- #1
Greg Freeman
- 48
- 0
I dropped out of my graduate program in engineering after a year and a half to pursue a career (dream job) across the country. I'm now employed there, and am enjoying it, but I miss certain aspects of college. Mainly, I want to keep my mind powerful. So, I've started on a path to refresh my memory on everything...starting with...arithmetic. Yeah apparently I have a lot of free time (helps save me money as well by not going out so much, haha...not to mention the recovering ankle injury)
When I was in college, I tried sometimes in my free time to study new material on my own, but I could never get all the way through an academic textbook (and it took forever for me to motivate myself), because I always got hung up on the grueling task of doing math. I found myself being too reliant on my calculator and drawing blanks when it came to actually doing physics problems (physics, which I tended to enjoy more than my engineering classes). I remembered being so quick with math, and something happened (probably lack of rigorous study habits) in college that made me slow down. I want to reconquer physics and possibly take the physics GRE and see where that will get me.
A week into this and I'm 1/3 through "How to Calculate Quickly" by Henry Sticker. After that I was planning on running through an algebra book then my calculus/DE books so that I can hit physics straight on without stumbling over the math (I don't think that will take long judging by my quick progress with arithmetic, and I remember a good amount of calc). Sure, I can still do calculus problems, but I'm not as quick as I want to be. That, and I miss obvious things by not being able to run numbers through my head quickly. I've also considered doing some tutoring part time if I can find a gig, possibly as some extra income and mental exercise.
So how psycho am I? I enjoy sitting there, playing with numbers in my free time...eek
When I was in college, I tried sometimes in my free time to study new material on my own, but I could never get all the way through an academic textbook (and it took forever for me to motivate myself), because I always got hung up on the grueling task of doing math. I found myself being too reliant on my calculator and drawing blanks when it came to actually doing physics problems (physics, which I tended to enjoy more than my engineering classes). I remembered being so quick with math, and something happened (probably lack of rigorous study habits) in college that made me slow down. I want to reconquer physics and possibly take the physics GRE and see where that will get me.
A week into this and I'm 1/3 through "How to Calculate Quickly" by Henry Sticker. After that I was planning on running through an algebra book then my calculus/DE books so that I can hit physics straight on without stumbling over the math (I don't think that will take long judging by my quick progress with arithmetic, and I remember a good amount of calc). Sure, I can still do calculus problems, but I'm not as quick as I want to be. That, and I miss obvious things by not being able to run numbers through my head quickly. I've also considered doing some tutoring part time if I can find a gig, possibly as some extra income and mental exercise.
So how psycho am I? I enjoy sitting there, playing with numbers in my free time...eek