How To Revise- Learn From My Experience

[diracdeltafunc]

Salamalaikum, YAM,

All praise is to Allah swt who helped me get through this excruciating examination session. I thank Him for giving me the strength and endurance to get through it all.

Introduction and whom this is for

Alhamdolillah i finished a very stressful session of engineering exams last week, which was arguably the most stressful time of my life. Since I've been working very hard for the last couple of months, I thought I will share my revision techniques with fellow momineen/mominaat on SC.

I am an Engineering student and this guide is aimed at players only, who are aiming to bang out a minimum of 10+ hours everyday. However having said that, it doesnt mean that you cant cast down this guide into something less intensive.Since Iam an engineer (and i hate writing essays) and if your reading this you've got exams (i.e less time to spare), I shall endeavour to bulletpoint as much as I can in order to share my experience. Before I begin, may I remind everyone that revision is a lifestyle, not a regime!!

1) Focussing and staying positive

* Engineering is one of those courses where there is truck loads to study in very little time. It can be daunting at times as to where to start and there is always a feeling that says I cant do this. The first steps of this guide is to murder that feeling! Seriously!Dont waste time by procrastinating i.e thinking about studying but not studying at all! You can do it and you will do it! If others can then so can you!

* Start your day in the name of Allah swt, the Panjetan e Paaak a.s and then remind your innerself of the the above^^ (i dont mean the woman!) It is imperative that psychologically and mentally you beginin a happy state.

* Work in groups! When you are banging out 9-15 hours a day revising, there will be times where the most simplest of things look very complicated. This is where it helps to have more than a pair of eyes looking at something as different people think differently.

* In addition to above, you might save time by splitting a module into components. For e.g Adam does oscillators, I study operational amplifiers and George studies BJTs. Then after an hour you teach each other which collectively saves time and resources.

* Another important thing is your approach. Usually in engineering, it helps a lot to simplify problems for e.g converting something very complicated into equivalent circuits, sketching graphs, making assumptions etc. This helps you to a) break down the problem B) look at it from a different point of view.

I always start from bottom to top. From this is mean approach the problem from a very low level of analysis and then apply more complicated techniques. Usually big problems are solved with simple low level thinking.

2) Time table

* I didnt have one, solely because i start procrastinating and hence adds to my stress levels. The most obvious thing to do is start early! More on this in the end

* Also what i found really helped was to juggle between different subjects. So for e.g i would study nanotechnology in the morning and finish the day with electromagnetics. The reason why I did it this way is because last year i planned out a week/two for each subjects and when it got close to the exams, I couldnt remember anything!

* What i did use was this for other minor things :

https://play.google....su.astrid&hl=en

I am sure there is an iphone equivalent somewhere!

3)Sleep more by sleeping less

*Yep. I found this very very efficient. Sleep for 6 hours at night followed by 2, 30 minute power naps during the day. They both work as revision breaks + help u catch up with sleep (duh!)

*However the above could be easier said than done as it takes time to train your body to this new lifestyle. Apparently this is how our ulema study as well by sleeping less at night but taking power naps during the day.

* Also when you lie down on your bed, before you doze off try and recollect everything you learnt. Just picture all the equations/theories/proofs as it helps you think about them involuntarily - which they say is much better than normal thinking.

4) Study space and people

* The study space should be well lit and adequately spaced. I love to spread all my files and folders around the room lol!

* Work with like minded people. They help you and you help them. Simple as that!

* Because of the above, I didnt bother with libraries as due to the complexity of my course, it is impossible for a person to get a 1st class by studying solely on his own. Hence the emphasis on group study. So we found a lecture theatre that wasnt in use and that was our study space!

5)Allah and the Ahlulbayt a,s

Yes your revising hard....but that doesnt mean you have an excuse not to pray! Also say YAM all the time! All halal knowledge comes from the Ahlulbayt so dont forget them.

* There are plenty of duas you can find on duas.org with regards to exams and that.

6) Facebook, SC and other distractions

*Ok it is very hard to not to distract. So to get around it, we had setup a facebook group which had every1 from our year group. Here we would ask each other q's and discuss solutions. So when i went on fb, i would mainly use it to see wagwan in the group AND also see what others are up to.

* As for SC and other websites, this is where the group that you work in helps. They motivate you and you motivate them. They stop you from slipping and vice versa.

7) Nutrition and exercise

*It is very very very important that you eat healthy, clean and nutritious food. Your mind and body is working extremely hard and it is very important that you fuel it accordingly. Please dont bother with kfc, subway etc etc. They will make you feel sleepy, tired and will make you fat! (think about what your potential wifey would say!!)

* If your are following 3), after my 30 minute nap, I would get up and do some pushups to feel lively. It is very important that you exercise adequately to compensate for all the time your sitting down on your bottom revising.

8) Backup your work

* I have a lot of files on my computer which i just cannot afford to loose. Hence i got a dropbox (free one) and synced all the important files every few hours.

* Also bought an external hard drive (just in case!)

* If you've got essays and other text files, use google docs.

9)Thoughts and if i could go back then...

* Although i started revising early, my proper revision 10+ hours started 3 months before the exams and it still wasnt enough near the end! So i would start much earlier!

* An obvious thing which you probably hear all the time but seriuosly i learnt it the hard way. Keep up to date with what is going on in your course everyday!

* Buy a mac and not a pc :D ! Still regret buying a windows machine!

* Eat healthy! Cant emphasise on 7) enough. I was kfcing near the end of my exams as i couldnt be bothered to pack any lunch and i ended up with an upset tummy near the last week of exams!

* Do more past papers

*Smart revision - only revise what you need to. Getting a 1st is all about exam technique i.e knowing what to revise and how to do so. Talk to the people in the years above who have done the same exams as you last year. They might have some revision 'tips'.

* Manage your time efficiently. As in dont cut off completely with family and friends but then at the same time dont socialise too much either.

As i said before, I am an engineering student and I'm more comfortable with maths than words. Hence apologies if I've made any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes (and also it is past midnight here!).

Hope it helps and yea feel free to ask about anything which i havent covered!

Good luck and i shall finish this post with 1) i.e you can do it!! BULB!

[Khadim uz Zahra]

Wait! Does "my proper revision 10+ hours started 3 months" mean that you used to revise for 10 hours everyday, that too from 3 months before the exams?

[diracdeltafunc]

Wait! Does "my proper revision 10+ hours started 3 months" mean that you used to revise for 10 hours everyday, that too from 3 months before the exams?

Yep. Thats what engineering does to you !

[FKapasi]

Yep. Thats what engineering does to you !

What kind of engineering are you doing? Im planning to do EE but I dont know if it has good prospects.

[diracdeltafunc]

What kind of engineering are you doing? Im planning to do EE but I dont know if it has good prospects.

Same. If i was you, i wouldnt worry about the prospects as the most important thing in deciding what to study at University should be your interest. If you like electronics and pure maths then do EE. Otherwise seriously stay well away! The course is very intense (as you might have probably figured out from my first post) and requires a lot of dedication. However having said that, i quite enjoyed it(as nerdy as it may sound lol!).

As for the prospects they will prevail with your interests. EEE by itself is a very vague term and new fields and markets emerge all the time. The foundations are pretty much the same though. So do it if you think you will like it and there will always be jobs in engineering.

[AR2011]

What kind of engineering are you doing? Im planning to do EE but I dont know if it has good prospects.

i dont know what country you're in but the prospects of gaining employment as an engineer after an EEE degree arent that great in the UK. However, if you graduate from a top uni with at least a 2:1 then you will be employable in the financial sector. alot of engineering graduates end up working in investment banks especially those who graduated from the likes of imperial/ucl/oxbridge with 1sts or (2:1s).

[diracdeltafunc]

i dont know what country you're in but the prospects of gaining employment as an engineer after an EEE degree arent that great in the UK. However, if you graduate from a top uni with at least a 2:1 then you will be employable in the financial sector. alot of engineering graduates end up working in investment banks especially those who graduated from the likes of imperial/ucl/oxbridge with 1sts or (2:1s).

Yep I am aware of that. . This doesnt mean that there arent any jobs in Engineering in the UK as there are plenty! Engineering companies are always hiring, even in the recession. The sole reason why people end up in finance is mainly because the salaries are almost double, (sometimes triple) in FO jobs in IBD. However this is always something called job satistfaction and stability which is found more in Engineering jobs that in IBD.

[Haji 2003]

[diracdeltafunc]

Typical LSE graduate :P

[Haji 2003]

and Imperial College... :P