Hi everyone,

I know, it's been a long time since I've last posted here - I've been missing you guys, although I have occasionally popped in now and then to have a quick read of some posts.

As some of you may remember, I was going through my final exams at school, which took a lot of time, hence a lack of time for electronics. But after getting my results and finding a place at university, I have finally managed to achieve my dream of studying electronics at university! I am really, really excited for it all, I have even bought cheap old editions of the textbooks I'll be using so I can have a read already!

But anyway, I was wondering if you guys have any hints, tips or words of wisdom which you would be willing to part with, when it comes to taking electronics at uni? Perhaps from your own experience, or from what you have seen in recent EE graduates, what would you suggest I look out for?

I really want to maximise my university experience - if I could, I would stay forever, learning about absolutely every field of electrical and electronic engineering I could. Alas, it is sadly not possible.

Hope you guys have been well - I'm looking forward to your replies.

Sparky

 

Hey Sparky! Long time no see.

I don't think you want to stay in uni for ever. However, you can if you want. The road to postdoctorate is a long one.

The most important advice I have to give you, after 6 years in university, is to always leave some time for electronics in the week. There will be times that your courses will have nothing to do with electronics, at least as far as you are concerned. It will be boring and it will also be mandatory. So just remember that your final goal is to learn electronics and that goes through those courses. I found that having small projects around helps.

Keep it up!

 

The most important advice I have to give you, after 6 years in university, is to always leave some time for electronics in the week.

You can always assist here at AAC to keep the electronics in your week. Even if it's confirming or denying someone's schematic works as desired or confirming homework (but stay within the homework forums rules). The topics always are varied and keeps those brain cells in proper orbit ...

 

I certainly will be popping back - it's good to know that it will at least help my education. Maybe.

 

Having worked at a university for some time now, and looking back on my own experience at school, I can tell you the two most important things I ever did were 1) Sit in the front of the classroom (first or second row), and 2) Take LOTS of notes. Basic rule of thumb, if it's on the blackboard, it should be in your notebook.

Sitting in one of the front rows helps prevent you from zoning out and missing important information. As a student it never failed. If I sat in the middle or back of the class, my grades were worse. If I sat in the front, they were better. Every time.

Best wishes to you, sparky!
Regards,
Matt

 

Sitting in front is good to, you never know when you're going to get a soft spoken professor. Try not to miss a class either, it shows the professor you're trying which could help you on final exams. Also, have some fun...it doesn't have to be all work.

 

My wife sat in the front row and recorded every lecture. This reduced here note taking to the salient points and at that time, I converted all the cassette tapes to mp3 files. When she reviewed the material, if there were any questions, she opened the MP3 and "relived" the lecture.

Yes, she four pointed the class.

I told her the story about when I was an instructor and one class "failed". Well, the two instructors in that class re-evaluated everything we did and came to the conclusion that while we were talking, every head was down, scribbling away and not paying attention to what was going on. The next class, we put together a handout that replicated our notes, the salient points, and as expected, the students paid attention more and were successful in the class.

Is that good for every class? Who knows. My wife relayed that story to one of her professors and in his next class, his handout was the power point slides ... with space for notes.

 

I wish I could read my notes :/
I give up (or forget )trying to write neatly after the first few lines and as a result at the end of the class my notes look like a headless chicken with inky feet ran over the paper so I don't bother taking notes anymore.

 

I wish I could read my notes :/
I give up (or forget )trying to write neatly after the first few lines and as a result at the end of the class my notes look like a headless chicken with inky feet ran over the paper so I don't bother taking notes anymore.

However, that is NOT the example to follow, Sparky

This thread is about how to SUCCEED at Uni

 

I have other ways of studying other than taking notes and reading them
It's all up to preference IMO . For example I am very efficient if I concentrate in class if I think and imagine the subject at hand . If I take notes then I can't concentrate on what is being said so basically it would be a waste of time for me.

 

I have other ways of studying other than taking notes and reading them
It's all up to preference IMO . For example I am very efficient if I concentrate in class if I think and imagine the subject at hand . If I take notes then I can't concentrate on what is being said so basically it would be a waste of time for me.

Very true, some people learn better by picturing things rather than writing them down. I am one of those people myself. However, it's more difficult to access it later on if you don't write it down. I believe it's a fine balance, and the level is different for every person. I still highly recommend taking frequent notes though, at least until you can figure out what works best for you, that you can refer to later.

Matt

 

Well the thing is that everything I ever needed to find is on the internet in one form or another .
Also , alot of the lectures in my uni are available in pdf on their website so yeah...
I don't even go to lectures because they bore me . I can sit on my own for hours on end and study something no problem , but in lectures I just zone out and think about tits... and other stuff, but mostly tits.

 

Again, that's a terrible practice to follow, and I strongly advise against it. You're probably the kind of kid that took Ds happily because it meant you still passed, aren't you? Grow up.

I think it's safe for me to say, Sparky, to not follow anything shagas just mentioned. It will most likely get you into trouble.

 

I admit that I take terrible notes. Every time I read them again they seem to have no consistency or importance. In the end, I gave up taking notes and I just paid close attention to the lecture.

However, if you go down that path, make sure you make friends with the student that takes the best notes and has access to past papers.

 

First of all , of course it's terrible advice . I was just saying what works well for me and what I've observed around me.

And no , I didn't get D's. Looks like someone doesn't understand a joke.
Also , if I was satisfied with a D which meant that I passed , then I wouldn't be lurking around forums and studying by myself would I?

If I understand correctly from post 5, you are a teacher or something of that sort. In that case it's understandable that you would look condescendingly at this attitude , but as I said it's what works for each individual.

I don't know how it is in your university , but over here I talked to alot of the senior students. It's not the grades that land you a good job or *insert your goal here* ,it's how much time you put into it on your own.

And once again , I'm just saying what works for me so relax

 

First of all , of course it's terrible advice . I was just saying what works well for me and what I've observed around me.

And no , I didn't get D's. Looks like someone doesn't understand a joke.
I don't know how it is in your university , but over here I talked to alot of the senior students. It's not the grades that land you a good job or whatever ,it's how much time you put into it on your own.

And once again , I'm just saying what works for me so relax

I didn't hear any jokes in that. At my university we were expected to succeed in class and in our career, and at the time they went hand in hand. We wouldn't be able to get a decent job if we didn't do well in school. Nowadays schools seem to let the slackers just coast through, which explains why a lot of my younger coworkers are so dimwitted....

Sorry, that insult isn't meant for you. Just for all the idiots I've worked with.

 

DerStrom8, if Shagas says that he got good grades with his system, it means that it worked for him and we have no reason not to believe him.

On whether grades are everything: Yeah, grades definitely help if you want to continue your education in other universities, especially if they are located in the US. But other than that, I concur that grades aren't reflective of your general potential, just your ability to get good grades.
I believe you are of that opinion because you haven't seen how free, public eastern institutions work (I imagine education is free in Czech Republic, right Shagas?).

 

DerStrom8, if Shagas says that he got good grades with his system, it means that it worked for him and we have no reason not to believe him.

I think people are misunderstanding me. I believe that system worked for shagas, but I don't think anyone should go into uni planning on using that system. I believe they should go in and try NOT to do that, and only resort to it if it is, indeed, the only way they can learn. But it's not something you should do right away. Give it a little while and then decide what method of learning works best for you. That's my advice.

Matt

 

Being a visual learner myself, I found that if I did NOT take good notes, I was at a disadvantage. Good notes could be visualized during an exam and it was like having Google at my beck and call.

 

Not from uni but straight from a recent 12-days period where I got very specific training on a completely new subject (yes, electronics related):

my notes saved my time and the whole experience allowing to finally make head and tails of everything. The guy in charge, terrible when explaining (lack of organization, not giving priorities to important / essential points or taking things for granted) but full of valid knowledge on the matter, created such a verbal mess that on the first day I realized I needed to capture concepts to later "put them togheter" with all ducks in the row.

Doing otherwise, I would have ended saying "what a mess all this" and nothing else.

When taking notes in the past I used a quite simple system of abreviations that I could still read today with no extra effort.