Anil Ganti

With engineering admissions commencing in full swing, the many ‘futures of the nation’ AKA prospective engineers gear up for their first moments in this colossal endeavor. While the experienced ones who have a taste and feel of what it feels like to be there, these freshers know not what lies in store for them. Any self respecting engineering student will describe the course as ‘hell’, ‘rectal probe’, ‘Himesh Reshamiyya concert’ and various other variations of the same. The first year is said to be the toughest and the most challenging year of the entire course. A drop in this year will scar your future career prospects for good. Now that I am officially done with the formal lingo, here are a few tips that might help you make it through this year with the fabled ‘60 percent marks’ (which, by the way, happens to be a feat in engineering) without too much of heartburn.

1.     Man on the Moon

The first step to live through F.E is, GET BACK ON EARTH!!! I mean it. Once the word spreads that you are into engineering, old relatives throng you to flood your mouths with tons of mithai, which is promptly followed by compliments pointing to your metamorphosis from a 5 inch piece of tissue to a full grown 18 year old and that you are ‘t3h RoXxOr’ for securing a seat in engineering. Remember, engineering was a highly coveted course in the past which could be done only by a privileged few and the oldies simply refuse to live in this era. Securing a seat in engineering is NOT equivalent to living through an Altaf Raja album. This feeling of elation and superiority is nullified only when you have a fantastic number of KTs.

2.     Textual Nightmare

Do NOT buy random textbooks judging them by their thickness. There are a LOT of textbooks available in the market and you can’t possibly buy and read them all (Ultra rich kids excluded, but heck, who spends money on textbooks these days anyways?). Your college professors WILL guide you on what textbook to buy, so fret not. Many egoistic professors state that their notes are more than enough to get one through the exams. To a certain extent, their notes will help you out, but most professors can NEVER complete the entire syllabus during the course of the semester. So go forth and spend some money in places other than McDonalds and CCD.

3.     A Private Intuition

Keep the number of private tuitions at a minimum. While most college professors are all against these institutions, it does become essential for one to opt for extra coaching for certain subjects. Opt for vacation batches whenever possible because you have a gist of the subject way before the flood of assignment and journal writing hits you. Join classes only for subjects which you find difficult. Joining classes just for the heck of it or to hang out with pals is only a frivolous waste of time and money.

4.     Subjective Paralysis

Lay extra emphasis on the subjects ‘Mechanics’ and ‘B.E.E’ in Sem.1 and ‘Engineering drawing’ in Sem.2.These are the subjects in which the chances of repeated KTs are maximum which can result in a ticket to one year of college-free life (AKA a drop).Clearing these subjects in the first attempt HAS to be one of your top priorities. Remember, no subject is ‘difficult’ as such, but all these subjects demand is practice. Practice and a tad bit of understanding power is all you’ll need to crack these subjects.

5.     Impression Ka Sawaal Hai…

Keep a good (or anything but a screwed up one will do perfectly well) impression of yourself in front of all professors. However linguistically and intellectually inferior they may be to you, they ARE your professors in the end and 25 marks lie solely in their hands. Try NOT to contradict them in mid-lecture and redirect all queries to the end of the lecture, after they leave. Asking a simple doubt (simple does not involve asking them the meaning of life or the probability of finding an electron in the 4d shell of palladium) or two regularly will guarantee you a place in their good books.

6.     Do the Attendance Dance

Make sure to keep your attendance decent. If possible, keep it in the 80-82 percent range. It’s common knowledge that keeping a 90 percent plus attendance record is next to impossible for most people, but if not kept at the mandatory 75 percent, rest assured, your hind side will end up in a sling. A good bunk every now and then is perfectly alright provided it does not affect your attendance record adversely.

7.     Journalistic Endeavors

Try to complete all your journals and assignments on time. A day or at the most a week’s delay is forgivable but a last minute scribbling spree before the day of submissions will only result in loss of precious term work marks for neatness. Even though it is a widely known fact that 99 percent of assignments are never read by the professors, they have to be written for you to better you knowledge. Getting stuff to be written by other people should be kept as the last option and only for journals of subjects that have no real practical application for your field.

8.     A Novel Read

READ the textbooks you so gracefully brought. An hour and half of dedicated work during college days will be sufficient to get you through with decent marks. While 8 hours of slugging it out with the books is not necessary, getting enlightened about the nature of the subject during the preparatory leave won’t help either.

9.     Don’t be KT Holmes

Keep the KTs to a minimum. Getting a KT isn’t as much as a big deal some people make out of it but anything above two KTs implies that you don’t deserve to be in this field. It is true that KTs are inevitable, but too many of them are simply unforgivable. Clear any KTs you have at all costs at the first attempt.

10.     Master the calculator

Yes you heard me right, master the calculator. This is the first time in life you’ve been given the privilege of actually using an instrument that you’d use only to cheat in your school and JC life. The calculator shall be your only ally for the next four years, so grab one and keep tapping on it until you put “1337lOlKoOlBoI” from the “PwnZz0rS” clan to shame. Last but not the least, DO NOT switch between models of calculators no matter now they don’t match with your bag texture, mastering the use of one model is tedious enough, you don’t want to get stuck in limbo and ending up not knowing how to operate neither.