Study Habits 101

One of the hardest things to do in engineering is getting an A.  Sure, it could easier because you enjoy learning about it.  And some would argue that getting A’s in engineering is overrated (there are some reasons for this, but many of them don’t make sense).  However, there are just those classes that you don’t get.  So below are Serena’s Ways to Getting A’s, based on her own strategy.  Someone told me I should write a book about my strategy; I guess this is close enough.  Disclaimer: I’m not promising this to anyone.  But your grades will rise if you are disciplined enough.

Work a 40 hour week.  I adopted this when I actually had 20 units, aka 20 hours of school per week.  Say, on average, you have school (class and office hours) for 4 hours per day, you would only need to study about 4 hours per day.  To be honest, this isn’t a lot of time.  If you do this, you’ll find out how much time you waste now.

Write down your study hours.  Be honest with yourself!  If you actually didn’t study, don’t write down those hours.  At the end of the week, you will either say, “Wow, I should/could have done more!”

Devote study time for studying.  I know this sounds stupid.  However, anytime you look around the library, I guarantee that about ¼ of the people are on facebook.  Just study now, and get it over with!

Set a time goal.  Instead of saying, “I’ll get my paper/homework/project done today,” say, “In two hours, I will have XYZ done.” Treat it is as real deadline.  Although you probably won’t get it all done, you still devoted those two hours to work, instead of meddling around on facebook.

Create a large To-Do list.  This only works for people that really like to see everything they have to do.  I love seeing how many things I can cross off my list.  I leave school at 5 and say, “Wow, I did a lot today.”

Separate school from home.  Many people study at home.  I understand this.  But psychology says that we can separate the mindsets.  Do all of your work in the library/lab/classroom/office.  Then go home at the end of the day, and leave your school-mind at school.  This really helped me with my school-anxiety, and I probably will never study at home again (unless I absolutely have to pull an all-nighter).

Do all of your homework…by the time it’s “due.”  I know that a lot of classes don’t have homework that’s “due.”  However, make your “due date” the day/time of the professor’s/TA’s office hours.  This keeps you accountable with the weekly stuff, and you’ll only have to review it when it comes time for the midterm.

Go to office hours.  Don’t just go to office hours; be prepared for office hours!  Ask lots of questions- annoying questions. (Well don’t actually be annoying, but if you don’t “get it,” say so!!!)   Have your questions ready!  Understand every component of the problem/solution before you ask your question.  Then if the TA says, “well I would do ____,” you can counter it with, “I already did that.”

If you don’t understand something, find the question in the book and complete similar questions.  Another thing people don’t do.  This is why you paid $150 for that textbook!  You didn’t spend the money to do 10 problems.  Instead of just giving up, ask your TA/professor about those similar questions; it may just ring a bell on that previous question.

Make office-hour friends.  Usually the people at office hours (like the ones that go religiously, like you should be doing) are working just as hard, if not harder, than YOU.  I have a couple of these friends (they are rare).  But once, an office-hour friend and I figured out the solution to a problem with the TA there.  The TA literally had no clue.  It was a great moment. 

Make friends with your professor.  Now this is helpful for people of any caliber.  I don’t mean for you to smooze with your professor.  I strongly dislike these people.  However, think about it from a professor’s perspective.  If she’s never seen you before, she probably won’t feel bad when she gives you a D or F…or even that B+.  If you show your face and look excited about the subject, the professor is going to relate to you.  They may say, “Well, she probably had a bad testing day.”  INSTANT GRADE BOOST!  I’m not saying all professors are like this, but they are less likely to be cruel if they at least recognize you.

I hope this helps.  If you would like me to elaborate or if you have critiques, let me know.:-)

Intro to me :)

Hello everyone,

Remember in elementary school when they had all the little kids paint by numbers, with every part a designated color and a warning not to go outside the lines? Conformity at its simplest? I was never very good at that.

I am currently a Sophomore of Senior status (due to number of credits) at UC Davis completing my Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering double major and I’m probably going to be tacking on a minor onto that sometime in the near future. I’ve always been the one who constantly had her nose buried in some sci-fi novel and when it came time for me to start thinking what I wanted to do with my life there was only one thing I could think of; reading about inventions beyond my time and heroines whose willpower and imagination had been the driving force behind the change they set in motion.   I wanted to be that change, I wanted to be the one making the technological transition forward and making a difference in the world.

Once I made my choice the rest was simply a means of reaching my goal. I have been taking college courses throughout my high school years, but my senior year I took a full load of college courses on top of my high school classes and job and therefore completed most of my prerequisites needed for the majority of the lower division engineering courses. I graduated at 16 and came to UC Davis a little bit younger and less experienced than my peers but with twice the drive and motivation. I started getting involved with various engineering clubs where I met Serena who became my mentor through the Society of Women Engineers and who has been like a true sister to me this past year. I started Aggie Micro Aeronautics team and got to help build and compete an airplane last year.

Just a little background on me as a person before I delve further into what I’m doing now: I’m vegan, love to cook, and have dance experience in bboying/hip hop/popping/Iranian/Bollywood/salsa. I’m a gym junkie and a Bodyrocker (for any other bodyrock.tv fans out there). I love drawing; I like to think of my sketchbook as just another body part that needs to be lugged around. I practically live in the sci fi/fantasy section at Barnes and Noble. I love Korean and Japanese dramas and am constantly getting addicted to various mangas. I’ve cycled through a zillion different hobbies and have the attention span of a squirrel.  I love building things; I’d like to think that I’ve improved from my Lego creations (sound effects included) to being on the design team Aerobrick today (although I still play with Legos. Fact). Oh and I am constantly losing things (my mind. Ha).

Onward!

Last summer I got a position at Autodesk as a Student Expert. I received training with them over the summer in various programs and now work on campus helping other students learn design and modeling software. Me and two others I work with then created a club called 3DMD (3D Modeling and Design) for which I am the president. We host workshops on campus and provide online tutorials weekly (which have yet to be uploaded as we have been prioritizing workshops but which will be available soon) on ucd3dmd.blogspot.com. We also provide Office Hours and online help and basically act as a resource for students like ourselves who also want to take the initiative and learn the software to help with their engineering careers.

A month or two ago I submitted a project for, and got the role of, leading the new Autodesk Marketing Campaign (not sure how specific I’m allowed to be about this) and got to have a photoshoot! (Kinda sad how excited I was about that but what can I say, it’s a little girl’s dream). I worked weeks on my project and got to incorporate all the crazy things I read about and dreamt up in my spare time. I think it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to incorporate my own personality and inspirations into a piece and it turned out to be the most fun I’d ever had designing it. I loved that once I was approved, they gave my full reign to be as creative as I pleased and that for once I wasn’t worried about “painting by numbers.” It’s really been an eye opening experience and probably the reason I’m adding a minor in something related. I’ll post a pic of the final rendering once I get the go ahead ^_^.

So that’s me. I’m trying to balance classes, 2 jobs, officer positions, the new club, dance, the Autodesk position, Aerobrick (airplane design team) and the rest of my crazy life. I’m not exactly sure if I’m succeeding but I don’t think I’d have it any other way. I finally found something I think is right for me and I’m not going to let it slip from my grasp.

Cheers,

Nassim R.