Helpful Hints

Some Suggestions to Make Your Studio-Learning Experience More Effective:

• Take your classnotes and do the lesson questions neatly in a notebook, so you can use these materials to study for quizzes and to do homework. Complete all lesson questions outside of class if you do not have time to do so in class. Your answers to the lesson questions are not collected or graded. However, it is very important that you know how to do them.
• Write up a short summary of the key points for each lesson after you have completed it. Update this summary when you study for quizzes.
• Begin your homework and project assignments as soon as you get them. Do not expect to finish them right away, but get a good start. Go as far as you can and then formulate questions, the answers to which should help you efficiently complete the assignment.
• Electromagnetics is a very visual subject. Make good drawings of the configurations you are analyzing. If you cannot draw very well, find some good pictures in the book, notes, on the web, or elsewhere or use a computer aided drawing tool to help you out. You should always try to have a good idea of what the geometry of the problem is, since this information can almost always be used to greatly simplify the mathematics.
• If you are exceptionally good with mathematics, it is possible to think about the problems without the aid of drawings. If you would prefer a more mathematical approach to problem solving, let your instructor know.
• Try to relate every problem we ask you to do back to some practical application. You probably will not be able to do this right away, but you should try when you study for quizzes.
• Use the Mathcad VisualEandM electronic book as a source of practice problems. The expressions can be changed so you can generate a large variety of such problems. See the Text section of the class information page to learn how to download and use these materials.
• Please share any other ideas you have found to be helpful in learning the material in this course by emailing them to Prof. Connor