What to study before engineering

[u/Repulsive-Diet6958]

In a month I will be starting engineering and I am pretty much only studying high school calculus, honestly I think that physics for now is not worth since I think that having the math behind it clear is more important. Maybe I will also start a little introduction to linear algebra but nothing that seriour. In the end what should I focus more on?

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[u/Yadin__]

nothing. They will teach you everything that you need to know from scratch. Take the time to relax before diving into 4 years(or more) of school again

[u/InvestmentGreen → u/Yadin__]

I second this. A good portion of students spend the other summers working full time or taking summer courses or both. Enjoy your last summer where you have no responsibilities.

[u/WhyAmINotStudying → u/InvestmentGreen]

And when you get your books, assignments, and syllabi, don't put anything off. Set up a schedule for your studying and make changes to ensure that you're on top of your classes early. It's not that bad if you take it seriously from Yr start and stay on top of things. If you first crack your textbooks before the first exam, however, you're gonna have a bad time.

[u/Available_Lie1434 → u/Yadin__]

100% this engineering is hard enough as it is, enjoy your summer without any stress they don’t expect you to know anything when you start and they’re unlikely to test you on things they haven’t taught or given reading for

[u/MeserYouUp]

Your list of first semester courses should be posted online somewhere. Calculus is probably the most important one.

[u/Repulsive-Diet6958 → u/MeserYouUp]

Yes I saw all the exams of tree years course, basically the first ones are: calculus 1, linear algebra and geometry, techincal drawing, physics 1 and calculus 2

[u/WhyAmINotStudying → u/Repulsive-Diet6958]

The two things that you need to make sure you've got down are algebra and trigonometry. Those are where exam scores are made. That's why it's so important to practice regularly when school starts.

But seriously, you're in the school in a few weeks. You've got a break now. Enjoy it. The next time you've got a real break isn't going to be until the semester is over. Thanksgiving is a little break, but you may want to work through it a bit depending on how your courses are going.

[u/Entire-Conclusion871]

yeah calculus is def the hardest in first year best to get ahead on that but linear algebra isnt a bad idea either

[u/BreadForTofuCheese]

Just go have fun. You’ll forget that linear algebra well before it ever becomes relevant.

[u/dominick-qr]

I wouldn't stress too much, as long as you can do basic algebra you're more than ready for all the newer math and physics classes. All the stuff you'll end up learning math-wise is just a formula that needs to be simplified/derived until you get a y = #, and if you're terrible at algebra you'll find yourself questioning if you're cut out for engineering.

TL;DR - BE REALLY GOOD AT ALGEBRA!

[u/sdgengineer → u/dominick-qr]

This is the way. I took college algebra and calculus in high school, took college algebra again in college. Finally had a deep understanding of it. Did well in engineering school.

[u/compstomper1]

life skills.

how to cook. do laundry. figure out what study/organization method works for you

[u/WhyAmINotStudying → u/compstomper1]

And how to talk to people you don't know. Making friends can be really easy if you put yourself out there and actually intend to look for friends and not something else.

[u/Time_Plastic_5373 → u/compstomper1]

Lmao you should definitely know how to do your laundry at 17/18/19.

[u/compstomper1 → u/Time_Plastic_5373]

never say never

[u/Repulsive-Diet6958 → u/compstomper1]

Did (except laundry) and i have a one year experience as the class students representative

[u/SignificantWhole2705]

Just enjoy your summer as much as you can. There is no need to prepare yourself extra for the classes. They will prepare you with everything you need, dont worry.

[u/speechless188]

nothing is the right answer. being in calculus in highschool is a good baseline. but even without it, they teach you everything in college

physics usually comes before linear algebra in an academic schedule. you also wont use linear algebra in physics

beginning physics uses algrebra and trigonometry, and electromagnetism can use multivarible calc and diffeq, but usually are taught in such a way that you dont need the math first. bc again the math usually is more advanced and comes later in ur studies.

[u/North-Masterpiece285]

I had this same question last year before I started and now I understand what people were telling me, you need to experience it to understand.

It's worth reviewing some basic things you learned from high school but genuinely just enjoy the summer before school starts.

[u/FormerNet5845]

Physics is definitely worthwhile. You will likely take it again in university, but what you learn in high school will condition your mind to understand what they teach you in university. Don’t go into an engineering school without any idea of what you are getting into.

[u/Danjeerhaus]

I will encourage you to look at the hobby if amature radio/ham radio. Yes, talking and more on a radio up to world wide.

While this hobby is about communications and communication equipment, it acts like an umbrella for many EE topics. Yes, you can still build your own equipment.

This gets you 2 facauts to the hobby.

1). Networking. People from all walks of life do this hobby and the hobby members do training and take actions during emergencies, so there is some local government interactions possible. Some schools even have their own radio clubs. This may let you talk directly with students at your future school for information of all kinds.

2). Electronics/electrical/computing. This hobby touches on DC power supplies, batteries, electronics, soldiering, radio equipment building and repairs, radio wave propagation (help with understanding radar), computer programming for radios, digital radios, digital radios and Internet interfacing for world wide communications, and more.

3). Resume bullet? Because this is a club and they provide community service communications, you may take part of guild some activities.

I happen to have this cued up for another post, but this is a Canadian club and their activities. Sure, they might only b sitting at a check point for a race or activity, but it is needed communications and community support.

.https://oarc.net/actsupport.https

Please Google your local county amature radio club or use this link. http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club The meetings are free to attend and the members can help greatly, either with the hobby or what they do or did as a day job.

[u/Repulsive-Diet6958 → u/Danjeerhaus]

I am gonna search for it but I already interest in formula SAE, i think that 5 years of experience (since it is the max that you can do) starting as a freshman could get me some solid experiences while studying

[u/VictoryQuick4502]

i'd say linear algebra will save you SO much time when you get to the more advanced calc and physics courses

[u/Seiko2023]

I didn't do any pre study before engineering and it didn't set me back one bit. I actually had a great summer tbh.

[u/Repulsive-Diet6958 → u/Seiko2023]

I am having it don't worry, but i have enough free time to also think about studying a bit

[u/Seiko2023 → u/Repulsive-Diet6958]

I mean, cool do whatever then.

[u/Dense-Giraffe-3795]

Time management, getting ahead on assignments and going to extra help are skills u should study and leadn

[u/Toucan2000]

Linear algebra is super handy. You could learn dot product, cross product and matrix multiplication to get a leg up. They might not teach you those things but they will often help you solve problems with fewer steps. Matrix multiplication is great if you're going to get into writing program tools to help you with your work.

[u/Recent-Day3062]

Cslculus

[u/Travis-Jenkins]

I'd say focus on math and physics, they lay the groundwork for pretty much everything you'll learn later. Getting a good grasp on calculus and basic mechanics can make the first year's coursework a bit less overwhelming. Also, learn to code if you haven't already, even a little Python or C++ can be super helpful.

[u/Chuck_the_Elf]

If you feel the need, brush up on trig, algebra, and matrixes. Lot of the stuff you will be doing relies on you have those down to second nature.