Spec for Engineering

[Shadaura]

I did spec and really struggled in class this year, i achieved a 30 (below my expectations) and i hope to do the engineering/biomedical science course next year at monash. I know that engineering involves a lot of maths and i am worried  about keeping up next year, especially without the same support from teachers (often hours of one-on-one sessions).

Would anyone who has done/is doing eng have any advice?

[keltingmeith]

Note: I'm not doing eng, however I HAVE done the science equivalent units for ENG1091, and the first half of ENG2091. The first unit is the mathematics for engineering unit you will take regardless of which stream of engineering you do, and the second is done in every stream except electrical systems (although it really makes no sense to me that it's not, given the importance of vector calculus in electrodynamics... I'm guessing that stuff is covered in ENG2092, which I've also done the equivalent second half of. But, I digress)

First off, let me say this - you might not be happy with your score, however a 30 is exactly average. You are quite literally sitting on a score where 50% of the cohort got a score above you, and another 50% got a score below. This might not excite you, however to me that says you're competent and capable - so don't stress.

Now, that's what I think, but here's what Monash thinks - to do ENG1091 (which is what you'd be looking at next year), the handbook only says you need to have done specialist maths. To do the science equivalent, MTH1030, you need a 30 in specialist maths. So as far as Monash is aware, you are prepared to undertake the next step in mathematics.

If you're still not convinced, let me share a couple of anecdotes: I got a 35 in specialist, and was over the moon. This was high enough to even do the "advanced" variants of the mathematics units, so I decided to try them out. However, when I say high enough, I was literally on the edge - you needed a 35 or higher to get into them. Now don't get me wrong, I'm capable, however throughout all of year 12 I would've spent about 3 hours a week going through questions with my teacher, and making sure I understood the theory. Coming into uni, I did not have this same support.

However, despite this setback, I walked out of the unit with an incredible 87% - which is still my second highest score. I got a score that beat people who had completely smashed me in specialist - including some who had smashed me (gotten a 48) and did the normal mathematics variant of the unit instead of the advanced. What this taught me, and hopefully you can take away from this as well, is that university is nothing like high school. You cannot use your high school marks to try and predict how well you do at university - so instead, you should just charge forwards and hope for the best. You won't have the same support from teachers, no - but I think you'll find that with some effort and dedication, you will surprise yourself.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

[Phy124]

If you're not entirely comfortable with your knowledge in spesh you can certainly do ENG1090. It's like spesh but a little simpler and at times probably goes more in depth in the parts of spesh that are more related to engineering. I did ENG1090 in my first sem at uni (as I didn't undertake spesh in VCE) and did not find it particularly challenging so I think you'd fine be to skip it if you choose. I did have friends who scored around 30ish in spesh and decided to do this unit, some because they didn't think they were quite yet capable to do ENG1091, others because they saw it as easy to do well in and nothing but good for the WAM/GPA.

Alternatively if you feel comfortable with the content you covered in spesh feel free to go ahead and jump right into ENG1091. Whilst obviously covering more difficult concepts and material in comparison to ENG1090, this unit is also not overly difficult and if you maintain good work ethic you shouldn't have too much trouble. You might be able to view the ENG1091 unit guide here, but I'm not sure I might only have access because I'm already a Monash student.

Also note that if you opt to do ENG1090 it will likely take up either an elective or another units spot all the way down into fifth year dependent on what stream of engineering you do (this doesn't really matter just thought you might want to know). Also dependent on the stream you might also have to do ENG2091 or ENG2092 in your second semester of first year, both of which have been deemed quite challenging by most non-mathematically orientated people, making them more challenging for a first year student who might yet to have found a way to effectively study in uni. (seems to take a number of people a year)
You can check whether this will be the case by looking at the the course outline and observing the details for each stream of engineering, here.

Lastly, I'd just like to address your sentence about the support you required in high school and your worries about what you may receive in uni. While these units only have 3 x 1 hour lectures and 1 x 2 hour tutorial/support class per week, there are a lot of opportunities to get assistance outside of these times. The School of Mathematical Sciences runs the Mathematics Learning Centre daily throughout the semester, where tutors and some lecturers are available to help students either one-on-one or in groups. You'll also be provided with contact hours by your lecturers (and some tutors) where you can go to their office and seek out their assistance regarding anything from problem set questions to assignment extensions.

[Shadaura]

Thanks you so much for the information, I think I will try ENG2091 and see how i go, while I am not very confident is spec I did very much enjoy the challenge and am willing to put in a bit of effort, also being able to choose an extra elective in fourth year is quite appealing for me.

It is reassuring to know that there is that support available is i should want it. I guess I am just worried about marks because I know I don't have the best study habits and I am slightly below last years clearly-in atar for the biomedical science/engineering course.