Aeronautical Engineering

Hi 5

hello hello....

any hints/breakdowns for a NEWBIE...hitting LM077 as a 1st Yr Mature Student???

hours to expect, tough subjects, rough idea of timetable...etc???

cheers

NeirBot

Hi 5 wrote: »

hello hello....

any hints/breakdowns for a NEWBIE...hitting LM077 as a 1st Yr Mature Student???

hours to expect, tough subjects, rough idea of timetable...etc???

cheers

You should have 23/24 hours, for both semesters, if I remember correctly from last year. In 1st semester mechanics and electrical seemed to be hardest for most, although depending on how long you have been out of school, maths can be quite tricky, took me a while to get back into it (mature student too).

Second semester, mechanics and fluids are the tough ones, but sayin that a bit of clever study and they are all manageable!

Didn't do aero myself but there are 4 courses all with the same common subjects in 1st year.

UL is a great place too.. enjoy it!

Helikaon

Here is an honest assessment of how I managed the Degree.
I was a mature student of Mech, I finished 2 years ago. As NeirBot said, get on top of the maths from the start. If you dont know the Maths, you will find subjects like fluids, solids and mechanics very hard to understand. Use the maths learning centre, its there and its free. They are really nice and helpful in there, they have all the notes and past exam papers done. I spent 10 hours a week in there, every spare minute.
With tutorials, I would go to two of them. the first I would take down all the answers, the second I would just sit there and listen.
Most of the Leaving cert students will look up to you, and these guys have brains to burn, even the lazy ones. So use your experience, make friends with everybody, you never know when you may need them.
We built up a group of 7-8 mature students between the four Eng. degrees, and all helped each other through different modules. If soembody new how to do a tutorial question, he/she qould go up to the board and teach the rest of us. The same people will help you through the tough times, when you are fed up and just want it to finish, because four years is a long time, and you are doing one of the busiest, and hardest courses in UL.
Use the librabry, its full of books with all the answers to every question, sounds simple, but so many students are used to rote learning, so they expect to be told the answer. The majority of lecturers get their exam questions from these books, so get familiar with them.
You will make some very good friends along the way, and have some great laughs. Enjoy.

CatFromHue

Go to all your classes and tutorials.

When you are given an assignment or homework to do start on it as soon as you can. If a lecturer says it would be a good idea for you to do xyz, do xyz.

If you are having problems with something give it a go yourself and try some questions. Then go to the lecturer and ask for help.

Enjoy it!

wannabparamedic

Helikaon has summed up well there. I'm a current student of the course so feel free to pm me any questions you may have whatsoever

Hi 5

want to thank each & every one of ye for your time and help.
appreciate it very much.
i'm sure i'll be 'nagging' ye all again shortly so "looking forward to hearing from ye again" haha!

hey i'll leave with a Q: which books do i REALLY NEED TO BUY next year???

CatFromHue

i only had to buy one book but that was in second year. id wait til then. the library is always there for anything you need to read outside of your class notes.

Hi 5

CatFromHue wrote: »

i only had to buy one book but that was in second year. id wait til then. the library is always there for anything you need to read outside of your class notes.

good to hear!!!

so who is gonna be brave enough to try and explain QCA to me & its significance??? :eek:

CatFromHue

You're probably jumping the gun a bit on the QCA it usually makes more sense when you've done a few exams.

If I remember right though your results are graded and given a score of between 0 and 4. 40% being a 2, 70% being a 3, and 100% being a 4 or something along these lines anyway. So when you get the results at the end of the semester all your individual scores are added up and averaged giving you that semesters QCA. When the year ends both your semesters QCA's are added up giving you the years QCA.

When I was there first years results didnt count towards your final degree marking. I think third and fourth year were weighted to count more than second year though. I could be wrong on all this as I graduated in 2006.

Your QCA is then used to calculate the degree you graduate with.

Simply put get straight A's and you won't have to worry about QCA's ;-)

NeirBot

As CatFromHue said your QCA/results in first year doesn't count towards your degree but it makes a big difference on what co-op you might get.

Co-op starts at the end of second year and the interview for same are at the beginning of 2nd year... so the only thing companies have to go on are your 1st year results.

Helikaon

You dont need to buy books, because they have them all in the library. They may be an edition or two behind, but the editions dont vary a lot. There was one book I bought, it covered fluids, mechanics and basic physics for first year and explained them really well for somebody starting out. It was called "Mechanical Engineering Principles," by John Bird.
I am also still on campus, so PM me if you need anything.
First year should be spent learning how you should be studying, writing notes, how to write and time your questions in exams.

joey12

I did aero,

ya you'll be fine in first year, use it to settle ya. With regards Maths, its very repetitive so keep going over things again and again and methods will stick.

Bought only one book and that was "Introduction to Flight" anderson but that will be used in second year. They did push a book to get in first year for mechanics cant remember it. I found it useless its all in the library anyways.

Ah first everyone's in the same boat, ur all on the same journey so its always best make friends rather than enemies!