A more than two-month long vacation comes to an end, without you even realizing it. It’s time to pack your bags again, only to unpack them once you reach Manipal. The era of common classes has come to an end and the first thing you will notice, once you enter a Mechanical Department class, is the paucity or the total absence of girls. Too bad but it does come with its own share of positives, although that will be a subject matter of some other article.

You are enthusiastic about starting this new journey and are looking to start it on a firm foot. And rightly so. Subjects will be become much more technical and will require considerable efforts for you to ace them. Trust me, now is the time for building a strong foundation and reaping the benefits later on. The buzz of activities in Manipal might overwhelm you but try not to spread yourself too thin. Be selective about the clubs or teams you join and never let the trophy of academic focus slip your hands.

CGPA is just number. Totally true. But so is your age, your annual package, your IQ/EQ and so many other things. Do these not matter? If you think they don’t, please do not waste your time reading further.

Your friends from other branches will tell you that Mechanical Engineering is a piece of cake. You don’t have to look far to blame the genesis of this misinformation. It is going to be some of your own Mechanical batch mates, who will spend their time on everything else other than academics, yet somehow manage to achieve decent grades. The probability of you belonging to that category is slim, so don’t try your luck too hard. Sometime, someday, your balance in the Bank of Luck is going to exhaust and your discipline, sincerity, and persistence that you would have nurtured till then are going to bail you out.

A dose of generic advice before we dwell into the specifics of subjects:

•  Respect your faculties : Don’t try to act too cool and insult them just to entertain a few of your woolly-headed friends. A knowledge-less Mechanical Engineer is more than a million times better than a characterless Mechanical Engineer.
•  Maintain class notes: Don’t just while away your time in the class by playing games in the class. You are going to come across some very boring and soporific faculties in MIT but you have to bear with it. You don’t want to running after the ‘Note Boy’ of the class a day before the exam.
•  Score well during the Internal Assessment: Take the assignments and the ‘sessionals’ seriously. The portion is less and for the assignments, you know the questions too! Always remember, the ulterior motive of conducting assignment is for you to score well. To make the best of assignments, attempt them on your own.
•  Sit within the range of sight of the faculty: Some of you might not agree to this but it does, indeed, serve two important things. Firstly, you concentrate more when you maintain eye contact with the faculty and secondly, you will be in the good book of faculties. The harsh reality of life is, some faculties are partial and some of them just can’t manage a class of 80-plus restless students.

  Let’s move on to subject specific things now.

   THERMODYNAMICS-I

  Faculty : Dr. Krishnamurthy

  Credits : 3

  This is one of the most fundamental subjects of ME and KM sir one of the best faculties in the department for it. You will be astounded by the depth of his knowledge and experience. He doesn’t like any kind of disturbances in the class and can be very strict.
  Keep your basics clear as you have to face Thermodynamics-II too. You will also be drilled about this subject during the placement interviews.
  Practice a lot of numerical and just listen to what he says in the class to comfortably sail through this subject. Also, don’t throw away the steam table as it will again be required in the future.

  Books : PK Nag [Numericals], Cengel [Theory]

   KINEMATICS OF MACHINERY

  Faculty : Ramkrishna Vikas and Srinivas Shenoy

  Credits : 3

  It is a very interesting subject which will be taken up by two faculties. RVS sir is one of the coolest faculties in the department and Shenoy sir is a fun person too, albeit a wee bit strict. I can’t stress this enough but please be very thorough with the velocity and acceleration diagrams for your own good. Practice this as much as you can. It’s almost a certainty that you won’t be able to finish the End Semester Exam within time if you are not comfortable with them.

  This subject can pose a serious danger if you don’t take it seriously and believe me, a make-up for this subject is one of the last things you would want.

  Books :Theory of Machines (by Khurmi)

  STRENGTH OF MATERIALS

  Faculty : Navneeth Vernekar

  Credits : 3

  One of the most crucial subjects which forms a base for Machine Design-I and Machine Design-II. A conceptual subject with comparatively less theory. You just have to understand the flow of steps, since the formulae are already given in the Data Handbook. Familiarise yourself with the derivations. This subject can either make your life easy or give you sleepless nights.

  NKV sir is a student-friendly teacher and solves a lot of numerical in the class. You still might want to refer Amar Murthy sir’s notes once in a while, as there can be many ways to solve a problem. Be quick with calculations or risk leaving the answer sheet incomplete during the exams.

  Books :Bhandari

  MATERIAL SCIENCE AND METALLURGY

  Faculty : Dilifa J. Noronha

  Credits : 3

  One of the more theoretical subjects you will across during the four years’ of engineering but the pain can be mitigated if you understand a few key concepts and not get overwhelmed by the number of pages to ‘memorise’. Once you master the Iron-Carbon diagram, it will rescue you in many of the exams to come. A 5-mark question for sure!

  DJN sir is a friendly faculty and generally gives you a lot freedom in his classes. Don’t push it too far though, because the easiest way to ace this subject is to pay attention in his class. SSS sir is the guru in this subject. You can easily find his notes at Om Xerox.

  One thing to bear in mind is that never copy during his assignments. He has a
  very keen eye and is bound to catch you someday.

  Books :SSS sir’s notes

  MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

  Faculty :Sawan Shetty and Manjunath Shettar

  Credits : 4

  Manjunath Shettar takes non-conventional processes, while Sawan Shetty sir takes conventional processes.
  Sawan sir’s classes are one of the most interesting classes. Unfortunately he has left the college. One wouldn’t have to study much for his part since he made it so effortless.

  Manjunath sir’s part you will have to do it on our own (I think that’s enough said).

  It’s a totally theoretical subject with a lot of diagrams and the best way to ace this subject is to practice the diagrams and write a few key points about each on your own. Beware, memorizing the exact info given in the slides will take too much efforts and is not required. Simple box diagrams should suffice.

  Books : R.K Jain

   

  COMPUTER AIDED MECHANICAL DRAWING

  Credits : 3

  One of the more chilled out labs- AC room and demands no physical efforts. Comprises of AutoCAD and CATIA. If you are a little slow in using AutoCAD and CATIA, practice the drawings in your room before going to the lab. Also, develop the practice of writing the commands used, for a particular drawing, for retention later on.

  Note: Draw the things on your own instead of just copying from your friends through the server. Otherwise, it will haunt you later on.

  WORKSHOP PRACTICE – I

  Credits : 1

  It’s a fun lab where you will get a chance to work on the lathe, drill machine, CNC, etc. The trick is to maintain cordial relationships with the machine operators. They will save you during the exam, if the need arises. Although it’s a fun lab, don’t take it lightly and waste your time chatting with friends during the lab.

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  In the end, I just want you to wish the best. I am sure that you will succeed, make mistakes, learn from them and probably have some regrets, like I did. Education, and especially engineering, for me is a lesson to deal with life. So, your actions now will set the course for your life.

  All the very best!

  EDITOR’S NOTE

  My notion for Mechanical branch has always been – you read the slides, you score marks. Clearly, that’s just the tip of a huge iceberg!

  My anonymous writer here might have gone a little more serious than my previous guides,but he loves his juniors all the same! I hope you found it helpful. That writing though! So much to admire.

  If you’re stumbling through this blog for the first time : where were you all these days!? There is a whole lot of content written by me that you can find here. If you want to hear more from the blog, leave a like at my facebook page. Hope to see you there!

  Thanks for reading, and have a rocking sem ahead!