#engineering notes

Week 2: Thursday

“Take a picture of the pens/highlighters that you could not live without”

My attempt at adding pictures to flash cards so I remember them better. Problem is coming up with other mnemonic devices for the other processes.

Calculus ( I, II, III):

Professor Leonard : This guy is a GOD. I think I showed up to 2 calc classes all semester (the first intro, and then exam review lmao) but I just watched his videos and passed calculus with a pretty decent grade. His videos are FULL LENGTH lectures and he actually explains the concepts with the assumption that you know nothing before hand, which is really hard to find since most youtubers assume you know related concepts before hand. Trust me on this. Just binge this guy.  Plus he looks like Superman

Patrick JMT : Really good for short length videos. Focuses on a small specific concept in each video. I often find myself searching up how to solve xyz type of problem and Patrick just gives you a quick 2-5 min video explaining how to solve that question. No BS. But I’d recommend going to Leonard^ first to understand the basic concept.

These two are the only guys you’ll need for calc- trust.

Physics

Micheal Van Biezen: He’s such a grandpa awww  His physics playlists are bomb - has one for mostly every physics chapter you’ll encounter in first or second year engineering. Also his style of teaching is like a grade school teacher and he kind of reminds me of Bob Ross idek it just warms my heart to learn from this guy.

JAVA/ Programming/Algothrims and Data Structures:

Abdul Bari: This guy goes at a slow pace but I swear to god nobody in my class understood time complexity (Big Oh notation) and the only reason I knew how to solve those questions on the test was because of this dude. Thank you Abdul. Seriously.

Micheal Sambol: I owe this kind of cute boy so much. His videos are all titled as “binary search trees in 3 minutes” etc - he explains the concept in detail, with so much clarity in just a few minutes.

randerson112358: Amateur video maker but really quick to explain concepts if you’re cramming the night before or morning of the exam. Ngl, im kind of attached to his little whiteboard videos.

Thermodynamics: 

learnthermo.com: So technically this is cheating cuz its not a youtube channel but this website is the only thing I used to get through my thermo class. Each topic (eg. second law of thermodynamics/ refrigerants and turbines etc) is broken down into a series of lessons and each lesson is broken down into 10-20 pages. Very easy to navigate. PLUS practice questions. OMG so many practice questions.

Heres a bonus link to a pdf workbook that basically summarizes all of thermodynamics into one page per chapter cheatsheets and then has tons of practice problems WITH STEP BY STEP SOLUTIONS at the end of the doc: thermo workbook pdf

Materials Science: 

Video 1 and Video 2 from The Organic Chemistry Tutor are a crash course intro to basic unit cell/lattice/BCC/FCC/general cubic structures and calculations. I’ve found that there aren’t many other videos for materials science since mostly you need to memorize how to solve each type of question. I can upload my own notes for this if theres a demand for it so lmk. 

Day 10/100 of Productivity - Change of Scene

Today, I went on adventure! Into the city centre I went and I sought out a quiet-ish study space for when I don't want to stay home or go into uni. I found this nice little Starbucks not far from the river. The best part is, there's a top floor that's usually quiet despite there being there. When I first walked in there was actually nothing but people studying, laptops and study groups!!

Okay so I just finished my first semester in university and lets just say I've got to change my whole learning/studying style to be able to survive here. Here are some of the things I’ve learnt to do and will be doing in second semester:

1. Start backwards:

 I highschool, you try to learn the subject by going to class, listening to the teacher, then going home, reading the textbook, then doing the homework, then making notes, then studying for the final. In engineering, you have to do this backwards: You will realize that you are going to be basically teaching yourself the content one way or another soon before the finals, so better start now. First, go through the past exams and past papers - make a list of all the major topics covered (example: if in an electrical circuits course, a question on a past final exam is “find the equivalent circuit using thevenin’s theorem” then write Thevenin’s theorem as a topic to be learned). Then go on youtube and find videos that explain each of these topics to you and make rough notes on these topics. (Reblog if you want me to make a master list of all the youtubers that teach engineering really well). Then go through he textbook and find sample questions not he theorem/topic you learnt off of youtube, and solve them. Then write your doubts in a notebook. Then go to class and have two notebooks open : one where you are taking notes of what the prof is saying, and one which has your practice problems solved, and see if the prof clarifies your doubts in the lecture. The lecture should be review of what you learnt at home!!!! Then, after class go to the prof and clarify any doubts. Then go home and make final notes on the topic. I like to make notes on cue cards (more on this later). Then go back to the final exam and see if you can solve the problem.

2. Make cue cards:

I like to get index cards and write a short note on how to solve each type of question I am likely to see on a final exam on each question card. Example: one cue card for “how to find resistance using wheatstone bridge” . I link the cue cards with a clip and its easier to carry the around and study.

3. Get pretty notebooks and organize your stationary. Its easier to stay focused when everything is pretty.