<p>Are you working as a civil/structural engineer? Do you ever draw these diagrams, or was that a long lost art that you did back in college? Is there anything specific that you learned in college that you used constantly? I.e., a certain equation or method.</p>
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Is there anything specific that you learned in college that you used constantly?
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<p>For me only hydraulics.
I'm pretty much rusty on all other subjects.</p>
<p>Still drawin' 'em.</p>
<p>I don't do as much computation by hand anymore, but I know what things <em>should</em> look like and if they don't look like what I predict in the quantities that I think would be reasonable under a given loading, then I know something's wrong with my computer model and I have to ferret out what's going on and find a valid, repeatable reason for it.</p>
<p>I don't really have any hints for shear and moment diagrams other than to reassure you that it's one of those skills that just requires repetition, like learning to add or subtract. It exercises your brain in a weird way that you probably haven't worked before, so know that all of us had a tough time with it at first.</p>
<p>Also, if one professor doesn't explain it terribly well, try going to another professor (we went from our structural analysis professor to our mechanics of materials professor and asked him to re-explain it to us all) and get it from a different viewpoint. Then, just start knocking out example problems.</p>
<p>It's not one of those things that comes naturally, but it'll 'click' when you've had enough practice. Just make sure that you practice it enough before the exam so that you'll do okay!</p>
<p>As to what else I use, I actually use a lot of what I learned... I'm constantly referring to my old books. Steel, concrete, mechanics, geotech, dynamics, materials... only ones I don't really use that much anymore are hydrology and fluids, but I'm not in anything having to do with water.</p>
<p>To the OP, one piece of advice that applies equally to "free-body" diagrams as well as shear and moment diagrams- have a VERY firm grasp of what your sign conventions are going to be, and be sure you are consistent with them, both within a given problem but also over time. I think a big reason lots of people get messed up is because of not paying attention to this. By the way, I am a mechanical engineer but I also work with these diagrams quite a bit, although being lazy I always try to convince myself that one case or another already worked out in a book is close enough (at least for preliminary work).</p>