<p>I think engineering makes people feel dumb. I thought I was pretty smart in HS, now I feel like a village idiot lol. </p>
<p>I don't see how anyone could pass a class without taking any notes. Lower level courses maybe, but upper level courses have so much information that sometimes you can't digest it all in class. But then again, I'm the village idiot :)</p>
<p>I never took Dynamics but I did take Statics (hah! and I'm an ECE), and I remember that class was rough for me. I made a 44 on the first test. That was the wakeup call I needed to get my butt in gear though. Thermodynamics was fun (again no idea why it's required for me) although most of the class didn't do well at all. But then again, most of the class didn't spend the entire saturday every week studying Thermo like I did. Like previous posts said, dedication is the key to success. </p>
<p>I'll be honest, 25 hr/week part time job (so I can eat and pay rent) + 30-40hrs of studying a week = no life and little sleep. But I see it as an investment. The old saying goes, no pain, no gain.</p>
<p>Kids, do not be worried. i came into georgia tech, one of the most rigourous engineering schools in the country with only a 3.38 gpa and a 1200 sat score. i took 16 hours my first semester and got a 3.67. i got a 4.0 with 15 hours my second semester. so the key to surviving an engineering school is just study hard, play hard, and find those people who know hwat they are doing. ask questions, becaue nine times out of ten, the poeple who do not ask questions want to ask questions.</p>
<p>Notes completely kill me. Every time I take notes in a class, my grade drops. I usually keep the text book in front of me, and then whenever I know something is original to the teacher I jot it down.</p>
<p>I know some people who take notes and actually seem to be able to concentrate on the lecture (I can infer this by the questions they ask)... I honestly don't know how they do it.</p>
<p>I've had people comment "Oh, you must be a genius not to take notes and still get an A." B.S. I think you have to be a genius to get a good grade while taking notes. LOL</p>
<p>But then again, I guess people have different learning styles.</p>
<p>I use to sit in class and "absorb" the information, instead of taking any notes. I found that, come test time, I would be spending my time with my textbook more than those who took notes.</p>
<p>Now I keep a notebook open and jot down important things. My entire "study regime" really reduces the amount of time I study in the end. I said this before, but again - I study every night. 30 minutes each subject before sleeping no matter how far away the test is. This gives me much more free time and I find that I can retain the material longer (for the final and such). It works.</p>