm currently feeling very stressed, frustrated and overwhelmed because it's horrible that after 5 semesters I'm still not coping with anything. It's really hard to maintain perseverance and optimism when everything seems to go wrong. So I'm looking for advice on how to study, how to manage time and stress, and basically how to cope with everything and maintain a regular good academic performance.

Thank you in advance...

 

[jedishrfu]

It all starts with your problem set, quizzes and tests.

Have you done a post-mortem on the problems you got wrong to see why you got them wrong?

My brother once had this issue, where he constantly got his math problems wrong. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that he actually solved them correctly but when doing the check made a common mistake and went back to "correct" the problem answer. Sometimes we find that haste in one area can cause problems in another.

Are you having panic attacks when doing tests where you freeze and don't finish all problems?

Do you remember the fact and formulas correctly or do you struggle to remember them?

 

[Granger]

It all starts with your problem set, quizzes and tests.

Have you done a post-mortem on the problems you got wrong to see why you got them wrong?

My brother once had this issue, where he constantly got his math problems wrong. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that he actually solved them correctly but when doing the check made a common mistake and went back to "correct" the problem answer. Sometimes we find that haste in one area can cause problems in another.

Are you having panic attacks when doing tests where you freeze and don't finish all problems?

Do you remember the fact and formulas correctly or do you struggle to remember them?

Hello! Thanks for your reply.
This semester I was taking 8.02 Physics (Electromagnetism) and tried to revise every problem I do, to check if I was really understanding the physics of the problem and I think it helped.
However yes on tests I freeze when I come up to some "different" problem. It happened last semester with Circuit Theory. My professor decided to mix diodes with circuit graphs and the problem was very easy I just froze and the moment I delivered the test the correct answer just popped on my head.
Sometimes yes, I have struggles relating information and facts...

 

[jedishrfu]

I had the freeze issue too. Its common when you put so much emphasis on your grades. One thing we don’t often realize is that many future employers don’t bother to look at grades only degrees.

One trick I did was to write down the key equations I needed at the top of my test paper so I would refer to them rather than regurgitate them when needed.

This worked really well it Algebra 2 with the trig formulas and triangle ratios,

You'll need to develop strategies like this for your tests.

Another trick I learned was to listen real careful to what the prof says. Sometimes they will hint at or abruptly change topics when they realize they are about to spill the beans on a test problem. One math prof I had said that sometimes you need to integrate y before x in a double integral and his quiz had such a problem.

You could also practice anticipating where that might occur and ask in class about it.