Ship-happenss - S H I P H A P P E N S

Actual advice on how to study for engineering courses from a first year student

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. 

Portal Icosahedron by Anthony James 

Colorful Airglow Bands Surround Milky Way : Why would the sky glow like a giant repeating rainbow? Airglow. Now air glows all of the time, but it is usually hard to see. A disturbance however – like an approaching storm – may cause noticeable rippling in the Earth’s atmosphere. These gravity waves are oscillations in air analogous to those created when a rock is thrown in calm water. Red airglow likely originates from OH molecules about 87-kilometers high, excited by ultraviolet light from the Sun, while orange and green airglow is likely caused by sodium and oxygen atoms slightly higher up. While driving near Keluke Lake in Qinghai Provence in China, the photographer originally noticed mainly the impressive central band of the Milky Way Galaxy. Stopping to photograph it, surprisingly, the resulting sensitive camera image showed airglow bands to be quite prominent and span the entire sky. The featured image has been digitally enhanced to make the colors more vibrant. via NASA

E. E. Cummings | Download Here

Funny how we regularly turn down job applications for law student internships for having a typo in their cover letters but having three different women publicly accuse you of sexual assault doesn’t stop you from being hired for the highest possible legal job in the country 

Let us not forget the horrific tragedy that befell our country that day and the innocent lives that were lost.  Let us not embolden our enemy by allowing us to live in despair.  Let us prove that we are still the beacon of hope and liberty in the world that they envy and seek to destroy.  Let us not forget those that have sacrificed their lives to ensure those freedoms.  We are Americans.  We will not tremble.  We only overcome.

a reminder for those studying maths

you are NOT stupid, or lazy or anything like that if you are struggling

maths is notorious for being super difficult

when you are in your own bubble of seeing loads of people studying maths in your lectures or classes, it is so easy to put yourself down and convince yourself you are not good enough

the truth is, you are still wonderful and brilliant at maths to get as far as you have

everyone else outside your maths classes thinks you are super smart and super crazy for choosing to do maths

please don’t put yourself down, and remember that you are wonderful

maths takes passion, hard work and focus, and you can do it

girls only want one thing and it’s a scrying falcon that they can send out to survey the land for their enemies and they can see what it sees through a crystal ball

Moonset Eclipse via NASA http://ift.tt/2FBeAY5