<p>I’m a rising senior civil engineering major at Maryland. The freshman physics you’re going to take is PHYS161. Freshman year is all about weeding out people. The classes you will be taking are designed for a high failure rate because the Clark school wants to separate students who are doing engineering for a passion versus those who don’t. I got an A in PHYS161 but didn’t study much. That’s because I already took physics in high school and the professor had a huge curve because many people did terribly. </p>
<p>Assuming you are in engineering because you have a passion for this (I don’t), you should do fine. Go to lecture, study every day, do your homework, go to office hours, get help from your TA, etc. Do this for every class. </p>
<p>Be glad that civil people only have to take PHYS161 and PHYS260/261. When I was an EE major, I had to take PHYS 270/271, which was brutal.</p>