/sci/ - Science & Math

did you have finals yet?

start studying motherfucker

lrn2college. The week before finals is the most important week of the whole semester.

>>5340303
> get smarter
By not having that mindset. If you're serious about this then go back to your fundamentals and practice problems until you hit a point that you can't understand anymore. Look over the chapter again and keep doing problems and looking at examples to help you through them. Then move on to the next part. I suspect that you are probably just in way over your head and you're into material you just don't get. That means you have no fundamentals to even give you the tools to understand. You're hampering yourself.

Physics student here. I learn best by doing problems. I'm not sure how it is in EE, but in physics it's all about solving problems. The more problems you solve, the better you'll be at solving problems. It's just like riding a bicycle.

>>5340310
I'm actually only in precalculus right now, and i'm glad I am. I switched majors mid semester and physics 1, calculus 1 and chemistry 1 start next semester. Thats what worries me the most. I see fucking posts on this board with numbers and symbols I've never even seen. I'm trying to take it slowly but its just so overwhelming realizing i need to maintain a 3.0 GPA

>>5340319
Chemistry 101 is dead basic, you should be able to easily pull off an A in that course simply because you don't rigorously go through material - it's usually only superficially covered. You've already seen calculus in some part in pre-calc, and you may find Calculus quite simple actually. Physics will use what you learn in physics as well - that is if it's a calculus-based one instead of an algebra-based one.

Like I said before, go back and review stuff until you find territory you're comfortable with. Make an outline where you show what you understand to what you don't understand and just attack. Some people just need to add extra organization to themselves, there's nothing wrong with that. Not every scientist was a genius at science or math - just very good at organization and understanding.

>>5340341
thanks that actually made me feel a lot better. I had mostly Cs in high school from being a lazy fuck, and this semester was my first ever so i really didn't know what to expect and still didn't do that bad. I'll just organize and work even harder.

Im a senior in computer engineering
and trust me i have to take my fair share of EE courses.

Here are some pro-tips to be a successful student.

First, this is now your life for the next 4 or 5 years.

Secondly, always show up for class.
Never sit farther back than the middle (helps you pay attention)
Always read the sections before the lecture.
Always do your homework on time, and preferably before the following lecture.

The thing about college is though that you are mainly evaluated using tests. As such, you need to become a good test taker. That means studying hard for tests and making sure you master the material.

Dont worry about being scared for harder classes. The learning curves between precalc and calc1 isnt any different than between calcIII and differential equations, even though from where you are standing, calcIII and dif EQ would blow your mind. So just stick with it and it wont be that bad.

Good luck, its worth it!!

>>5340362
all these kind and motivating words, thank you.

Don't take more credits than you can manage
Study for all of your classes all of the goddamn time

The later on in your degree you'll get, the more time you will have to devote to studying (especially if you have lab work). What I found useful is to take an easy general elective class (english, history, etc...) every semester, and then take the rest of your credits as engineering classes. That way you'll still get the hours in, but it will be less work to do so you can focus on classes that actually matter.

>1.Study material thoroughly throughout semester.
>2. Finals come around.
>3.?????
>4. PROIFIT!

No seriously, it works.

Senior Electrical Engineering undergrad here,

It's very doable, but your fears are justified about the math / physics. Those were the hardest classes to get through, simply because I was not interested in the material at the time. After taking the majority of EE classes, the physics and math are far more interesting because you get more hands on experience and can relate the concepts to physical objects.

It's pretty much unanimous that studying is a must to make it through the harder courses, but make sure you can get the correct solutions from either a manual online or cramster or something. Not to mention make lots of friends. All my peers and I share a dropbox with all the materials from each course we had to take, that way when we didn't understand something we could get the info we needed first hand from someone who went through it already.

Change majors into something that you enjoy enough to work at. Seriously. I'm not trying to bullshit you for some superiority thing, and I'm not an engineering major. I was in chemical engineering, but I moved into microbiology when I realized that I hated chem eng and there was no point in doing something that was extremely difficult and that wasn't enjoying. I would just end up doing poorly, and be worse off for it.

I still have to work hard to be a competitive bio major because there are so many of us, so I'm not unchallenged. Because I'm interested in what I do, it isn't as hard to work hard. Do yourself a favor and take some classes in fields you think you might like, and go with what you want. You will do well in any field, no matter how difficult it is to be successful or how "soft" the science is, as long as you love it. This country is overstuffed by people who are being told to become engineers, when in reality engineering is meant for a very specific and small subgroup of people. Don't feel bad about it, just do your thing.