Succeeding in Math and Science (Shane Haydt, Junior, Mechanical Engineering)

Math and science are often mistakenly attributed as the bulk of engineering work.  Conventional wisdom states that if you are good at math and science, you will be good at engineering, but if you struggle with those classes, your dreams of being an engineer are hopeless.  This just isn’t true.  Above all else, engineers need to be able to think creatively and logically to solve all different kinds of problems.  Imagination is just as important, if not more important, than calculus.

That being said….you’re going to have to do some math and science.

Luckily at Penn State, there are a multitude of resources to help you out!  There are your professor’s office hours, your teaching assistant’s office hours, review sessions, math tutoring, and this blog post!  I’ve worked as a math tutor for the past two years, mainly tutoring calculus, and I’ve picked up on some tips to help freshman engineers succeed at math and science.

1. Browse through the book before or after class so you can pick out important formulas or concepts that your professor will cover in class.  This makes it easier to follow along with example problems.
2. Keep track of all of the equations that you learn on a special equation sheet.  This makes homework and studying so much easier!
3. When doing homework, try every single problem.  Even if you’re not grasping the over-arching concept for that assignment, you should still attempt each problem so that you have questions ready if you go to tutoring or office hours.
4.  Take a very regimented approach to your homework.  Do it step by step, write each step down, and do not skip any steps.  For example, if you’re trying to figure out an integral and think it’s impossible, try every single method of integration that you know.  It has to be one of them!
5. Something that helps a lot with homework is to space out your work and make it very legible.  The biggest mistake I made when I was a freshman was that I tried to fit my entire homework assignment on one piece of paper.   This just makes your work a jumbled, confusing mess, and neither you nor your teacher will be able to understand it.
6. Once you’ve tried everything on a problem and still can’t get it, go to one of the three math tutoring centers on campus (completely free for students!) and they can help you out.  Once you leave, try to do it again to see if you followed what the tutor did.
7. Study with a friend.  Explaining a concept to someone else helps exponentially in your understanding of it!
8. On exams and quizzes, take your time and avoid easy mistakes.  The most common problem that students have on calculus exams is mistakes in algebra!  You can prevent this by not skipping steps and writing down everything.
9. If an exam doesn’t go too well, that’s alright!  There are a lot of opportunities to bring up your grade in math and physics classes!  Make sure you come to a tutoring center or office hours right away when you get your test back so you can review it and see where you made mistakes.

The biggest thing to remember is that there is always help available!  Taking these classes with your friends or roommates makes it much easier and much more fun.  Also, definitely take advantage of the free tutoring offered on campus, as well as the exam reviews held by your professor.  If you put your mind to it, you can easily succeed in math and science at Penn State!!