College Committees.

Every fresher has this dilemma in the first year- whether or not to join any college committee. I have listed pros and cons of joining them-

Advantages-

1. You get first hand experience of managing festivals, events,seminars, managing cash flow, sponsorships.
2. Some events or seminar certificates are valued by certain employers.
3. If you hold a position in the committee it shows that you have leadership qualities and can handle pressure. Many employers look for these qualities.
4. Teachers and the principal know you and help you during submissions , excuse you for attendance and maybe even help you with placements and ms admissions by giving letters of recommendation

Disadvantages-

1. You may get demoralised if your seniors don't give you the credit for your work.
2. If you are in the committee and something goes wrong with the fest or event you have to rectify it or its your responsibility.
3. There might be arguments with teachers and the principal if they interfere too much in your work.
4. Academics may suffer if not planned properly.

Joining a committee is is fun and according to me every student should join some committee work for it and engage in some extracurriculars. After all it is not only your mark sheet that makes you stand out.

Year drop.

The dreaded term- Year drop! it is the thing that your mother warned you about while you were busy watching big bang theory, it is the shame that you brought to your family by not studying and getting a mediocre job and a mediocre life!

All of that is pure shit and nothing else. your life doesn't end if you get an year drop. I have see people getting placed at better salaries that tcs and infosys after getting an year drop(eg mouthshut.com-3.6lakhs). Also this drop or gap as I prefer to call it is the best thing that could happen to you in engineering. You get an entire year of free time. Interested in programming?autocad? join some classes add some certificates to your cv.
Not that interested in studying? take 6 month long internships at big companies. Not even interested in that then get a job at some bpo earn a lot of money and enjoy spending it.

An year drop in no way can stop your dreams or place you lower than the people who cleared throughout. There is absolutely no need to be disheartened. It is time to put in hard work, clear those subjects and also get a bit of real industry experience, this will take you a long way. While your class mate will be freshers at the time of interviews you will be having experience and more certificates than them.

Nothing and absolutely nothing can stop you from excelling other than yourself. You can do what you think you can do and there is nothing that can stop you. Consider this year drop as an advantage. Consider it to be a chance to improve yourself, get some experience and learn new things!


Cheers!

Passing first year subjects.

First year subjects are considered toughest to pass and get rid of in engineering. Here are some tips that might help yo to clear the toughest subjects in first year-

1. Programming- This subject is a big joke. I passed my programming without learning one sentence of c. To pass this subject do theory very well. There is very little theory in all chapters learn that all.Theory is usually asked for 30-40 marks in the paper. Also study specific programs like palindrome, pascal triangle etc which have been asked earlier. Also practise recursive functions. Refer blueprints for weightage.
2. BEE- many people consider this subject to be very tough and are stuck with it for years. It is very easy to pass this subject with just 3 days of preparation. Start studying theory of single phase ac circuits, 3phase 2 wattmeter, transformers etc. Study the dc part at last. It is not worth its weightage and people usually go wrong in sums. Study only 3-4 marks sums from this topic.Also practise recursive functions. Refer blueprints for weightage.
3. Maths-1- Refer blueprints for weightage. Study strictly according to blueprint and study only the parts you find easy. Do not sit and study for full 120 marks. Study only for 80 marks.
4. Maths-2- Same as maths-1 refer blueprints for weightage and study for 80 marks only, this subject is known to stick so do not take it lightly.
5. Mechanics- Same as maths but study theorem statements and read through sums. Study simple balancing chapters only. Do not go for trusses etc.
6. Physics/chemistry- these subjects are relatively simple and just study important questions only. Try getting notes of Dr. Shetye from RAIT students for both chemistry papers they are clear and concise.

How to clear engineering without ATKT

So you have decided to ruin your life by going for engineering or maybe your parents decided that for you, anyhow now that you are here you will have to learn several ground rules for passing semester after semester without the dreaded kt!

1. Avoid internal kts at any cost. Well you will come to know what I mean by at any cost once you start attending college :P. For the internal term tests you will be given question banks, if they do not give you question banks and assign chapters, open techmax and study whatever has been asked at least once in university exams.
2. Attend all practicals and get journals corrected before time so as to have a good rapport with the respective teachers Do not ever ever argue with them, they might look dumb in the classes but on the day of viva exams even dumbest teachers will become smartest and will embarrass you in front of externals and give you reviva or at worst a viva kt.
3. Now to the endsem part, open your books at least on weekends and be familiar with subjects. I am not asking you to learn them all by heart(that will come later) just get familiar with topics. Also do not try to be a badass and go buy reference books, buy kumbojhkar for maths and techmax for all others. Also buy easy solutions. Easy solutions and techmax are your only support for next 4 years.
4. During endsem exams you get at least 20 days preparatory leave and 5 days leave before each subject. Use all these days to study. For if you fail in first year subjects they are very hard to get rid of later in your semesters.
5. 5 days are more than enough for any subject. study only for the exam month but study sincerely and you will pass engineering without any kts.

cheers!

ATKT Rules for engineering.

This is a simple english representation of the mumbai university ATKT rules.

1. You cannot pass an year with more that 8 kts out of which only 5 should be endsem kts and 3 should be internal kts. for example if you get 4 internal kts and 4 endsem kts you are considered eligible for next year however if you get 7 endsem kts and no external kts you are not eligible for admission to next year.
2. Practicals, vivas and term test(cbgs) kts are considered as internal kts.
3. Also you cannot take any first year kt to third year and second year kt to fourth year.
4. There is no N-ATKT rule in university of mumbai and chances of implementation of the same are very low.

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.