Uni failing - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Cujo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 07:16:45 am
content: I'm close to completing my Electrical Engineering degree 5th year in a 4 year engineering degree, probably 2 more years left due to all subjects cramed in semester 2, with only five subjects left: Embedded Systems, Electromechanics, SCADA Systems, Computer Communications, and Digital Signal Processing. I'm currently taking DSP this semester. All these courses are only offered in the second semester. I've already failed Embedded Systems, Semiconductor Circuits and Devices, and SCADA Systems once each, and it looks like I might fail DSP as well. Should I give up? I'm so close to finishing my degree but yet so far. The uni will kick me out soon for failing too much, my GPA is around 4.2 in a 7 scale, very close to being kicked out.I'm tired of studying, it's my 5th year and I'm losing hope now

author: BennoG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 08:16:45 am
content: I hate to bring it to you, but when I was studyin, I was already tinkering with electronics for about 10 years.If you go to study something choose something you like doing. So when you are older you will get payed to do you hobby.Otherwise you will gonna hate your day job and have less fun in life.I have done so, and regretted it not for a second, the only downside (if you would like to call it that) is that you will spending more hours on work than a 9-5 job.Benno

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 08:48:10 am
content: Quote from: Cujo on May 23, 2024, 07:16:45 amNo, do not give up!Get the highest diploma you can get. That alone will bring you better salary for the rest of your life. On average, an engineer is payed better than a technician. No matter your skills and talents you may have, the diploma is important.It is a logical fallacy to argument that talent will substitute the diploma. Same as talented technicians, there are talented engineers, too. So the same talented individual, will still be payed more as a talented engineer, than as a talented technician.Make an effort, and get the highest diploma/qualification you can get now, while you are a student. Now, not later. If you quit the school now, you'll never return to finish your studies. You'll lose not only money along your lifetime, but some status, too.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 09:06:30 am
content: If you already spent the time, then you should follow through. We had 50% dropout in the first 2 semesters, not so much after.If you have a lot of free time, or feel underwhelmed, get a part time job as an engineer, I had that. It helps you make things in perspective, plus you do something useful besides learning.

author: Cujo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 09:08:02 am
content: I recently got a intern position at an antenna company, testing high power amplifies at 2 GHz . I love it, learned how to solder smd, how to fine turn a hpa with a basing board ect. I really love it, recently i got the amplifier to push 100W of rf power, thats impressive, butit's 1000 times more complex at uni, but I have no extreme pressure such as exams, time limits and restriction such as closed book, access to internet.At uni I am just tired of doing exams, I just failed a mid semester dsp exam, got 30%. The exam was 1 and half hours. I prepared my ass off, but the difference was when I prepared,I didn't have time restrictions. Takes me around 35 mins to do 1 questions, when studying, that's not enough for exams. I'm just sick of exams, and studying I just want to work now in engineering. 95% of my degree is completed. I'm just burned out from 5 years of it, I prefer my internship over uni atm, more fun, easer but also more complex at the same time.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 09:16:34 am
content: There you go, good for you. Can you maybe take a gap year?Most people that are good at engineering are not necessarily good at taking exams. Pen and paper, no internet, no graphics calculator, remember stuff -> all this doesn't really translate into the work we actually do. So your uni performance doesn't tell you how good of an engineer you will become.

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 10:12:09 am
content: Quote from: Cujo on May 23, 2024, 07:16:45 amOK. The real questions revolve around WHY you are failing. Are you partying (doubt it if you are posting here). Are you depressed? Are you reversing numbers? Are you having difficulty picking out the most important things to that require attention? Do you have a disability regarding reading?I am 71. I dropped out of EE after my third semester in the US. I passed everything but I ALWAYS felt lost. Part of it was drugs and alcohol, part of it was dyslexia and ADD. I did not know these at the time and I had self medicated since I was 11 (to black outs by 14). Reasons are irrelevant.BUT, you are PERSISTANT. And, you are posting here.Does your school have a learning assistance center? Have you talked with a Dean or Assist Dean? These people WANT to help but most take the position that you have to ask to get.So now, 50 years later, having no pressure from competition, I am taking the time to understand calculus, ckt analysis and differential maths. BTW, there are MANY resources on the internet that are available to help you understand things in the way YOUR brain wants to understand them.It is possible you are not cognitively equipped to study EE (it is a parental lie that we can be anything we want; a 5'2" adult is not going to be a pro baskeball center!). No shame in that. But if you want to be a EE as your post indicates, at least seek out the reasons you are curently unable to process the material.If your school will not help, then my position is you are in the wrong school for you.

author: radiolistener
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 10:38:55 am
content: Quote from: Cujo on May 23, 2024, 07:16:45 amI'm not sure what is reason you're decided to go to university? I think if you're not able to pass exams on the main subjects of your specialty before entering university, then there is no point in wasting time on such learning.Regarding to your question, if I were you, I would run away from the university as soon as possible, because this is definitely not your specialty and it will bring you nothing but torment. You should look for a specialty which will be interested for you, for which you will be glad to spent all your time and be happy from that.

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 10:55:26 am
content: Quote from: radiolistener on May 23, 2024, 10:38:55 am^Judgment without analysis. Is that what an engineer does? With proper learning support, autistic people are earning college degrees. No, this support does not mean giving "disability points". Same standards as applied to all.

author: Cujo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 10:56:29 am
content: I have passed heaps of classes:physics 1Linear AlgebraCalculus 2 / ODE / PDEMaterial ScienceElectric Circuitsintro to C programmingAnalog ElectronicsDigital ElectronicsSignals and SystemsElectromagnetics 1 and 2Communication SystemsRF and Advanced Communication SystemsControl Systemspratical electronicsProject ManagementResearch Methods and StatisticsThese last five subjects Embedded Systems, Electromechanics, SCADA Systems, Computer Communications, and Digital Signal Processing are making it so hard. I've lost motivation over the past five years, especially since I've failed three classes already and might fail DSP soon. I'm not sure what to do.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 10:59:40 am
content: It is certainly worth pushing trough that last bit. The step from technician to engineer is the biggest one in terms of use you get out of it. I wouldn't recommend going for a masters or doctorate or whatever unless you like dealing with these educational settings.The problem with university is that they often teach a topic in a vacuum without giving you context what this can be used for. For a lot of people this makes it hard to learn when everything seams so arbitrary (it certainly makes it hard for me). For example i never really understood integrals and all that at Math class. If you integrate sine(x) you get -cos(x)... okay. but why? "Because that's how it works", and integration gets you the area under a curve...okay...and what i can do with that? "Well find the area duh". Then once we got to AC circuits and you see you can use integrals to connect voltage and current on capacitors and inductors... suddenly it made sense. Sine becomes -Cos because of phase shift!So maybe you just need to take a bit of a break from it and start looking into cool stuff you can do with the topics. Youtube is a great learning resource for this. You get to have youtube creators that teach with a passion make a video, teaching you a topic in a interesting way that keeps your attention, so you actually learn something.

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 11:01:56 am
content: Quote from: Cujo on May 23, 2024, 09:08:02 amBack in the days, we had access to former exams - so that was a very good starting point to train for the real exam.I really suck at exams, too - I'm very bad at remembering formulas, always was. Luckily, we always were allowed to use whatever literature we liked. Luckily, I'm quite good in solving complex tasks - so it all boiled down to finding the right formulas to solve the tasks within a short period of time. That worked for me. Of course, you still need to understand what you are doing...I think the exam condition can be eased by a lot of training, the more you train, the better you get in judging to chose the easiest tasks first, then select the tougher tasks. With the confidence of the easiest tasks solved, you will do better in the thougher tasks.I'd really suggest not to quit - I did (mainly due to fluid dynamics - they provoked failure rates close to 90% in exams, every year), and looking back, that was not clever. But I did so much computer tech stuff (essentially a full time job, additionally to university time), which I also liked, so learning was "a bit" neglected, to be honest. I'd also suggest to not to overdo that. Getting wiser with age, I guess

author: radiolistener
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 11:11:45 am
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 23, 2024, 10:55:26 amI remember that about 50% fellows in university almost hate speciality that they decided to learn. Most of them don't work on speciality of their diploma. I don't understand why they doing it. Most of them said they doing it just for diploma, but from my point of view diploma is useless for technical specialty.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 11:31:06 am
content: Quote from: Cujo on May 23, 2024, 09:08:02 amThe way to prepare for exams is to set up a bunch of questions that are likely to be in the exam, then endeavour to answer them all correctly "under exam conditions" with the same time restrictions as a real exam, no material that you would not be able to take into the real thing, & so on, & do as many such "practice exams" as you can!

author: wiresaho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 11:38:17 am
content: U sound like your being attacked by a motivation monster that doesn't want you to pass university. That's the monster that takes something quite doable and brings it to impossible difficulty.I've been stuck at home not being able to finish the slightest project for years now, but I kept at it slowly, and given a few more years I worked a little slower and now its nearly coming to fruition now!!!So you can actually beat the motivation monster, but it takes a bit more determination than you would've otherwise needed. And life.... its easy for some people, but not for a LOT. (your not the only one.)

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2024, 06:45:39 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on May 23, 2024, 09:16:34 am^^^ This.Everyone says “don’t take a break! If you stop now you’ll never go back!” While this may be true for some people, it isn’t true for everyone.I too found myself burnt out from school partway through. Against “everyone’s” advice, I took three semesters off from uni and worked in the field, then returned (well, I actually transferred to a different school, but that’s neither here nor there) refreshed and ended up graduating with honors. (Pro tip: in USA at least, when you transfer to another university, any failed classes don’t transfer at all, meaning they essentially disappear from your record. So transferring is a way to erase prior academic sins. Maybe it’s the same where you are?) Taking a break was absolutely the best choice I could have made!Also, given the predicament of necessary classes being only offered every other semester*, maybe an option is to work on the semesters without needed classes, and then only take one class at a time when offered, working part time at something relevant. (If you’re lucky, the employer will support you in your academics, perhaps even helping you learn anything you struggle with.)*I’m well familiar with this issue, too! It’s the reason I only have a minor in linguistics, rather than the double-major I would have liked to do if the needed classes had been available soon.)