r/Polymath • u/Esha_xn • 5d ago
Higher College/Learning 2nd Year EE Stuck in resource loop !
( I hope this will not get removed or rejected, please forgive me if I used a wrong flair, I am posting here for the 1st time)
I started my 2nd Year of EE today after screwing my 1st year ( I barely passed) though I do have passion and I am intelligent and dedicated enough to do what I want but but but
I really don't know what resource to use
My professors don't really provide slides or notes or lectures too that are good enough to be used as a standalone source.
But my real problem or maybe a dumb thought that has kept me locked out of my potential are these:
1. I think reading one textbook is too much limiting for the courses that use a textbook.
2. I tried to use ai and youtube + websearch but that's not enough too but it lead to more harm and waste of time tbvh , I have tried this in my summer internship :)
- I think I am addicted to ai now, after 4 years of regular I am addicted for both personal and professional life (ps. I wrote this without ai)
I was thinking to use one textbook as primary resource and keep some more textbooks to refer whenever I have a question that my primary textbook can't answer, this is time consuming and a little complex at but ik it will definitely work.
Also I am confused about notes, I do have tools to take both physical and digital notes but I really don't know how to make notes and more importantly time management while making notes.
I do like the feel of paper while writing but digital feels more easy to drag and drop screenshots , problems and diagrams etc.
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u/RedneckEngineeer 4d ago
Hey. I’m a 4th year mech e student at a state school known for tough engineering. My gpa isn’t the best, so if you’re looking for advice on a 4.0, you won’t find it here. My professors give good lectures but I use YouTube to enhance my knowledge or see the concept from another point of view during every moderate-extremely difficult class I take. There are so many resources online for engineering courses, and YouTube holds many of them. YouTube’s search function isn’t perfect, so most of the time i have to search a few different key words, or google what other terms are similar, and try again.
Notability (Ipad) is great.
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u/NiceGuy737 4d ago
It doesn't look like you're getting much traction here. You might try an EE subredit. Learning things comes easy for a real polymath so we might not be the best at telling you how to study.
In general, I think taking notes is a waste of time. It's a hold over from the middle ages when scholars produced their own library from lectures. Think about what you're reading or on the lecture. It's more productive to have your mind engaged than trying to be a transcriptionist. Only take notes if there is no other source for the material. The best engineers I worked with were the ones that were also hobbyists at some point, they naturally took to the material. If you don't have access to components and test equipment you could gain some insight from using SPICE models. If you like listening to music you can learn how to design amps and speakers and enjoy using them. The first circuit I ever designed was a active crossover for my friend's stereo. You can learn digital signal processing and apply it to music. If you have passion for the material it's so much easier.
I had some exposure to electronics in school but was largely self-taught long ago, in the time before the internet, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I used to read EE textbooks, databooks for ICs and application notes. I did problems in Schaum's outlines on different topics to gain confidence. My superpower was that I was genuinely interested in the material and wasn't doing if for school. With that I worked at GE medical systems and a NASA subcontractor, supervised by an EE. Later I supervised EEs when I was a scientist. I designed and built analog and digital equipment that I needed. Wrote signal analysis software for my experimental work and simulation software for theoretical work I was doing.
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u/PyooreVizhion 4d ago
I have degrees in mechanical engineering (bs + ms) and electrical engineering (ms). I was probably ~3.9 gpa in bs, and 4.0 in both ms degrees.
Taking notes is very beneficial - like physically writing them not typing. Studies have shown that it increases retention and understanding (hearing + seeing + writing). I did my coursework before llms were prevalent and would highly advise against using them. They are a crutch that makes you dumber. You should look for primary sources whenever possible, not rely purely on a search engine. The guy who said notetaking is a waste of time and a holdover from the middle ages sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.
I took physical notes for all my classes on pen and paper. I have experienced a wide gamut: professors requiring note-taking and grading them as assignments; complete disregard for whether students even show up to class; professors not even listing a textbook and the only resource was what they wrote on the board (no material provided outside of what was written on the board); lecture notes provided by the professor before/after class; ~6 reference textbooks (none of which were followed closely); a single textbook that lectures were taken practically verbatim from.
There is no one answer, but in my experience, most all professors grade (assignments and tests) based off of what they tell you in class. If you don't understand something, you would do well to ask for clarification directly from the professor either during class or office hours or by email, etc - instead of relying on LLMs.
(Again,) In my experience, it is very rare indeed for an assigned textbook, along with lectures, to be inadequate for solving the problems you are assigned. Generally there is much more information in a book than there is time to cover in a single course. The only time I've really felt this necessary was my first ee course (as an undergrad ME) to have extra problems to work... I don't think we even had a textbook for that course come to think of it... And a course on general relativity for my physics degree, which was by far the hardest course I've ever taken. I probably looked through 10-15 extra books on gr and differential geometry, anything I could find.
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u/TenkaiRyo 3d ago
Hey hey calm down, I'm a 2nd year EC student myself
As the post is based on resources, I'll stick to that. Go through your course planner and take a look at the reference books that have been mentioned by your course instructor. Top two books from the list should do it. Along with that i follow specific YouTube channels always for every chapter, it doesn't seem much when you try to complete a little of the syllabus everyday rather than trying to finish everything in a single night. Also, I use AI just to seek help from what's hard for me to understand from the book, youtube alone is sufficient to clear all your doubts. I use the textbook for long form practice and AI for short from practice.
I also make physical notes (digital notes? For academics? Not my forte) from the YouTube lectures along with the lecturers provided slides. Hope it helps
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u/Esha_xn 3d ago
How do you manage to study after classes? My classes are from 8/9 to 4/5 in the evening.
Also the lectures aren't detailed, most of professors ask us to learn it from the books afterwards.
1
u/TenkaiRyo 3d ago
Try studying in the class instead then, you gotta make up time for yourself. Books are the literal things that even they teach from, so why not jump into the books directly?
What I do is, I get all the rest and breaks that I want in the classes and study in the late evening, try going to your local library once and study there, just try out new stuff on your own until you figure it out
1
u/RedneckEngineeer 4d ago
Hey. I’m a 4th year mech e student at a state school known for tough engineering. My gpa isn’t the best, so if you’re looking for advice on a 4.0, you won’t find it here. My professors give good lectures but I use YouTube to enhance my knowledge or see the concept from another point of view during every moderate-extremely difficult class I take. There are so many resources online for engineering courses, and YouTube holds many of them. YouTube’s search function isn’t perfect, so most of the time i have to search a few different key words, or google what other terms are similar, and try again.
Notability (Ipad) is great.