What Do I Keep Doing Wrong in my Engineering Classes

<p>I know that struggle all too well. But wow, 60 hrs for 13 units? That’s way more than me. What I usually do to see if I understand the material is use another book. and try to solve the problems. If I can’t, I look at the first step of the solutions manual, and determine if I internalized the situation correctly. If I didn’t I go back to the problem and try to rationalize why I was wrong and try to reevaluate the problem. If I am correct, I continue to move down until I see the error. Sometimes its an algebra mistake, an error in logic, a new concept I failed to apply, or an old concept I forgot. </p>

<p>But if all else fails, I go to you tube and search for problems. Its a hit or miss, but when I do find it I bookmark and watch again and again. The reason is, I am aware of another scenario. While engineering is a comprehension major, in many cases, most problems are within certain guidelines and you can power your way through problems, if you are used to similar problems. And complex problems (at least with my profs) were simply multiple
problems embedded into one comprehensive problem.</p>

<p>Assuming your maths are correct, then the problem is you don’t know how to represent the situation, which is the most critical step. Of course, since its the final, you don’t know the other factors. It could be you are scoring moderately well, but there are better test takers which ruins the curve (some profs like normalizing scores). Are your finals multiple choice or free response style?</p>

<p>All my engineering finals are free-response style. It also doesn’t help that the professors usually grade on a curve and that the majority of students in my classes are transfers who have had to excel in their prerequisite math/physics/chemistry courses in order to get into the major. One of my classmates is six years older than me and a lot others have had more years than I have in college before getting to where I am now. </p>

<p>It is possible that your courses with shift toward more projects, less emphasis on test grades. Ask some upperclassmen what to expect next year. </p>