“Make sure you have fun things to do outside of ChemE to keep you sane.”

“Go to office hours, buy colored pens, make sure you practice a lot of problems to understand concepts.”

“Get erasable colored pens!”

“Do practice problems to study for exams.”

“Buy erasable colored pens!”

“This semester will be harder than freshman year. My advice would be to harness time management skills and redefine success. Grades are not everything.”

“Do as many practice problems as you can to study for the prelims. They will challenge you.”

“Use a binder to organize notes. Buy a hole puncher and colored pens and a ruler.”

“Be prepared with a ruler and colored pens.”

“Re-do problems for practice.”

“Hold team members accountable.”

“Open-book exams are still very hard.”

“Start homework early.”

“Go to class.”

“Use a binder and keep it organized! There will be a ton of handouts and practice problems that will help greatly on the prelims.”

“The collaborative learning aspect may seem annoying at first, but Professor Duncan is setting you up to do really in the class so take advantage of it.”

“Go to office hours and appreciate/motivate your homework group.”

“Reading the textbook actually helps a lot. Also, make sure to really practice the problems before the prelim. Even though the exams are open book, there is not enough time to book up how to do every problem.”

“Sophomore year is a big difficulty jump, so stay on top of your work. Take it from someone who’s learned the hard way.”

“Don’t over- or underestimate this major. Most important, don’t quit because of difficulty; quit only because of a sincere reason.”

“Active participation is key in every aspect, including lectures, calculation sessions, and homework groups.”

“Office hours.”

“Always be on top of things. It is difficult to catch up.”

“Learn to think fast in lectures because he will not slow down.” “Sometimes he does stuff without explaining why … good luck.”

“Stick with it. It may be tough at times, but you’ll make it through.”

“Office hours are a great resource to utilize. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.”

“Good luck.”

“Go to Calculation Sessions and participate. It’s the best source for learning.”

“Attend Calculation Sessions and be an active participant.”

“Make sure to have a good ruler/straight edge. I recommend some sort of small 6” ruler that is transparent.”

“Prior to going to office hours, go through all the material and homework that week and be prepared with questions. Ask your peers first.”

“Don’t be too discouraged if the material doesn’t ‘click’ at first. Some of the ways of approaching problems is not the same as what you may be used to - work hard to understand the approach to every problem and try to pinpoint exactly what part of the approach you don’t understand.”

“Try to find a good homework group! If you are unsatisfied with your homework group, make sure you change groups in October.”

“Every Superman has his kryptonite. You can do as much as you can, but you can’t do it all. Everyone fails at some point and learning to be okay with that is the first step to success.”

“Don’t overwork yourself.”

“It’s okay to struggle - don’t get discouraged if you don’t understand the content at first or if you didn’t do as well as you hoped. It’s all a part of learning and one bad prelim grade will not end your life.”

“Rewrite your notes at least weekly. There is a lot of material.”

“Go to Calculation Sessions!”

“The course material is really cool! Don’t lose sight of this even when the work gets tough.”

“Do not over complicate it. Pay attention and it is simple.”

“Optional supply list: colored pens or markers, paper clips, straight edge, and French curves.”

“Office hours are very helpful to understand the homework.”

“Start your homework early.”

“Working in teams helps to understand problems better.”

“Doing practice problems before the exams is essential to being able to understand and finish the exams in time.”

“Don’t be afraid to change homework groups if your first group isn’t working well.”

“Do your best to get a good homework group.”

“Ask Professor Duncan what the ‘T’ stands for.”

“Best major at Cornell.”

“Make friends/ reach out to ChemE’s a year ahead of you so they can help you.”

“Balance time between Chem 389 and EngrD 2190 well. Don’t let the 1st semester sophomore year bring you down because the classes are tough.”

“Go to class! Have fun sometimes! BREATHE.”

“Go to office hours.”

“Focus on learning, not exam scores.”

“Your homework teammates are going to be some of your best friends. Do not request friends for your homework team - let the TA’s pair you with people based on your preferences and study habits.”

“Do practice problems beyond what Professor Duncan provides.”

“Go to Calculation Sessions! One of the most useful learning tools.”

“Keep practicing! Do extra problems - they will only do you good.”

“Work out the exercises, especially the homework problems. Don’t just divide exercises up between team members.”

“Some students are very good at this class. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a hard class, so don’t get discouraged if you are not as good at it as others. You can still do ChemE!”

“Practice, Practice, Practice.”

“Time management!”

“When filling out the homework team questionnaire, fill it out in mind of how other people will answer the questions.”

“Ask your homework team group members if they’d be interested in doing homework in other classes like PChem.”

“Do random homework team groups; meet other people.”

“Expect long and hard exams.”

“Know how to do everything.”

“Make sure to have everything organized as you go because you’ll have lots of handouts and notes.”

“Read the textbook beforehand or else the lectures will feel very hectic.”

“Be open to having a random-assigned team. They can become great friend additions to your time at Cornell.”

“Ask questions and redo problems to prepare.”

“Colored pens! Buy ‘em! Maybe don’t need to buy French curves - kind of expensive for the amount of use. Go to Calculation Sessions - they are great. Try to work out problems before meeting with your homework group - you’ll understand the material better.”

“Stay on top of your coursework from the beginning. Do not cram!”

“If you feel unconfident about a certain aspect of EngrD 2190, do lots of practice problems!”

“Write down key learning objectives for every practice problem done in class!”

“Befriend the other ChemEs - they’re all cool people and it is less sad to study in Duffield for 8 hours if you can do it with others. Read the book - it helps a lot. Communicate with your homework group.”

“Don’t settle for just getting things done (since you’ll be working in groups). YOU need to understand how to do the problems on your own. Maybe try to do 1-2 problems of the same type on your own for every problem you do in your group. Fill in gaps in understanding as early as possible - you’ll regret it if you hold off asking for help.”

“Get a set of colored pens. They help organize your notes in all your classes.”

“Studying for a lot of classes might consist of working out the approach to many problems and skipping over the time-consuming math. However, for this class make sure to work through the problems fully because there are just so many details that cannot be foreseen by just working out the approach.”

“Take advantage of the TAs and get to know them. They’ll have advice about the course and job searching.”

“If you tend to do better in more theoretical classes, do not slack off in EngrD 2190. The class will be very difficult for you. Also, the TAs are great.”

“Make this the class you never miss. You will have such a leg up if you just don’t miss lecture or Calculation Session. Also make office hours your best friend and try to nail the group homeworks.”

“Start group work early.”

“Definitely budget your time well for exams and don’t stress.”

“Well this is pretty hard but just know that everyone else also thinks it is hard.”