Pro-tip for those still in university for a technical field:
Instead of going to lectures, completing assignments, and doing tutorials you would be better off learning engineering the way I learned. My way only works in those cases where your prof will actually assign a relevant book.
Step 1: Start at the very beginning of the book with some blank printer paper. Start reading, but be sure to use the paper to block off information further down the page. I actually used 2 sheets of paper, one for the opposite page and one for the section below what I was reading.
Step 2: When you encounter an example problem try to solve it. Make a good, honest, serious 10 minute try at figuring out what the formulas should be. This is especially important if you haven't even been given the formulas first. I "invented" the equations for electromechanical forces by thinking about what they were asking, visualizing it, and then applying basic calculus to the problem set. I also invented fluid flow through pipe networks, structural deflection, life time value assessments, and many other things. All of these concepts are stuck like granite in my mind for life.
Step 3: At exam time take all those assignments you haven't done and do them all at once in the 48 hours before the exam. If you were smart you would have asked your prof if he was ok with you handing in the completed assignments on your own schedule. The reason you leave these off to just before the exam is two fold. Firstly, you actually do the assignments without leaning on your friends to help you with the devilish details. Secondly, your mind doesn't go into auto-recall mode and remember THAT EXACT problem. It is actually trying to solve them for the first time.
That's all it takes. My university experience was a walk in the park once I figured this out, I actually held a full time job as a construction coordinator while fully enrolled at Waterloo.
On exams I could always get the bonus questions because I didn't just understand the formulas - I "invented" half of them. It's a much deeper understanding that started in first year and carried me through until the end of my fourth year. There are going to be exceptions (for me it was applied partial differential equations (except Laplace, that I understood fairly well)) but in general it is far easier to read through a 250 to 400 page book and cram for 48 hours than it is to trudge along going to class and getting stuck on stupid details in assignments.
This is a good tip. I do the same thing when reading math books. Trying to pick up advanced math on your own can be really challenging because there are almost no worked examples of, well, anything past the undergraduate level. The author supplies a series of exercises at the end of each chapter, no solutions, and you're expected to provide the rest. Fortunately every theorem that is actually presented can be viewed as an exercise that was too challenging to state without proof. Now every time I hit a theorem, lemma, etc. I do exactly what you describe. (The paper is really necessary, I'm incapable of not reading ahead and peeking at the solution, at which point the "problem" is ruined.) Often my solution is way off the book's, but this is the best/only way to "learn by doing" when it comes to higher math.
Off-topic but related: If you are studying engineering or medicine or any field where there will be a significant penalty in money or harm to others of mistakes, DON'T settle for an A. Learn (practice) to get the right answer when working problems. In the real world there are no answers in the back of the book, and even when someone else is backstopping your work they can miss mistakes, too. Take the time when doing a problem to make sure you understand it and if it's complicated don't try to keep track of everything in your head.
This is quite an interesting method, but be aware: it doesn't work for all people. Everyone has to figure out how they learn best, preferably by the start of high school.
I truly learned how to learn by the end of college, and I would have found it invaluable to have learned it sooner. There is no doubt that I would have accomplished 100x more and learned 100x more during those years.
In my very first lecture in university the professor told the class that this is impossible. The only way to learn something is by doing. But not to despair, as even if you think you are no good at times, you will be 100x more productive by the end.
How did you happen on this way of learning? It seems like one would need quite a bit of self-control and faith in this method to use it. Did you evolve it, did someone teach you, did you read it somewhere?
I was graduating the year Ontario was getting rid of OAC (grade 13) so there were twice as many graduates coming out of the high schools, even though the near by universities were only accepting 30% more applicants. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in retrospect) for me I was in the Grade 12 stream.
I took a detailed look at all the courses being offered and decided that I just wouldn't look at enough material in the grade 12 version of statistics, so I petitioned the school to allow me to take the grade 13 one. Of course there was a conflict with some other grade 12 course, so I was forced to learn it all from correspondence books. The books moved very quickly, and I found myself lost half the time until I finally told myself to stop skimming through the readings. I ended up applying to university with a 95 or something in the class.
In university I had forgotten that lesson until I was in the same mental space: lost and not knowing why I kept getting stuck. Then it dawned on me that I needed to actually read what in front of me and my method stemmed out of there. I think it helps that I'm one of those crazy visual thinkers, but most people can do it.
I prefer to sit in class, listen very carefully, do the assignment, but nothing else. I schedule my exams to immediately follow the classes. Works for me.
Instead of going to lectures, completing assignments, and doing tutorials you would be better off learning engineering the way I learned. My way only works in those cases where your prof will actually assign a relevant book.
Step 1: Start at the very beginning of the book with some blank printer paper. Start reading, but be sure to use the paper to block off information further down the page. I actually used 2 sheets of paper, one for the opposite page and one for the section below what I was reading.
Step 2: When you encounter an example problem try to solve it. Make a good, honest, serious 10 minute try at figuring out what the formulas should be. This is especially important if you haven't even been given the formulas first. I "invented" the equations for electromechanical forces by thinking about what they were asking, visualizing it, and then applying basic calculus to the problem set. I also invented fluid flow through pipe networks, structural deflection, life time value assessments, and many other things. All of these concepts are stuck like granite in my mind for life.
Step 3: At exam time take all those assignments you haven't done and do them all at once in the 48 hours before the exam. If you were smart you would have asked your prof if he was ok with you handing in the completed assignments on your own schedule. The reason you leave these off to just before the exam is two fold. Firstly, you actually do the assignments without leaning on your friends to help you with the devilish details. Secondly, your mind doesn't go into auto-recall mode and remember THAT EXACT problem. It is actually trying to solve them for the first time.
That's all it takes. My university experience was a walk in the park once I figured this out, I actually held a full time job as a construction coordinator while fully enrolled at Waterloo.
On exams I could always get the bonus questions because I didn't just understand the formulas - I "invented" half of them. It's a much deeper understanding that started in first year and carried me through until the end of my fourth year. There are going to be exceptions (for me it was applied partial differential equations (except Laplace, that I understood fairly well)) but in general it is far easier to read through a 250 to 400 page book and cram for 48 hours than it is to trudge along going to class and getting stuck on stupid details in assignments.