first week of university - so hard

[Fenixgoon]

Pending school and the prof, because not all views older papers & tests are study materials because they are too lazy to change it yearly. Using old tests and papers as study guide is an automatic dismissal at the universities that I attended.

in a few of my classes, it didn't matter what you had to help you. your notes never ever lined up with the questions.

i'll have to dig up my midterms/finals from my metals classes. those were the days

 

[Imp]

I left highschool with an A (86) average, here are my first year civil engineering grades:

First Semester - Average = 72.0
Chemistry 63
Statics 78
English/Tech Writing 81
Calculus 1 65
Linear Algebra 73

Second Semester - Average = 56.6 = Academic Probation
Engineering Social Studies 36
Computer Programming 71
Calculus 2 51
Dynamics 55
Materials Engineering 70

You're not alone. It's a huge adjustment, and we lost a lot of people when we came back for our second year. The worst thing you can do is give up and stop going to classes; I skipped them for WoW and cause I could. If you don't get something, go ask for help, be it professors, TAs or friends. Or just spend the time to figure it out yourself. For the love of god, don't just read through example problems, actually do them yourself.

FYI, I graduated with an 84.0 average in my final semester and start my masters tomorrow.

 

[Hacp]

No, I would rather actually learn the material. Professors have office hours, there are TAs, other classmates to ask, and even the university library full of other books to help you figure it out. Hell, there's even the internet. If you gave up on actually doing your work yourself and turned to basically just copying stuff out of the solutions manuals that's just sad and lazy.

I finished my mechanical engineering degree a few years ago and just started on my master's. There's been some times when I've struggled to figure things out but I can honestly say that I actually understood what I've turned in, rather than just copying something out of a manual.

So you go out there and learn the material without worked out example problems?

 

[RKS]

What do you guys do in pre-med?

are you being pedantic or just obtuse?

 

[IronWing]

I guarantee you that you're not alone in feeling overwhelmed in your first week in college.

Don't lie to make him feel better. The dude doesn't even comprehend the frustration his classmates are feeling waiting for him to get up to speed and quit holding back the class with his noob questions.

 

[TecHNooB]

Don't lie to make him feel better. The dude doesn't even comprehend the frustration his classmates are feeling waiting for him to get up to speed and quit holding back the class with his noob questions.

Sometimes a noob question is the inability of a really smart person to express their real confusion. A friend of mine was our class top senior, 4.0, brilliant engineer. People thought he was dumb for the longest time cuz he asked 'stupid questions'. However, if you actually tried to answer his question using what you thought was the answer, he would usually say, "Yea, I know, but..." Once he explains his true confusion, its downhill for you as well

It was nice to know that smart students DID recognize the validity of his questions.

 

[Zebo]

Work hard now so you don't have to work hard later...

 

[Martin]

Yeah, engineering will kick your ass at any good school, I know it did mine. It was quite hard (I went from being an excellent student in HS to struggling to be average in Engineering), but it was worth it.


Also, getting average marks didn't stop me (or my friends) from getting good, well-paying jobs, so don't worry if you're getting Bs and Cs.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

first week = party. I just went to my first football game of the year and walking by frat row and seeing all the pre-partying, I said to myself "Damn I miss college."

Sigh.

 

[Dumac]

well the only ap class I took was calculus bc, but it was laid back and the teacher didn't really care. I got an A in the class, but a 1 on the ap test. All of my other classes were honors.

Well there we go. It sounds like your highschool education was not effective. You have to be prepared to learn everything from the ground up, basically. If you take an AP class, you should get a 5 on the test, or at the very least a 3.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

are you being pedantic or just obtuse?

Are you deliberately trying to be insulting? I actually want to know.

 

[Sumguy]

Felt the same way my first semester of college. In high school I basically never really studied or cared enough to actually go for the A, just coasted by and ended up doing well enough anyway. Once I got to college, the feel of having challenging courses hit hard.

Oh, and I took physics I and II without ever taking any sort of physics class. None at all, F=ma was a totally new idea. Had absolutely no prior frame of reference that the professor assumed was there, and it doesn't help that physics at my university is a HUGE weed out course. That was fun.

Just realize every major has a few weed out courses, especially the first few courses you take.

 

[Bignate603]

So you go out there and learn the material without worked out example problems?

If I needed one I looked in the textbook for the course (or another textbook from the library), spoke with the professor, a TA or another student. I didn't look for the solutions manual that had either the exact question or something where I just needed to change the numbers.

 

[rocadelpunk]

some recommendations.

1.) duct tape
2.) drop a class

There's simply way too much change/adaptation to be really successful except for the most dedicated. Roommates staying up at all hours, women, alcohol, freedom, finding out how the bus system works, not being able to understand foreign professors, learning how/where to study...

You can always make up a course later

3.) you'll laugh at that statement 1st year engineering is rigorous. No, no it isn't. The material is not difficult it's just the total shift from hs where you were spoonfed even in ap/honors courses. However, this realization will just come from experience.

You grow up/mature a lot in that first year of college. Keep a journal and have fun. Don't be one of those engineering majors that always stays in and then lets everybody know/bitches about how difficult their major is. You choose this so just accept it, nobody likes a complainer.

4.) This is coming from an EE/Math and hs teacher
a.) Read the material before lecture. Even better is to try some problems before the lecture. This way you'll get a deeper understanding from lecture and have good questions. Knowing what you don't know is an important skill to have. Staying on top and ahead of the material will make you really successful.

b.) As soon as you learn the material in class, practice it. Don't wait until the next day or later that night. Go to the library while it's still fresh and start working asap. Not only will this help you with time management/getting your work done, but you'll realize again what you don't know and where you need help. Practicing new material as soon as possible helps cement it into long term memory and will lead to less review/studying in the long run.

c.) Make friends with the TA's and especially your professors. Start building connections asap.

d.) Take good notes (subjective) & write down any questions you have immediately in the corners/sides of your notebook. Get those small $1 black/white notebooks. They'll fit a solid quarter's worth of material and are much easier to lug around than those huge ones.


That's good for now...

 

[Hacp]

If I needed one I looked in the textbook for the course (or another textbook from the library), spoke with the professor, a TA or another student. I didn't look for the solutions manual that had either the exact question or something where I just needed to change the numbers.

So how is looking at the textbook for worked out examples and emulating them different from looking at the solution manual for worked out examples and emulating them? Its the same exact thing.

 

[moshquerade]

It's only been 4 days of university and I already feel that my head is going to explode. I thought I was decent in calculus and sciences, but it turns out that I am having a lot of trouble in first chapter of each course (calc,physics, chem.). I must mention that I am an engineering major, which of course is a very rigorous major. I knew that university level is a lot harder, and I expected that, but it seems that I just can't handle what is being thrown at me. Maybe because it is just a first week of school and I am not used to it yet, but I am already thinking that I should have gone to a community college first, or if I should change my major now. Did any of you have similar experiences like mine?

Hang in there! It will get better.

It seems high schools aren't preparing us very well. So when you are top of your class in high school, or even a decent student, you get a rude awakening when you go to college. (Especially if it's a college more prestigious than a community college)

Engineering is an awesome field. Don't give up on it so quick.

 

[JM Aggie08]

So if it is in fact your first year at any university, odds are that you are just taking basics right now.

The road is gonna be loooong and bumpy for you, OP.

 

[rocadelpunk]

Yeah don't switch majors. It's a lot easier to switch from engineering to something else than it is to go from something else to engineering.

I'm telling you, drop a course and pick up a yoga/ping pong/habitat for humanity at the rec center. Having that extra time to acclimate will pay dividends.

It's a matter of spreading yourself too thin.

Also start weight lifting, take an intro course at the rec center and go from there.

You will be fine, every first year engineer freaks out because they assign you too many courses. We all had 4 serious courses/labs or maybe 3 serious/lab and 1 jokey course. Cut it down to 3 serious courses until you learn how much you're comfortable with taking. This is advice I would give 99% of freshman students.

There are always exceptions, my still best friend and freshman year roommate had a ungodly early math class (6:30/7am), but he was really disciplined and could handle going out and doing his work (4.0) while still dealing with freshman stuff like people playing halo all night or someone not washing their socks for a month...

I had another engineering roommate who had a .66 gpa his first quarter, another one who had a 3.4 and me who had a 3.2

However, it's one of those "man, things would have been so much less stressful" if we just had one less course. It's a lot more fun to start off with a high gpa too than trying to play catch up from day one.

 

[Bignate603]

So how is looking at the textbook for worked out examples and emulating them different from looking at the solution manual for worked out examples and emulating them? Its the same exact thing.

Your prior post...

I have learned over the years that there is one surefire way to pass all the classes. Buy the solution manual. The teacher usually assigns problems that are similar to the problems worked in the solution manual. Just emulate how the solution manual solves the problems and you should be fine.

There's a difference between looking at an example that shows a concept and effectively just changing the numbers in an example from the solutions manual to make it match the problem that the professor gave you. If you never learn to actually take a concept and apply it to something that's different from what you've seen before you didn't really get that much out of the class. If things are just a little different from the examples you've found you're stumped.

And yes, sometimes this will mean you work at stuff for hours before you get it but you'll still get more out of it than if you just copied something out of a manual in a few minutes and never actually figured out why it worked.

 

[rh71]

freshman year - a lot of my floor were engineering majors... toward the end, most changed out. It's one thing being hard, it's another being something you don't even like...

 

[Acanthus]

some recommendations.

1.) duct tape
2.) drop a class

There's simply way too much change/adaptation to be really successful except for the most dedicated. Roommates staying up at all hours, women, alcohol, freedom, finding out how the bus system works, not being able to understand foreign professors, learning how/where to study...

You can always make up a course later

3.) you'll laugh at that statement 1st year engineering is rigorous. No, no it isn't. The material is not difficult it's just the total shift from hs where you were spoonfed even in ap/honors courses. However, this realization will just come from experience.

You grow up/mature a lot in that first year of college. Keep a journal and have fun. Don't be one of those engineering majors that always stays in and then lets everybody know/bitches about how difficult their major is. You choose this so just accept it, nobody likes a complainer.

4.) This is coming from an EE/Math and hs teacher
a.) Read the material before lecture. Even better is to try some problems before the lecture. This way you'll get a deeper understanding from lecture and have good questions. Knowing what you don't know is an important skill to have. Staying on top and ahead of the material will make you really successful.

b.) As soon as you learn the material in class, practice it. Don't wait until the next day or later that night. Go to the library while it's still fresh and start working asap. Not only will this help you with time management/getting your work done, but you'll realize again what you don't know and where you need help. Practicing new material as soon as possible helps cement it into long term memory and will lead to less review/studying in the long run.

c.) Make friends with the TA's and especially your professors. Start building connections asap.

d.) Take good notes (subjective) & write down any questions you have immediately in the corners/sides of your notebook. Get those small $1 black/white notebooks. They'll fit a solid quarter's worth of material and are much easier to lug around than those huge ones.


That's good for now...

That's kind of bullshit, taking multiple hard sciences and calculus is an enormous class load. You have all of your regular material, lab reports, pretty much daily calc hw, the labs themselves... It's a lot.

The rest of the advice is excellent though.

The best way to mitigate the class load for engineers is to plug in some electives to keep full-time. It sets you back a semester or two in total but the entire ride is a lot more manageable. I only lasted one full year of Math+Chem+Phys+Engi at PSU before i got burned out from the insane class load.

 

[Fingolfin269]

first week = party. I just went to my first football game of the year and walking by frat row and seeing all the pre-partying, I said to myself "Damn I miss college."

Sigh.

Ah yes I miss that side of college the most. Then again I still tailgate for the football games so do get to experience it to some degree on a bi-weekly basis for a few months out of the year.

 

[Eos]

Stupid thread. My term starts in 2 weeks, I'm only getting an AAS in engineering technology you guys are scaring the fuck out of me...

 

[kyrax12]

Mind giving tips on how to learn or different learning styles?

 

[Engineer]

Stupid thread. My term starts in 2 weeks, I'm only getting an AAS in engineering technology you guys are scaring the fuck out of me...

If you're not afraid now.....