Hi All,

I am planning on going back to college in September.

The course I intend doing is:
Mechanical Engineering (Foundation Degree)

It is one day per week, for two years.

First of all, does anyone have any opinion re the course?

Second of all, it has been a very long time that I have had to learn/comprehend/process/remember anything at all. I'm nervous about going back to education (and I am, what is more commonly known as, a thicko). I've never been good at it, although I would hope that a little maturity has changed me enough for the better.
I'd like to try and get an understanding about the course I intend to do, so am wondering about doing a bit of prep in the way of reading some course orientated materials...

Does anyone have any recommendation as to what to read, and does anyone have any books that they would like to sell/rent/Lend that would be beneficial to me?

TIA
Steve

Most people will find the maths parts the most difficult, so might be worth doing some pre-course reading in this area. The good thing about any mathematical elements of degree a course is that if you understand it you can get really high marks [as it tends to be either right or wrong] which pull your average grade up.

Stu

Get yourself a copy of "Engineering Mathematics" by K A Stroud that will get you through the early stages.

He also wrote "Advanced Engineering Mathematics" but that is not anything like as good.

Agreed, its the maths most find hardest. I can recommend 2 books though which I found useful for my degree which I finished in 2007

Mathematics for Engineers

Clicky

And, Mathematics for Engineers: Mechanics

C licky

Both well written and easy to follow.

Its worth getting in touch with the course organisers too as they often have course text books which are either required buys or recommended reading.

David

As said above it is the maths that is the hardest and as it is used throughout the syllabus it needs to be conquered in order to get on.

I graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1997 after starting on a Foundation year in 1993. A lot of the students on the course were failed A level students and had a massive head start on the maths over me as I left school at 16.

What I had over them was the discipline and work ethic of holding down a job for 6 years and knowing I would be back behind the lathe for the rest of my days if I failed.

I caught up with the maths eventually and ended up on a par with all but the brightest sparks.

I couldn't agree more with BT on both books although things may have moved on and I haven't used Flak Monkey's suggestions.

With hard work and application you will be fine (like life in general), was the best thing I ever did.

A few years extra life experience helped me pick up girls too!

call the uni and ask for the pre req reading materials list. they normally send it out with the welcome pack every year.

it took me two goes to pass the maths when doing my degree but once it clicks life becomes a lot easier. I tried all the books and struggled. It was practical labs that helped me through it, as once i could relate and apply it to something physical it made sense.

visualising it is the key. well it was for me

A bad book can ruin it for you, our recommended (for that read compulsory) maths book was too hard to follow.

Our 1st year was based around it so we couldn't completely ditch it but Stroud's 1st book gave me the knowledge I needed so I could live with it.

Stroud

If an uneducated numpty like me understood it, it has to be good.

Hi,

I did mine back in '94 but it
looks like Stroud is still on the go.
Fairly essential.

I used Mechanics of materials by Hearn (good I thought)
and
Engineering Mechanics : Dynamics by Kraige

Cheers

s

+1 for K.A. Stroud. It was the book recommended to me and all engineering students when I was at Imperial College.

Bedford and Fowler, Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics, is also quite good.

+1 for stroud,

Mechanics of Materials by Hearn is good

Engineering Mechanics : Dynamics by Kraige, statics is pretty good too iirc

Get down their library and have a leaf through all the mentioned ones, they will have them all.

For starters on the maths and often the thing most people have difficulty getting their head around you could try the "For Dummies" book range. They do one on calculus.

I'd also recommend getting K.A Stroud, Engineering Mathematics. It starts off with the very basics and works up to the more harder things, but explains it in a really helpful way and has lots of worked through examples.

I have a few books from starting a Foundation course in Engineering.

I have,
Higher national Engineering (Tooley and Dingle).
Engineering Mathematics (Bird)
Applied Thermodynamics (Eastop & McConkey)
Foundation Maths (Croft & Davison).

You are not a million miles away so are welcome to borrow them for a while, but I will want them back to pass on to Daughter is needed for her studies.

Adrian.

another vote for K.A. Stroud - "Engineering Mathematics"
it was 'the' book when I was at uni (99-03)

not sure exactly what will be covered in the engineering scinece bits.... (I'd guess mainlt dynamics + strength of materials)
we used this one alot for strengths G .M. Seed (it covered everything in our course - but it was writen by our lecturer )

also I liked this book for fluid mechanics B.S. Massey
but some one nicked my copy

the project managment stuff is mostly common sence and the manufacturing technology bit sould be no problem if you practicaly minded enough to build a car

I struguled with the maths all the way through school and uni - that made the whole course alot harder for me


[Edited on 12/2/10 by mcerd1]

Stroud is still recommended, that's a blast from the past!

Now lets take a step back Steve, I think you should start here.






Seriously.......

I would get the Eastop and McConkey book, I found thermodynamics difficult.

What programming does the course entail, is it Cobol?

A decent A Level Physics text book is also helpful as a primer I found........

Prepare to be a bit bored though...... from experience it will all seem extremely basic stuff!

Edited to say: I agree with fesycresy - I'd start with a lower level maths book unless your maths is ok - I found 'Technician Mathematics 1' by Bird & May useful even in the 3rd year of my degree for the basic things you should remember but for some reason can't . Stroud does start off with the basics BUT there's not much depth - plus it's a big book and not particularly cheap!



[Edited on 12/2/10 by D Beddows]

Not from experience, but i am starting on an engineering course from next year and i have been starting to look at Engineering Mathematics by Shroud. So think that would be a good start.

yep, another vote for stroud, its what we used when I started my degree.......... 15 years ago now........eek

still got it somwhere if you want to borrow it

I'll lend you some books (including Stroud) if you want Steve, I'm not that far away from you - u2u me if you're interested

Dave

I'm currently doing my mech eng degree at UWE, 2nd year now and I tend to agree that the maths is the hardest part - most other topics use a lot of maths, so it's essential you get a good grasp on it (especially stuff like integration and differentiation). For that I'd recommend either KA Stroud or Croft & Davidson, both of which are good.
I have to say that one thing that's helped me a lot so far is making a good set of uni friends to study with, as often what my brain can't figure out they can (and vice versa).

will second that.

my maths has always been my "limp" engineering wise, which is very odd for an engineer! Strange, as at A-level I strolled through physics and chemistry with A's no problem, but maths was always the tricky one, and I knew I needed a C really to do much degree wise in engineering at the time, and worked my ass off to get it.

Same all the way though uni, no problems at all other than maths, particularly fluid dynamics maths!

Good friends are a must, they saved my bacon numerous times!!

Thanks for all the advice!!!

I'm just about to send U2U's to all the people that have made the generous offer of lending the books to save me buying them!

I've tried to get in touch with the lecturer, re the reading material, but he's not got back to me yet, so will start with people's suggestions as I'm sure it can't hurt. I am going to be lacking in mathematical knowledge on such a huge scale as I didn't do A level Maths, and I was a naughty boy whilst at school and wasn't allowed in Math, English or Science lessons for the last 3 years of high school and had to stay in the library for 3 years and teach myself...

So I'm sure I'll be asking lots of Q's on here!!!