Engineering exams around the world - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MrOmnos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 09:06:44 pm
content: This was our exam questions for our Filter Design course. All the questions carry total of 80 marks and you have to solve them in 3 hours. There's no multiples choices to choose from. You have to write the answers in the paper they provide. For example if there's a numerical problem, you can't just write the answer. You have to show the whole calculation with all the algebra and arithmetic involved. What do you think of the questions, how does tests work in you country?

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 09:22:17 pm
content: I can safely say I would fail that test. No chance I could pass that without proper study beforehand. I hope you did OK!

author: skipjackrc4
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 12:54:24 am
content: This looks very similar to the communications exams that I had in undergrad in the US.

author: Andy Watson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 02:11:43 am
content: Quote from: MrOmnos on April 14, 2017, 09:06:44 pmTop tip for those taking such exams (i.e. most exams beyond primary school). Just writing thecorrectanswer will probably get you 1 of the available marks. The remainder of the marks will be awarded for "how you got there" - even if you ultimately got to the wrong destination.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 10:46:38 am
content: Quote from: Andy Watson on April 15, 2017, 02:11:43 amEven if all the marks were given for a correct final answer, providing a full derivation is enormously beneficial for anyone. Nobody is so good they will never make a slip up, and calculate the final answer incorrectly. Showing your workings is ALWAYS a good idea - especially showing your starting points, the principals and equations you have identified as the correct way to derive the answer.

author: lem_ix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 12:21:05 pm
content: Be happy! Such exams were way more mathematical for me and made less sense. Also lasted 3.5 hours, no toilet breaks, so not only did they test your mathematical prowess but also the strength of your bladderNothing would beat the math exam tho, 4+4 hoursFrom the trauma I still remember when my metric space is complete and I scream Cauchy's name at night

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 03:37:15 pm
content: I'm with IanB. If I had to pass this today closed book I would fail. Might be able to get about 50%. But it really isn't too different in detail and complexity from the exams I had in university 40 years ago.I am actually heartened by this. Seeing things like this makes me believe there will be another few decades of good engineers around the world.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 06:38:03 pm
content: These look like typical uni tests.After my last Calculus test I discussed results with some of my fellow students, and discovered that we all had plausible answers but different interpretations of the questions (wording and stuff). Nevertheless, we all got very good grades. Atleast.. if the profs are willing to follow your calculations along.For me I always start with:Write down assumptions and the question. Often the content of these tests require tunnel vision to complete. Then obvious things can be less obvious.I once misinterpreted bounds written like: 0 < x , y < PI. I interpreted the comma as a misspelled unequal sign and solved the question for 0 < x < y < PI. Instead of that both x and y should be between 0 and PI. The answers were only different by a factor 2.Show how you get to an answer. Write down everything.Perhaps at this point the final answer isn't even that relevant anymore, unless you need it in further calculations.Have to confess, that if I needed to calculate the curl of a vector field using surface integrals.. only to figure out the answer is zero, was not as pleasing as could have been.Minus/plus sign here and there? Meh.. uni maths are so mechanical, time consuming and above all error prone.. Taking the right approach for a question is way more important. Anyone in their sane mind doing this level of maths for real paperwork checks it by a computer.No toilet breaks are a torture. In order to concentrate I always bring a 0.5L water bottle with me. During a 3h exam I drink about 1L of water. At my uni it's no problem to fill it up after ~2 hours (when also practically nobody dares to consider their test done), which also is conveniently a comfort break, little walk, etc.

author: vodka
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 07:28:58 pm
content: Quote from: CatalinaWOW on April 15, 2017, 03:37:15 pmBut the great difference on his era ,it was the normal people didn't access to calculator and computers, all calculus you made to manual or with tables of values(Sin,cos, log,hyp...).Today , making these kind controls for me , it hasn't sense. Because you lose many time in hard calculus that a computer may resolve on minus time.I always ask myself the same question since i was a bachelor student(high school). At these kind of exam , what does teacher evaluate, the ability of student for computing or his knowledge about of subject?

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 08:54:03 pm
content: Quote from: vodka on April 15, 2017, 07:28:58 pmIt's not about doing a calculation and getting an answer, it is about training your mind to understand the theory, learning the tools to solve new problems you have not seen before, learning how to tell if an answer is a good answer or a bad answer, and understanding the sensitivity of the answer to different parameters.A computer may give you an answer that is numerically correct, but it may be a really bad answer to the problem you need to solve. Without understanding, you won't know how to get the right answer out of the computer.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 08:59:38 pm
content: The time to do calculations hasn't really changed much. A slide rule is actually faster than a calculator for finding logs, doing products and the like. And anyone can do three digit adds quickly.If you are using the calculator for numerical integration you can do things you can't do on a slip stick, but the example exam didn't require any of that. Something like Maple is useful for the algebraic manipulation, but with as much time as was given for the test shouldn't really be an issue to do it by hand.Re-read IanB's answer a few times. It is straight to the point.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2017, 01:01:50 pm
content: Seems similar to exams I remember from my university days. I never took a dedicated filter course so most of that is completely beyond me without some serious study.Most of mine were similar, in that just putting the answer wasn't sufficient. Showing the work and the equations step by step also helped in more than just drilling in the theory. If you transposed a number copying from your calculator yet had all the applicable equations in correct form, you would lose a few points for the incorrect answer but not lose full marks because you demonstrated that you did know how to derive the answer.

author: Harb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 05:26:05 am
content: So who here is going to answer them