In case anyone is reading this during the vacations – hope you’re enjoying it! It was your first big break after you’ve been to Manipal. By now, you would have known how easy it is to score in MIT.
All those 9 pointers nodding their heads to that above line, may please close this tab and continue doing something else. To everyone else remaining : don’t sweat out. It’s not easy. I know. Better than you.
And of all branches, you, my dear fellas, have chosen EEE just like me. Don’t know whether to welcome you guys as a senior or feel pity for you. Coz boy, you are in for hell of a ride.
Imagine those huge roller coasters. Imagine you slowly reaching up to the high point. First year has been that. Imagine the steep downs, crazy curves that follows, where it feels as if our intestines have been misplaced, and you don’t know what the hell is happening around. That, my dear, is the craziness of your remaining 3 years to be followed. You may enjoy it, or you may just end up vomiting. But important part is – to keep your seat belts on.
Okay, enough with those prep talk. So – 3rd sem. First step into your core studies. Some things would be repeated from your first year or 12th, and some things will be new. I didn’t particularly shine in this (or, for a fact in any sem) but I can share all that I did or should have done for studying these courses. Apply them at your own risk!
DISCLAIMER
All that I have written here about my faculties is not in anyway to demean or disrespect them. It is a clear, unbiased view of my experience in learning the courses under them. These lines are actually a part of the college’s Student Feedback questionnaire for which I have responded according to what I have written here.
Please treat them as constructive criticism and nothing else.
ANALOG ELECTRONICS CIRCUITS
Faculty : Sudheendhra Prabhu
Bad course to start from. I’ve had some confusing relation with all the analog courses that I’ve done. I take deep interest in those concepts. I really like reading them. But due to my small mistakes during exams, I never get to crack them.
Most frustrating thing with this one is that there’s no one book to refer to. They might recommend Razavi (soft copy in the drive link) but to me , it was completely useless. You won’t believe those long hours I spent in library looking for the perfect one (the book I am talking about) . Your most valued treasure then, is your class notes. MAKE YOUR CLASS NOTES WELL. I cannot stress more on it. And still, you will have trouble because what they teach is not what they ask.
All that we were taught were mostly theory, and all that they ask in exams are numericals. The course structure needs severe improvement (not sure how it was the last time though). And even if you say “Oh come on, you should practice them yourselves. You cannot be spoon-fed”, then here comes another bummer : FROM WHERE? There are no proper references as I mentioned and apart from assignments there’s no other source for you to get some meatful problems. Lucky you though, you’ll get our assignment questions.
Other sad part is I am never able to grasp with Prabhu Sir’s teaching and had to go through all the concepts myself. One can ask their doubts to Vineeth Patil sir if not him.
DIGITAL ELECTRONICS CIRCUITS
Faculty : Vijayalaxmi
You can relax a bit in this one. While in AEC (Analog Electronics Circuits), you don’t get the reference when you need one, for DEC (Yeah, you know what it means), there’s no need at all. You are at the very basic of digital electronics and it is just 0s and 1s.
All that you need to do here is know what to do, and make sure you don’t do mistakes. As you reach towards the end of the course, things might appear a bit complicated. But with some work and little concentration, you can get past that too.
If you do feel the need for a reference or practice, you can pick any book from their list.
ELECTRICAL MACHINERY – I (EM1)
Faculty : Bindu S
This is your gigantic, 4-credit course which is also a word of terror for many. You may see a lot of folks getting backlog on this one : and the essential reason for it remains a mystery to me.
Of course, the course is no cake walk. But nothing in it is out-of-the-world, that would make it difficult for you to avoid that F grade. With certain tools in hand, you can easily get past this.
The certain tool I am talking about is Bakshi. It’s an easy-to-understand and frankly excellent book that also has tons of solved problems. You feel at home when you have that book. And yet, the book never makes it to the reference list. Another big mystery.
There are two main sections to it : Transformers and Induction Motor. I felt Bindu Ma’am did an excellent job of teaching the former, and hurried through the latter. With the great Bakshi at your disposal, there shouldn’t be much doubts either.
ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS – III
Faculty : Sandhya Pai
Now this is one you’re familiar with. If Maths is your love, then the affair continues. If not, then the torture continues. Reference is still your good ol’ pal Grewal.
I don’t even remember what I learnt in this course. Let’s just stick to the basic tip : Practice well, but only those problems which have the possibility of being asked. Not too easy, not too hard. I recall some concepts being random and you’d be like “where would we even apply this in real life”. But yeah, you have to do it.
And then, we had the severe misfortune of having Ms Sandhya as our faculty. I found her to be completely incapable of handling the course. Neither her teaching method (which included copying down exact contents from book to the board as far as I remember), nor her inability to solve even the slightest of complex problems worked in our favour. Personally I think the Maths department should just sit down for once and revamp their course structure and teaching methods.
Till that happens, all that can be done is just make your way through from this one.
ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT ANALYSIS (ECA)
Faculty : C.S. Adiga
It’s once in a lifetime that you get a professor like Adiga. He’s the very definition of cool, whose teaching registers in your brains with utmost clarity. Whose notes (if written well) are the ones you’d like to treasure for your life. Who makes you realize that all courses aren’t meant to hog and can be cracked easily. You can ask any student who has been taught by Adiga Sir, this is pretty much what you’ll hear.
Since he holds one of the highest posts in the university (he was the Deputy Registrar during our time), he takes up just this course and that too not always. So if none of the three sections (oh yes. Forgot to mention that : Entire EEE department will be divided into 3 sections – A,B and C) has him as the professor, don’t be surprised.
Since we had this huge leverage, no reference books mattered, no methods were looked for. We purely and blindly followed what the sir taught. If any one section has him teaching, I would suggest grab their notes and sit down with the class fellas and clear your doubts from them.
ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY (EMT)
Faculty : Vikash Kumar Jhunjhunwala
Normally I don’t believe in hating a course. I think every course has its own uniqueness and charm, and can always be worked upon. But not this bitch.
Though there are many who can easily sail through it. I don’t know why. But they do. So don’t be under the impression that “If this guy is saying so much it must be tough.” For this, or any of the course, you need to have a fresh approach. I am just narrating my experience. You can have a completely different one.
I get it. You have your strengths and weaknesses. But still I could have performed better had I solved lots of sums from Sadiku. That book is the main reference, and most of the questions in exams and assignments are asked from that.
Good Part : It has a solution manual, for you to check your answers.
Bad Part : I got to know about it rather late.
Best Part : You get the manual right now (in the drive link).
It’s basically 12th physics with some advanced concepts. I would suggest you have a look at the course plan. And if you have nothing to do. I repeat – if you have absolutely nothing to do, go through those topics now. It’s not like you won’t be able to do it during the sem. But when you have time to spare, why not?
THE LABS
CIRCUITS AND MEASUREMENTS LAB
What it covers : ECA and introduction to MATLAB and Pspice
Now when I look through all of my labs, I think this was the easiest. With every lab, you need to be sure that you go through the week’s experiment both after and before you do it. The same applies here.
INTEGRATED ELECTRONICS LAB
What it covers : AEC and DEC
Most frustrating one because most of the times when you don’t get the output, it is because of the faulty component. The lab is long due for a revamp. Maybe they have, during this vacation. Let’s hope.
You will also have to do a “Mini Project” for this one which would carry some marks. Don’t worry about it much yet. They anyways don’t expect you to do something extraordinary. And if you don’t have the experience I would suggest you don’t even try doing something like it. Coz if it won’t work then you will lose marks.
My motto has always been : do simple but do it perfectly.
THE DRIVE TO SURVIVE
Our department can be pretty late sometimes in giving Course Plans and Assignments. When you actually have time, you don’t have the assignments and vice-versa. And for almost every course, you HAVE TO prepare for assignments well in order to get an idea of the kind of questions you can expect in the exams.
We suffered from those late submissions, but you don’t have to. In the below drive link, you will find some books, course plans (might get updated for your batch but would most likely be similar) and assignment questions. Do use them well!
I had planned to put up sessional papers too, but I couldn’t find them yet! After we reach Manipal maybe I will upload them. So stay tuned.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s the first time in your life that you’ll be studying only around the field that you chose. These are subjects that are inter-related, and hence even dependent on each other. You will find the connections as time goes by.
If you’re getting nervous, don’t! You will be absolutely fine. You will find your way out!
It must be difficult to leave your 1st year friends behind and start with a new class again. Chances are, the moment you go into that new class, your mind will instantly start comparing it with the 1st year one and you will say to yourself how that one was better.
But give it time. There are 5 semesters at least. You will be fond of this bunch too!
Hope your journey from hereon be as memorable as it was for me, but a tad bit better in terms of academics! By the time you read this, there is already guides available for sem 4 and sem 5, so the help continues. If you want to appreciate what I’ve done, a simple like at my facebook page and a promise to read anything that you find interesting in this blog would do.
Thanks for reading! Hope I will see you in the next guide!
THE VIKHYATH TIMES 