- #1
Weightofananvil
- 34
- 1
Hey,
I'm in my first year of Electrical Engineering studies and finding a lot of common places in my studying and ways of approaching things that may be leaving me short. I really enjoy my circuit analysis class, I love learning the concepts, formulas and visualizing how they work in my head. I've gone to bed angry stumped with a concept and woke up with answers (its happened twice, but I have no idea how it happened.) I've been doing lots of research on learning styles and left vs right brained people and talked with my school councilling to try and find studying styles that work for me . I find some similarities and some differences with most articles but people are like snowflakes, right? Nothing will really be perfect until I hone in on it myself. My problem is this from the physics standpoint: Typically I learn from my textbook, I cannot pay attention to my teacher who writes example after example on the board. so I usually work on assignments throughout his class while peaking up occasionally. After I learn the concepts, I usually try a few practice problems and am able to get them. I just wrote a midterm and lost a terrible amount of marks because my work wasn't "what he expected, or showed in lectures" aka his 5 step process for thevenin theorem or steps for superposition. even though my answers were correct. I realize I do things my own way, because non of my fellow students typically understand how I worked things when they try and copy... but they work don't they? I am just wondering if anyone has encountered similar problems and has any solutions or helpful hints?
I am very quick to grab the overall concept, I usually can almost immediately see why a formula works and compare it to a circuit and prove my point. Sometimes the small details in questions can take me a long long time to figure out. I'm willing to hash them out, but again if anyone has any tips it would be appreciated.
My issue in math: I am really good at trigonometry. I just completed a math midterm and was awarded by my teacher with class recognition being in the top 3 marks of our class. After class my teacher came and said "how did you pull that off compared to the first midterm?" and I said "because its not algebra." I need ways to work things that are strictly numbers and no diagrams. Algebra for the most part isn't hard but I have a hard time visualizing it when its just letters and your just applying something or simplifying. If the same question was given to me in relation to say a circuit or as a math equation saying solve for x I would have an infinitely harder time with the math version of the question.
I'm seeing these little weak links that are costing me marks and causing me stress, so I'm trying to be proactive about finding solutions. The workload is only going to get harder and I really want to be successful as an engineer. I really really enjoy the knowledge I'm getting out of it but I can't help but feel some of these tiny struggles are avoidable.
Anybody else ever encountered similar issues?
Thanks and I look forward to your replies!
I'm in my first year of Electrical Engineering studies and finding a lot of common places in my studying and ways of approaching things that may be leaving me short. I really enjoy my circuit analysis class, I love learning the concepts, formulas and visualizing how they work in my head. I've gone to bed angry stumped with a concept and woke up with answers (its happened twice, but I have no idea how it happened.) I've been doing lots of research on learning styles and left vs right brained people and talked with my school councilling to try and find studying styles that work for me . I find some similarities and some differences with most articles but people are like snowflakes, right? Nothing will really be perfect until I hone in on it myself. My problem is this from the physics standpoint: Typically I learn from my textbook, I cannot pay attention to my teacher who writes example after example on the board. so I usually work on assignments throughout his class while peaking up occasionally. After I learn the concepts, I usually try a few practice problems and am able to get them. I just wrote a midterm and lost a terrible amount of marks because my work wasn't "what he expected, or showed in lectures" aka his 5 step process for thevenin theorem or steps for superposition. even though my answers were correct. I realize I do things my own way, because non of my fellow students typically understand how I worked things when they try and copy... but they work don't they? I am just wondering if anyone has encountered similar problems and has any solutions or helpful hints?
I am very quick to grab the overall concept, I usually can almost immediately see why a formula works and compare it to a circuit and prove my point. Sometimes the small details in questions can take me a long long time to figure out. I'm willing to hash them out, but again if anyone has any tips it would be appreciated.
My issue in math: I am really good at trigonometry. I just completed a math midterm and was awarded by my teacher with class recognition being in the top 3 marks of our class. After class my teacher came and said "how did you pull that off compared to the first midterm?" and I said "because its not algebra." I need ways to work things that are strictly numbers and no diagrams. Algebra for the most part isn't hard but I have a hard time visualizing it when its just letters and your just applying something or simplifying. If the same question was given to me in relation to say a circuit or as a math equation saying solve for x I would have an infinitely harder time with the math version of the question.
I'm seeing these little weak links that are costing me marks and causing me stress, so I'm trying to be proactive about finding solutions. The workload is only going to get harder and I really want to be successful as an engineer. I really really enjoy the knowledge I'm getting out of it but I can't help but feel some of these tiny struggles are avoidable.
Anybody else ever encountered similar issues?
Thanks and I look forward to your replies!