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Sep 12, 2011, 2:19:22 PM9/12/11

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VTU Alerts.com | Students guide to reading engineering subjects

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Students guide to reading engineering subjects

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 06:39 AM PDT

The first thing you must do when you pick up a book is to get acquainted with the topics it covers and the author’s style of writing. By doing this, you will understand if the content is written in in a manner that is understandable to you. If you cannot comprehend what the author is trying to explain, then it would be counter productive to spend time trying to decipher authors language and style of writing. At this point many of you might thinking, “Like we have a choice!?! There is only one prescribed book and if our answers do not match the text, we will not get marks!”. However, This is not true. Firstly, you have a wide range of choices from where you can get information from and secondly, its just a myth that your marks depend on which text book you have read or whether the words in your answer match that of the standard prescribed text book. For those of you who are still paranoid about writing text book answers, we have also provided tips on how to present your answers for obtaining maximum marks.

1. Skimming:

So here is the drill:
a. Pick small articles in the unit which interests you and read them.
b. Make notes of about the various keywords and titles that you see.
c. Skim the unit in 20 – 30 minutes. No less, No more.

2. Complete Syllabi:

Once you have skimmed through the unit and have collected a bunch of keywords (say around 10-15 keywords) its time to look at the syllabi. Look closely into the topics mentioned there, let your brain wiz through the pages – at the back of your mind – as you read each topic in the keyword. Some of them might appear new to you, but thats okay! You haven’t gone through everything just yet. Make a list of those topics in the syllabi which you might have missed during the first read. Try to organise your list by grouping them.

With this list of 10-15 keywords, its now time to hit the internet. Internet offers a multitude of resources for you learn in a way your brain is wired to learn! Some students learn by reading, few by listening and many more by watching videos. Search, wiki – look at examples (Like they say, seeing is believing right?), browse through Youtube to see tutorials and explanations. However, internet can be infinite space where you wander off and get lost or waste precious study time on facebooking! There is no solution to this problem, you simply need to have self discipline and put in honest effort. There is a simple reminder not extension for you to help you stay focused. You can download it at – CHROME WEB STORE

Spend as much time as you like on your internet research. Actually, more you learn through searching better the retention. Our brains are programmed to store the things that are important to us, and when you spend time seeking information, the brain instinctively categorises this information as important to us and imprints it for later use. This is one of the reasons why top universities adopt Case studies, research / assisment based pedogogy for teaching. Hence spend atleast 2-4 hours on reasearching complete syllabi online.

3. Retention:

You are almost a pro now! You should by now have a good handle over the topic and general idea about the concepts covered in the chapter. Since you already aware about the topic, going through the book the second time paragraph by paragraph will not only be easier to understand but also much faster and enjoyable.

You should be able to read through the chapter within an 1-2 hours. While your are going through it, underline the important points, and trace any diagrams once or twice if you feel the need to do so.

By following the above mentioned steps, you will be able to cover a unit within 4-5 hours and never really spend time on that topic ever again. The best apart is the satisfaction that you have gain knowledge and understanding which might be useful to you sometime in the future!

As promised earlier, here are a few tips on writing the exam paper:

1. While preparing for the final exam, read the unit only once. If you followed the above steps dilegently you shouldn’t have to read it more than once. Spend more time on practise by closing the book and try to recollect as much information about the topic as you can. While doing so structure how you would present the answer incase you are asked to explain that particular topic in the exam.

2. Do not be stressed: A lot of students spend time on repeated reading without practise (Its often called mugging) which is very inefficient and just not possible at the last moment under the stress. Read once and practice by closing your eyes and recollecting the topics and imagining how you would structure them in your answer sheet. Look back into the book and check the points which you might have missed out. Its scientifically proven that our comprehension and rention capability reduced drastically when we are put under stress. Be cool about it! Afterall, You must have alreasy written over 500 exams to get this far, right? You are used to this!

3. Underline Keywords: Engineering is science, which means there are a lot of keywords and technical jargons in every chapter. It is expected of the students that he is aware of these key terminologies which are often used in the industry. Which ever book or who ever the author maybe these keywords / terminologies will remain the same. So if you read from the internet or your local author text book you will come across the same word. These are the ones which you will need to present in every answer and make sure you underline them. The examiners are instructed to look for these keywords. So that keyword list which you created in step 1 and 2 can not only give you a preview of the leason but also help you get lots of marks!

Most importantly read for yourself and not for the benefit of others. We will end this article with this very interesting scientific fact: Do anything repeatedly for 8 times and it becomes a habit. Hope this article has been helpful. We would love to hear your opinion and feedback, feel free to comment!

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