How to get a head start for next year (1 Viewer)

[paddy_mac]

Hi people, I'm planning on doing Civil Engineering next year at uni. Still a while till we start but I'd like to do some preparation beforehand so is there anything that could help give me a head start or anything in general that'll help me for the course.
Anything like books, programs, concepts, projects, sites or just something in general that might help. If it helps I'm planning on going to RMIT or Deakin University.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Geologic]

Yeah I'm doing this at the moment for engineering as well, although I have already done one semester so can tell what will help.

- Put some thought into what specialization you would like to do, since this will entail the content you would want to become familiar with; geology, chemistry, biology, etc.

- If you didn't do physics for VCE go onto Amazon now and buy a textbook and learn the first few topics: 1D/2D kinematics, projectile motion, Newton's Laws of motion, dynamics of uniform circular motion, work and energy, impulse and momentum. That will give you a grounding in fundamental physics and give you a solid head start. I use "Physics 2nd ed. Cutnell & Johnson" and it's perfect for this.

- Needless to say delve right into calculus.

Check these free sites out and watch some lectures on topics you are new to, or need to fill in knowledge:

Instructional videos

Khan Academy

Get on top of specialist level Mathematics & Physics and you will be fine for 1st year Engineering.

 

[addikaye03]

Hi people, I'm planning on doing Civil Engineering next year at uni. Still a while till we start but I'd like to do some preparation beforehand so is there anything that could help give me a head start or anything in general that'll help me for the course.
Anything like books, programs, concepts, projects, sites or just something in general that might help. If it helps I'm planning on going to RMIT or Deakin University.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Know Complex numbers, Integration, Volumes and Mechanics

(I dk what is in the VCE mechanics topic but HSC goes into 1 and 2 dimension resistive motion, circular motion, projectile motion, conical pendulum, motion around a banked track, get your hands on some HSC resource notes perhaps)

-Learn Basic Mapping/Vectors(Matrices)

 

[paddy_mac]

There's no doubt that I'll be a bit rusty on some of these topics. Think I might hold onto my VCE books.

 

[Cyrus the Great]

There's no doubt that I'll be a bit rusty on some of these topics. Think I might hold onto my VCE books.

year 12?
yep that would be a good Idea. After a 3 month break without picking up a pen or paper you will need to look back at your math books once in a while.....well I had to only in the first sem

 

[HiddenDragon]

What about programming/excel stuff? Im currently working through a VBA for dummies book and i was wondering if that would be helpful for 1st year.

 

[louy]

I would suggest building up your study skills so when you learn new concepts you will understand them better and faster.

If you can seriously develop the skills to learn faster, then there is no need to pre-teach yourself anything that you are going to be taught later on.

 

[paddy_mac]

I would suggest building up your study skills so when you learn new concepts you will understand them better and faster.

If you can seriously develop the skills to learn faster, then there is no need to pre-teach yourself anything that you are going to be taught later on.

Fair point. How would i go about doing this?

 

[Geologic]

Meh I did a speed reading course and it was actually detrimental to my study, since it just made me read fast, and comprehend 80% less.

 

[Ben1220]

Meh I did a speed reading course and it was actually detrimental to my study, since it just made me read fast, and comprehend 80% less.

hmm yeah, being able to understand content at a faster rate is definently much more important then speed reading, even more so in topics where the content is very dense. I have a book on recursion theory and mathematical logic that you need to spend at least 2 hours on each page to understand... Even if you can read it quickly that won't do a thing for you.