Any kind of study puts demands on your time and attention. But highly technical studies can be particularly difficult. Learning complex principles and techniques takes a great deal of concentration and can be discouraging if the answers don’t come fast enough. Here are some tips on how to succeed in a highly technical degree.
Time and motivation
There’s always a part of your mind that seems restless and prone to distractions and excuses, such as an urge to play video games or suddenly feeling tired.
It’s important to train and motivate yourself. Set a time and place for studying, and stick to it. Remind yourself why you chose your field. For example, an impressive 70 per cent of those in nursing management find personal satisfaction in their careers. Eventually, your mind and body will adjust.
Connect with resources
This can be more difficult with online schooling, but you can connect with other students or mentors through your school’s website, social media, forums, or trade associations. When you need inspiration, advice, or assistance with a tough problem, reach out and ask for help.
Often a simple Google search can lead you to tutorials or explanations that are easier to understand.
Take useful notes
Since people think faster than they speak, you’ll often get bored with spoken lessons, while long blocks of text tire the eyes and dull the mind. During your lessons, fight this by taking constant notes.
Try putting every session in your own words, and consider note-taking a very valuable skill to be continually improved. Effective, concise notes make studying faster and easier.
Practice tests
Try to make time to do all the practice problems, quizzes, or tests that come along. You can find others online, or even make yourself flash cards. Keep track of your progress and note the areas where your knowledge is weak and needs improvement.
Constant testing and pursuing higher scores can be a fun, interactive form of study that helps you retain facts.
Problem-solving
Taking on difficult studies like an online master’s in electrical engineering is likely to lead to lessons that you struggle with. The important thing is to persevere until the problem is solved. The same issues are likely to come up in your career.
Develop problem-solving aids like logic flow diagrams, mapping data points, or composing tables to relate information. If you can learn or develop a methodology of your own, it will help you to handle the next issue.
Unless you were born a genius with perfect memory, there will be times you struggle with technical studies. Accept that this is normal and view it as a challenge, not a failure.
Special thanks to Dixie Somers for providing us with this article. Dixie is a freelance writer and blogger for business, home, and family niches. Dixie lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the proud mother of three beautiful girls and wife to a wonderful husband.
Enjoyed this article? Check out our other Engineering and Technology study guides.
