How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?
University course discussion for engineering.
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?To get a first you have to do the 40 hours a week of work.
This means making sure you are up to date with every lecture and more.
You also have to be very smart. Memorizing this stuff will not get you a first, you will have to understand every bit.
And you are doing engineering, so expect to have no life if you want a first. -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?Seriously?(Original post by Jimbo1234)
To get a first you have to do the 40 hours a week of work.
This means making sure you are up to date with every lecture and more.
You also have to be very smart. Memorizing this stuff will not get you a first, you will have to understand every bit.
And you are doing engineering, so expect to have no life if you want a first.
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?I do physics but it has similar demands to engineering
Just keep up with the work. Don't fall behind on any obviously important topics, work hard on your projects, work smart with your problem sheets, go to lectures if you find them useful, stay at home with textbooks if you think they are useless etc. You'll be fine dude. -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?Yup. I have met a guy who was on for a first at engineering and his work ethic is " I get depressed if I am not working". But this is for a first of course, a 2:1 and 2:2 are easier eg. do what they give you.(Original post by thatrollingstone)
Seriously?
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?Extremely. A terms worth of a module feels like a whole A level or more, and you might get 10 or so of these a year, some running for two terms. There were definitely major FML times this exam period, but it's a really interesting degree and a great stepping stone (career-wise) if you want it to be.
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?http://www.amazon.co.uk/Engineering-...5890768&sr=8-1(Original post by Ashw5)
How hard is the maths... for example compared to core 4 how much harder is it?
If you are going to be doing any maths based science, you will also need this book. -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?This is a load of complete rubbish and I feel a strong need to correct it. I go to a top UK uni, studying mechanical engineering. I graduated with a first this year and I have probably missed a third of my lectures over the last few, opting to get a few extra hours sleep each day instead. I also had a great social life, was always out at clubs, bars and other local events. At one point I had a job too! There's no secret or extreme approach to getting a first. All you really need is a bit of raw intelligence and commitment to your subject.(Original post by Jimbo1234)
To get a first you have to do the 40 hours a week of work.
This means making sure you are up to date with every lecture and more.
You also have to be very smart. Memorizing this stuff will not get you a first, you will have to understand every bit.
And you are doing engineering, so expect to have no life if you want a first.
That doesn't necessarily mean going to every single lecture. If you think time would be better spent at home going through the material at your own pace, then it probably is. But you have to make sure you do! Lectures are boring, cheap for the uni, and are set an average pace which is either too fast or too slow for the majority of people.
I never really read around my subject. Undoubtedly that was a severe disadvantage in interviews, but most engineering course content these days can be found in no more than a couple of text books. Exams very rarely test beyond that. What I should also say is that a willingness to work extremely hard in the few weeks running up to exams is probably the most important thing you can do all year. Complete ALL the past paper questions you can possibly get hold of, and spend as much time as you can cramming everything in with some coffee. Oddly, even at the very best UK universities, they tend to rotate old exams questions year after year after year. And these can sometimes bare no relation to those found in lecture notes. Be aware.
Everyone needs to let off steam. Don't work solidly all year. Devote some or all of the weekend to a sport, or if need be, a job. That will ease money worries. Eat well. See your friends regularly. University is about learning how to learn, and most importantly, having a life. Social and people skills are more important in the work place than your degree classification! -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?That's pretty damn high.(Original post by History98)
It's pretty hard, only about 1 in 3 engineers at my university leave with a first. -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?Considering entry requirements tend to be A*AA or above, is it really that surpising? Intelligent people going in tend to be intelligent going out, even if they have killed a few braincells with alcohol on the way through. These people tend to be at the very top, straight A students. yet only 1 in 3 come out with a first - is it still looking pretty high?
Put it this way - if you were the smartest guy in your school/ 6th form, you'll be one of the middle crowd studying engineering at a top university.
Is engineering hard? yes. single module equivalent to an A-Level? yeah, probably about right. Are you able to pass using the same memory-tactics you've used at GCSE and A-Level? Not a chance - loads of people fail January exams in the first year because they think it is no different. You learn quick when you get your first 30% in an exam where previously you've had nothing but 85+%
Does that mean you'll have no life? that depends on you. If you're a bookworm, love the library and spend the majority of your time reading journals, then yeah, you'll go for a first, then probably a PhD.
You want a job? get a 2:1 or above. Put in 18 hour days in the few weeks before exams, work hard when you need to and you can pretty much use the rest of the time socialising. Make no mistake- it isn't Geography. You will have early 9am lectures, probably every day. You wont have a day Monday to Friday free, but that doesn't mean you can't go out, have a life, join societies and do cool stuff at the weekends like, I dunno, Skydiving, Ultimate Frisbee or extreme ironing.
University is what you make it. Engineering has more contact time than any other course, maybe perhaps excepting medicine, so you'll always have lectures to go to. Can you miss some, and still pass? yeah. But you're paying 9k a year for it right?
Then again, at the other end, after graduating, you'll get your pick of 100s of jobs, whilst your friends who did performing arts and humanities are all fighting for the 3 companies which aren't recruiting engineers at the careers fayre.
Stu Haynes, MEng -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?(Original post by thegoodpubguide)
This is a load of complete rubbish and I feel a strong need to correct it. I go to a top UK uni, studying mechanical engineering. I graduated with a first this year and I have probably missed a third of my lectures over the last few, opting to get a few extra hours sleep each day instead. I also had a great social life, was always out at clubs, bars and other local events. At one point I had a job too! There's no secret or extreme approach to getting a first. All you really need is a bit of raw intelligence and commitment to your subject.
That doesn't necessarily mean going to every single lecture. If you think time would be better spent at home going through the material at your own pace, then it probably is. But you have to make sure you do! Lectures are boring, cheap for the uni, and are set an average pace which is either too fast or too slow for the majority of people.
I never really read around my subject. Undoubtedly that was a severe disadvantage in interviews, but most engineering course content these days can be found in no more than a couple of text books. Exams very rarely test beyond that. What I should also say is that a willingness to work extremely hard in the few weeks running up to exams is probably the most important thing you can do all year. Complete ALL the past paper questions you can possibly get hold of, and spend as much time as you can cramming everything in with some coffee. Oddly, even at the very best UK universities, they tend to rotate old exams questions year after year after year. And these can sometimes bare no relation to those found in lecture notes. Be aware.
Everyone needs to let off steam. Don't work solidly all year. Devote some or all of the weekend to a sport, or if need be, a job. That will ease money worries. Eat well. See your friends regularly. University is about learning how to learn, and most importantly, having a life. Social and people skills are more important in the work place than your degree classification!
This. People on this forum are intent on scaring the **** out of potential freshers I swear.
Anyone that does engineering has a bit of raw intelligence, which you need, but it's really not that hard. I had about.. 60% attendance this year? Finished the year with 68%. Lectures are deceiving, I went to every heat transfer lecture and got 55%, I went to about 30% of process balances and got 80%, its all about how you apply yourself in the weeks before exams.
If you can do the fundamentals and you can crack on with 12+ hour days of revision for at least a week you will be alright, and you can stil lafford to go out and just relax, play sport join societies, admittedly I could have easily worked a little harder and got a first but I am happy with a 2:1, and I know where I need to improve to get a first next year
oh and yes, past papers are a god send! -
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?P.s I've never done 40 hours of week purely on lectures ever. If I have a lab report/CAD to do then yeh maybe I will hit 40 hours if you include 20 odd hours of lectures, but never 40 of pure lecture based work
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Re: How difficult really is an Engineering course at uni?(Original post by Jimbo1234)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Engineering-...5890768&sr=8-1
If you are going to be doing any maths based science, you will also need this book.
im taking a gap year and i want to study mechanical engineering next year, and im just interested to have a look in a few books
what other books would you reccomond?
is this the same ,http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/185617767...t_sb_pi_sims_2
