How to Study for Engineering: The Hidden Answers Revealed

Are you struggling to get answers for your next test?

Do you become even more lost and confused after every lecture?

Do you want the quickest ways to turn your semester around and crush your classes immediately?

Then you’ve clicked on the right post!

Because in this post, I am going to reveal the most mind blowing and jaw dropping secrets to know how to study for engineering.

Now, before I reveal the hidden answers, could you please do something for me real quick?

Can you ask yourself whether you have a positive mindset or a negative mindset?

Because that’ll dictate the rest of this post.

If you are a “can’t do it” person, this post will NOT solve your problem.

You’ll be ignorant to the reality and you will MISS OUT on the knowledge, or should I say the KNAWLEDGE, that is going to be dropped on this blog post today and that could and will change the direction of your engineering student career.

Just for the record, if you think that education is expensive, try ignorance.

There you go partner, so become a “can do it” person fast!

If you are a “can do it” person, here come the mouth salivating secrets that’ll send you to the TOP of the engineering student totem pole.

Let’s go!

The first hidden answer is this:

Hidden Answer 1: Become a Conceptual Thinker

This is absolutely the very first step before entering a single engineering class.

To be successful in engineering, you have got to get rid of that memorization habit from your studying.

What I mean by that is trying to memorize word for word the solution without understanding WHY everything is happening.

Many of you reading this might be relying on Chegg or the solution manual quite often for your success.

While it’s a useful tool for checking your work after understanding the concepts, it is HORRENDOUSLY HORRIBLE for learning the material.

If you just look at the solution of a problem on there, you are just blatantly following what it says without knowing what you need to do on the other problems.

When you do that, you are literally grabbing pieces of the problem and saying to yourself “OK, how does this part go? Is it in my memory as to how this type of problem goes?”

That right there is a recipe for failure and that is the main reason why students are completely unprepared for engineering.

The correct way to go about it is this: “OK, what is this concept? What is happening? WHY is it happening? HOW is it happening and how does it work? How can I use this to solve the problems?”

Once you have answered all of those questions, THEN you can go on and do the problems seamlessly. And if you made an error somehow, it probably won’t be a conceptual error that’s unavoidable if you just blatantly copy off of Chegg or the solution manual, but rather a computational error that is completely preventable with some awareness.

For the computational errors, provided that you understand the concepts, THAT’S when you can use Chegg effectively because you will know WHY the error is there and how it is preventable. And this tactic will ensure that you look out for it and that you don’t do it again.

In addition to that tactic, I’ve also written about another tactic that is extremely effective for catching computational errors on tests. And this one little tactic can boost your gradesfrom C’s to A’s in a flash! They saved me in Diff EQ and they can save you as well! Read about it here right now so you don’t forget and come back to this post.

Now you might be asking “Why does the conceptual thing work?”

Well, there was a study done by a group of professors called the Wales Woods Model.

Basically what this problem solving method does is that it looks at the problem from a conceptual point of view and it allows the person solving the problem to see the concepts happening and to piece together what the solution is based off of the concepts.

I can attest from my personal experience that it was why I have been so successful in engineering school and that knowing how to use this method of problem solving is the difference from the successful students from the unsuccessful students in engineering school.

You can read more about the method right here.

It is ridiculously powerful and it is extremely essential for any aspiring engineer to know for school success (and professional success I must add).

Because that is hoe you solve problems and create stuff.

That is where the word “Engineer” comes from, the clever creator.

Note that for the future. It’ll serve you well.

And now for a very important point here.

Hidden Answer 2: Be WARY of the Textbook and Be Resourceful

The textbook can be your best friend or your worst nightmare depending on what the textbook is.

If that textbook is good or great, it is by far the most underutilized resource ever.

Use it and you’ll be like a rockstar come test time!

Now if it’s a BAD book, you have to look elsewhere.

And what I mean by elsewhere is that you need to look at any online video series corresponding to your class(es).

For instance, let’s say that you are taking calculus and your professor and your book both suck. You know that you don’t want to spend $40 per hour on a tutor (I mean you are starving enough as it is right?!).

You want something that is easy and effective to follow and that’ll ensure your A.

For calculus, the video series that you would watch would be the calculus YouTube series by Professor Leonard, which I must say it is the best that there is for learning calculus, period; I elaborate about his videos more on the blog post here if you want to read more into it.

You would just watch the series and if you do what the videos say, you will not only pass and save yourself a lot of time that should be spent on other classes, but you’ll get an A, guaranteed. It’s that simple.

Let me give you another example of what you would do just to give you a bump up for your other classes 🙂

Let’s say that you are in Statics and that Hibbeler book and your professor are giving you lots of trouble find the forces on a particle.

The simple steps to passing the class would be these:

Step 1: Click on this link right here to access Dr. Jeff Hanson’s YouTube series for Statics.

Step 2: Watch ALL of the videos and do what he says.

It’s that simple and it solves your problem for free.

What better way than to solve your problem for free?!

And now I hope that you used Rate my Professors for this one because this one is going to be contigent on that!

It’s this:

Hidden Answer 3: Use your GOOD Professors and your Classmates

That’s right.

If you have good professors, use them because they will help you out tremendously since they are really going to know what they are talking about.

Of course, you know the obvious things to do: Go to office hours, participate and ask questions in class, pay attention, etc.

But how much are you REALLY using them to your advantage?

Do yourself a favor and put down that coffee and write down right now on a sheet of paper how you are using your class time (and by the way, if you are cutting class, that’s the problem; GO TO CLASS!) and what percentage of that class time you are doing those things.

Are you texting?

Are you talking to your friends?

Are you in lala land?

If you are doing any of those things, please drop them.

And if you are having trouble doing so, read this article right now and come back to it when you are done.

It’ll be a money back guarantee that saves your college life and your professional future.

So once you’ve dropped them, do what the post says and 100% focus on succeeding in the class and do whatever it takes to do so.

Cut all of the bulls*** that you are doing in class.

You know it’s BS so drop it. You won’t save yourself any other way.

And then use your professors to your advantage.

And it doesn’t just end with the professors.

You have classmates that know what they are doing.

So you have to find them and study with them.

I’m sure they will say yes if you simply ask them.

Most of them want to help, so use that to your advantage.

And once you have employed the above strategies, there is one special trick that’ll make sure that you are at the top of your class and that you will know what you are doing in lecture versus saying “What the hell was that guy talking about in class?!”

A Hidden Secret to Classroom and Test Success

Here’s the trick:

Read or watch the material before going to class.

Yes, that is right.

Read that trick again if you must.

Let me explain why this works.

Professors generally do not teach.

Instead, they present and discuss the material in class.

They want to help you polish your knowledge into the correct way of viewing it.

Hence, they want you to have a foundational background of the material to build upon to make that method work.

They are actually grossed out by the thought of teaching so thinking that they are going to teach is insane (unless you have an exceptional professor, in which case that’s a different story).

In addition, reading beforehand will allow you to see where you are not understanding the material enough and you can emphasize it in your questions to the professor. Hence, the lecture will be a constructive one and will be under YOUR control instead of the professor’s control since you can now take control the lecture and make it your own and drive it on your own terms.

And if no one else read the material beforehand, it’s more power to you since they have to go with your pace instead of their own. So if you wanted to play the game and make your classmates follow you and respect you, this is definitely your chance and it could set up a relationship with your classmates that could make them go to work for you later on 😉

Hence, you are the leader.

Aside from the networking opportunity that this study method provides, you can use that and build time for yourself to go participate in the other activities that college has to offer like extracurriculars, intramural sports, internships, time to build your résumé and interviewing skills, etc.

And most importantly, you will build up unlimited studying time for the tests that’ll ensure that you get an A.

So essentially you are gaming the system and quickly realizing that college is not really education, but rather, college is a game.

In short, it’s a game that has players, a scoreboard, and tactics like this one that have to be mastered in order to play the game effectively.

It might come as a shock to you, but that’s what it is.

So drink it up friend.

Wrap Up

So that’s it.

That is how studying for engineering works.

Please print this out if you must and keep it with you at all times.

Write notes on it with your own words if you must and refer to it often.

It is the KEY to your academic success in engineering.

This is the only blog post that you will ever need to guide you on the academic side of engineering.

Please pinky promise me that you will leave a comment if this does help you and with the results that you got out of it.

If you do have any questions whatsoever, please leave them down below and I will be more than happy to help you out 🙂

Also of you liked this blog post and got a lot out of it, do yourself a favor and input your email into the Magic Action Box down below to receive more magical blog posts sent straight to your inbox that will majestically change your fortune in college, your career, and, well, in life!

Catch ya later!

Until next time,

This is Chief Islander Evan signing off.