<p>I will be taking lots of engineering courses within the next few years and I would like to know any tips students may have. I am well aware of the long hours I will have to put in. </p>
<p>Already, because I know my math skills arent that great, I am brushing it up throughout this summer. </p>
<p>Anything else I may need to know?</p>
<p>Did you take any math/science AP or IB courses?</p>
<p>Go to class.</p>
<p>Seriously.</p>
<p>Every time you skip class, it makes it easier to skip the next class.</p>
<p>^^ Agreed. Make sure to go to class and DO THE HOMEWORK.</p>
<p>Even if it’s not graded, set up a time every single day to work on all of your homework. Say 4-6 pm. Work on each homework for a little bit each day, don’t do huge stints of one homework at a time.</p>
<p>Reading the textbooks is not imperative as long as you go to class and do the homeworks.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say you NEED to go to class. Just keep up. As long as you don’t fall behind, it’s not hard to learn the little details when you need it.</p>
<p>Start your homeworks as early as possible.</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Go to class.</p>
<p>Don’t fall behind and ask for help if you do not understand topics. My first two years as a Cornell Engineer I did NOT do these two things (and also skipped a ton of classes) and got a 2.5 including a D-, D, D+ … not so good. The last two years I stayed on top of things and got about a 3.6. (PS - I worked hard but I did not kill my self the last two years … had a girlfriend …went to all the football, hockey, and lacrosse games … etc)</p>
<p>The same study habits don’t apply to everyone. If you’re the type of person who learns better on your own than listening to a lecture, there are potentially better uses of your time.</p>
<p>For example, I was in PHYS 2214 this past semester. I went to lecture only because of mandatory attendance, but I never paid any attention, since I was doing work for other classes on my laptop the whole time. The day before/of a prelim, I re-read the material, and did the prelim posted from the previous year. This worked for me, and I did pretty well in the class. If I didn’t do other work in this class, that’d be two hours of later time that I’d have to spend (which I didn’t really have).</p>
<p>Perhaps I should rephrase what I was saying. You should discover how you learn best, and then follow that.</p>
<p>My main advice has already been stated:
“As long as you don’t fall behind…”
“Don’t fall behind” </p>
<p>And a corollary, also already stated:
“DO THE HOMEWORK”
<p>Many too-easy high schools have gotten students in the habit of studying for tests or reviewing class work only just before an exam. The most successful college students of my acquaintance did not operate this way, they stayed on top of their classes and did not leave things for the end. There is often a lot more, and more difficult, material to assimilate than in a high school class.</p>
<p>Also, I found that too often my semesters were suboptimalized by poor showings in the final quarter of the semester, with the crunch of final projects, final section tests and then immediately after, final exams. Advance planning is warranted to make sure each of the assignments and exams that get bunched up at the end will get adequate attention. The lull between the prior set of due dates and the final crunch should be used as a period of manic proactive work, rather than several weeks of “Miller time”. That will potentially make a big difference in your performance in the final weeks, where it counts.</p>
<p>For math-physics-engineering type courses, before an exam do a bunch of the problems in your textbook that have solutions in the back of the book, not just the ones that were assigned. and check your answers. work groups can be good for this, if one of you can’t figure out how to do a problem maybe another one of you can.</p>
<p>For any course that has a paper assigned, get it done as soon as possible, absolutely do NOT let it drag out towards the deadline.</p>
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<p>Really fantastic advice that I felt the need to second. This is a mistake I made once and never made it again :)</p>
<p>Besides the points mentioned above, which are all valid and true. Remember to relax and realize that your life doesn’t just depend on what grade you achieve on your E&M prelim. I think too often people forget this and base their self-worth on their grades. Enjoy college and realize that the reason you’re in Cornell Engineering is to learn and prepare yourself academically and intellectually for life in the future. </p>
<p>Just relax and enjoy college, it’ll pass quickly. Work hard, play hard.</p>
<p>The best advice in this topic is don’t fall behind and do the homework. Once you fall behind its so difficult to catch up.</p>
<p>How you do this is up to you, but note that usually going to class and paying attention is the easiest way to not fall behind, though results may vary depending on the quality of the professor.</p>
<p>It would be a good idea to read the sections to be covered in the text book before the lecture. You will then be able to concentrate during the lecture on the ideas and points that are actually difficult. You will also not just sit there copying everything down because you will know what it is important to make note of. </p>
<p>This strategy is hard to do on a long term basis because most of us are lazy! It is however an effective way to stay ahead and in the long run it saves time. </p>
<p>After the lecture you should reread and do problems. Try to do the problems without looking back at the material in the chapter. If you need to look back then do not do that problem again until you understand the material. Little is gained by working problems by just copying the worked solution in the text. You need to study that solution until you can do it without looking at it. The extra time that you spend in this way is of great value. It will also put the ideas in to long term memory which is important for the final exam. Even more important it will put the ideas in to long term memory so that you will actually remember them a few years down the line!</p>
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<p>That doesn’t sound like relaxing to me.</p>
<p>My most important advice is to get involved in something other than academics – a performing group, a robot building competition, a sports club. It’ll force you to use you time better (as opposed to spending hours on Youtube or playing video games) while also allowing you to meet new people and get a valuable perspective on your education.</p>
<p>The biggest lesson that I learned from my first two years is that exam/project/paper schedules often do not allow you to spend more than a day or two to prepare for each exam. If you’re unlucky, sometimes you’ll have less than a day between prelims. Mark each exam date on your calendar at the beginning of the semester, and plan our your study days. For example: If your exams happen to be really close together, start studying for one of them (probably the later one) a week or two in advance. You’ll be busy with other classes, so keep it light. Just make sure that you get some studying/review in. Study really hard for the first exam the weekend before, and then right after the exam finish preparing for the second. That way you won’t have the problem of being prepared for the first exam and going into the second with very little studying (I learned this the hard way).</p>
<p>Some people have trouble getting started but are very productive once they get into a groove, and can keep going forever. Try to get into a productive mode during weekends, when you don’t have classes or can afford to stay up late. I typically work non-stop on Saturdays and crank out two or three problem sets by Monday. </p>
<p>I think CayugaRed makes an excellent point. As a freshman I used to do about 15 hours a week of clubs and part-time jobs, and it really got me in the habit of managing my time effectively. Now I do about 10 a week because I am usually way too busy, but I no longer waste as much time on facebook or youtube as I did in high school.</p>
<p>Here is the truth, and I am sure everyone has said enough about the truth.</p>
<p>My truth is as follows:</p>
<p>Go to the damn class, and do the homework.
I know some people can get A+ by just reading the assiged text (or notes). Now, assuming you are not the smartest, and sometime you may struggle, then you probably aren’t qualify to skip your lectures and stick to the book on your book.</p>
<p>Even Physics I looks simple, but there are tricks that you may not discover on your own. </p>
<p>I agree that you have to find your own way, but listen, you are paying your damn tutition. If you can stick to your scheulde, and become a memeber of “anti-procasination”, you should not have any problem with not able to give up two, three hours of your time to finish a killer problem for another class at another time. Try not to do any stuff that is outsidethe context of your lecture class (don’t start doing data structure while you are in physics).</p>
<p>Either you miss an important message or reminders from your professors, and or you might not be able to keep up with it.</p>
<p>It is also a bad habit that I find it very difficult to get rid of. I had this experience,and I suffered two classes with B- and C. I used to be late, or skip a class or two, and I thought it would be so fine with practicing problems in the textbook.</p>
<p>But either my exam problems are much harder than the one in the textbook, or I spent 5-6 hours trying to understand everything on my own, which I could have done it in two lectures, and all my friends scored above 90. They did bad in other classes, but not those two that I got C and B-.</p>
<p>My point is that even if you find yourself as smart as Newton, Rienman, or Fayman, or any well-known scientists and mathematians, go to class and hang out there.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the tips, bruvs. It’s really helpful. And so true. In my high school, my friends who did worse than me didn’t participate in class as much as I did. And then they asked my what I did to do better grades-wise than them. Facepalm moments.</p>