Struggling at Uni

[Matt1984]

Hello,

Well, it seems I am struggling at university. I am studying engineering and at the moment it is pretty heavy in maths.
The problem is, I am not good at maths at all and it is not making any sense to me. This could be due to my severe lack of motivation, and willingness to just procrastinate all the time. This certainly makes things really hard to learn. I have tried a number of things to reduce procrastination but I think I have some disease that cant be cured haha...
I am at the crossroads, I am starting to consider changing degrees to avoid maths altogether, but I cannot determine whether this is what I want.

Can anyone help?

Regards, Matt

[CoolBee]

What math courses are you studying?
The key to success at math IMHO is relaxing into it. Many people have a big block that comes up when they start doing it. I used to teach maths to Gr 7-13. When we started with the algebra, we could use any letter in the world, and it was all fine. The second that letter became X - 95% of faces became frozen in fear. I figure it is because in movies or whatever if you ever see a Prof pontificating in front of a board, it is usually smothered in Xs.

Also, try alternative presentations of the material rather than fixing on whatever book you have been given. Engage with it differently. Perhaps you just read and reread and rereread the same material - this is what many students do and what I used to do too until I was around 30 years old and finally found out there were alternative and better ways to study!

Throw down one of the topics you are having difficulty with and let's see if we can find better ways to understand it.

[Matt1984]

Its Laplace transforms, Transfer Functions and 1st/2nd Order Differential Equations. All this applied to process control engineering.
The thing is however, to learn the engineering side of things you sort of need to know the maths. But without the maths I cannot...
So I am now quite far behind.

[CoolBee]

Well that's a starting point. (I used to know how to do all those things many years ago )
Ok what engineering are you specialising in at present?
And what text are you using?

[Matt1984]

It is Medical Engineering my degree. However its basically Process/Electrical Engineering currently, as per the units that I am doing currently.
The book is 'Process Dynamics, Modeling and Control', by Babatunde A. Ogunnaike.

Thanks

[CoolBee]

There is a book called "Differential Equations for Dummies" which may help explain things in a different way and also a workbook to accompany it (which I haven't seen).
It includes a section on Laplace transforms.

Don't know what country you are in, but here's a link to Amazon so you can see the book: Differential Equations for Dummies: Amazon.co.uk: Steven Holzner: Books

Might be worth googling to see where else you could get it.

Also, check out MIT OpenCourseWare - there is a course on Differential Equations which you can download free:

MIT OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.03 Differential Equations, Spring 2006 | Syllabus

Sometimes just reading something presented differently will help.

And here's one question for you (other than to make your life a misery )-

WHAT is the PURPOSE of a LAPLACE TRANSFORM

spend a bit of time on thinking about the answer and contextualize it to your studies.

[Matt1984]

Ah thanks I will certainly check it out!
I have found that book in ebook form. Thanks

What do you do to help get rid of procrastination and increase motivation. I swear a lack of motivation is a real killer for me.

[CoolBee]

I would start by asking you what were the reasons why you chose Medical Engineering?

Think of a time when you were highly motivated to study - what subjects were you studying, why were you studying them, what were the feelings you got when you were studying them? What kept you going?

Math is beautiful, relax into it, when you study math, maybe find a more relaxed environment to do it than staring blankly at your books and banging your pen on the table while you grit your teeth wondering when that big black hole in your head where your brain used to be will clear. Perhaps have some music you find relaxing playing in the background.

[Matt1984]

The only time I am motivated when I study, is when it is easy and I get it haha
Though I have never been a studier. Ive always hated school. And I am not entirely sure why I have gone back to Uni.
But I cannot think of anything else I would do instead.
I need to get snapping as soon as I can though, because I am 26, still living at home and cannot afford to move out because I am studying. And I dont want to quit uni and get 'any old job'. Bit of a conundrum...

[CoolBee]

So why Medical Engineering? What about that appealed to you?

Suppose you knew the math is just a means to an end (getting the degree) and the chance of you ever needing to do it again is small - they have computers for that stuff now in real life, but it's just to help you understand what is going on in the background against the day the computers all break down

So your motivation at the moment is 'away from' your parents and 'towards' independence and Uni is the transformation function

[Matt1984]

Haha yeh you could look at it like that.
The pressure that is on me is quite large. If I were to quit uni my parents would come down on me like a ton of bricks. I would need to offset it, with a good job. Which without a degree would be hard...
I originally enrolled at uni in a Physics degree. But I soon discovered that my university had a horrible Physics department and they failed to run important units. So I decided to change to something that would use as much units as I had done already as possible - which was engineering.
So I chose Medical Engineering because it seemed a bit of the norm really. I do enjoy helping people on a health level so I thought the two would go well together.
However, I have now been at uni for almost 3 years with another 2 years after this. I will be 28 when I graduate...

[CoolBee]

You're never too old - I am a serial student.

I went to uni for my BSc at 18, and returned several times over the years for masters, PhD, other postgrad qualifications. Over the past 3 years I decided to formalize my coaching by studying for several diplomas in that field. I find that by giving myself the 'external' discipline of signing up for a course, I am far more likely to do the studying than simply trying to go it alone.

I have a friend who is just a little younger than you and has stopped, started, changed courses several times but has now decided just to grit his teeth and finish it - once you finish it, you have the bits of paper (and in many parts of the world they are vital for many purposes beyond just careers - Egyptians, for example, get it written into their passports).

Where are you in the world - no need to be specific? Cultural pressures to finish uni can be extremely high in Asia and the Middle East and the opportunities to succeed without them much less than in the US and Europe.

[Matt1984]

Yeh I guess you can never be too old. But when you are living at home and not self-sufficient, the combination with age can be somewhat degrading I guess....

I am in Australia. Certainly no cultural pressures and my parents dont push me. But I feel that if I were to quit then they would then come down on me, not to mention I would lose respect from them and my peers....

[Matt1984]

Well I have been trying pretty hard and as it turns out almost everyone is failing this unit. So its good to know that I am not the only one.
But nothing seems to be going well. I am putting so much time into this unit, im taking time away from social things. Now I am really lonely.
There is also this girl I asked out, twice, and she didnt even reply to me. She is in all my classes.
Things are not enjoyable right now!