Mature Student - Mechanical Engineering

[ciaranthemurph]

Bit of back story/information on the whys of my question.

Upon leaving school I joined the merchant navy as an engineering cadet and over the years have worked my way up to the point of completing my Chief Engineer (Motor) Unlimited exams at the tail end of last year. When I did my cadetship (apprenticeship) I got an HND in Mechanical Engineering and I am now interested in trying to achieve a BSc (Eng) Mechanical Engineering as a part time mature student.

Since leaving college in *ahem* 2005, I've had to return twice, to complete short courses (6 weeks each) to prepare for the MCA examinations for the Second and Chief Engineer qualifications that I have attained. The MCA/STCW way of examinations is strange and antiquated and would probably justify a thread of its own for anyone interested, requiring certain amounts of hands on time before being allowed to even apply for sitting the exams.

Each of these short courses for 'Engineering Knowledge' that I've completed for my exam preparations are not in 'academic' subjects, these were covered when I was in college the first time around in 2005. You are more required to be able to draw cross sections of pistons or electrical diagrams from memory with no mathematical requirements.

So, as I wish to return to the 'Academical' side of engineering, I was wondering if anyone would be able to recommend any books to get to try and get my mind back in the mathematical side of things. I don't want to be trying to re-learn stuff that I've forgotten over the last decade whilst trying to take in new information (I intend on trying to start my course in Sept 2021).

So to round up;
Can anyone recommend any books to me that would assist in getting my maths up to scratch for a degree in Mechanical Engineering?
Has anyone got any experiences of returning to study after a long break such as this?

Thanks

[Ryan_T]

Not a book, but everyone in my course everyone just used Kahn academy which is phenomenal.

[Dr Slotter]

A good place to start is 'Maths: A Student's Survival Guide: A Self-help Workbook for Science and Engineering Students' by Jenny Olive. Then see what you can remember anything about in Stroud's 'Engineering Mathematics'!

I work in this area and I've had a few students recently with similar pathways to you. It is more than possible, and outcomes for those students have variously resulted in PhDs and jobs in F1, but do not underestimate how tricky it is to get back into it. Fire away with questions or drop me a message.

[bucksmanuk]

as above
Stroud's Engineering Mathematics Parts 1 and 2
The Schaum Outline series are good as well

[Type R Tom]

When I did my BSc in Mechanical Engineering, the lads that had done A-level maths found it dead easy as they were pretty much repeating what they learned at school. I didn't do maths so I was learning from scratch, I really struggled!

[Dicky Knee]

My son finished his BSc in Mech Eng last summer and I asked him about it.

His advice was to get the A Level Maths Study and Revision Guides as a start. He said that they didn't use any engineering maths books on the course but all the maths they needed was delivered through lectures and notes.

[ciaranthemurph]

Thanks for all of the advise and hints and tips, I now have a bit of information to go and research and get my head stuck into. It's a bit daunting, but hopefully it will all be worth it. I've found during certain professional courses that I have done in the years since leaving college that I have been able to get my head back into numbers reasonably quickly (doing naval architecture calculations for ballast control and HVAC calculations for refrigeration systems), so I'm hoping that I will be able to do the same for the rest, although the gap has been longer!

Dr Slotter said:

A good place to start is 'Maths: A Student's Survival Guide: A Self-help Workbook for Science and Engineering Students' by Jenny Olive. Then see what you can remember anything about in Stroud's 'Engineering Mathematics'!

I work in this area and I've had a few students recently with similar pathways to you. It is more than possible, and outcomes for those students have variously resulted in PhDs and jobs in F1, but do not underestimate how tricky it is to get back into it. Fire away with questions or drop me a message.

Thanks for that, I'm sure that I'll be asking more questions once I get into it. The whole reason I went to the Merchant Navy in the first place was to avoid too much further education, but it was a long time ago that I thought that!

Thanks again for all the book and website suggestions, it's much appreciated.

[CoupeKid]

My 2ps worth: read the Strouds.

I did a Mech Eng degree because I was interested in how things were made and what they were made of.

A Mech Eng degree is largely maths. None of which I have since used.

If I had my time again I'd have done Product Design but I'm not sure that was even a thing when I did my BEng (1989 - 1993).

[Type R Tom]

CoupeKid said:

My 2ps worth: read the Strouds.

I did a Mech Eng degree because I was interested in how things were made and what they were made of.

A Mech Eng degree is largely maths. None of which I have since used.

If I had my time again I'd have done Product Design but I'm not sure that was even a thing when I did my BEng (1989 - 1993).

Too true. One term with a 2 hour less playing with lathes and the rest in the classroom other than a few experiments with loading.

[ciaranthemurph]

Type R Tom said:

Too true. One term with a 2 hour less playing with lathes and the rest in the classroom other than a few experiments with loading.

I’m aware that there will be very little in the way of practical work, which is what put me off the courses originally when I left school. Over the course of my career I’ve definitely ticked the box for ‘practical work’ and if I’m wanting to move to a job ashore eventually, many employers look for a degree, no matter the experience or other qualifications.

[vaud]

Also worth looking at how good the Uni is for mature students. What support they give, etc.

Some are really good, others less so.

Student room is a good forum:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?...

Are you thinking of attending a Uni or going for Open University?

[skwdenyer]

Type R Tom said:

CoupeKid said:

My 2ps worth: read the Strouds.

I did a Mech Eng degree because I was interested in how things were made and what they were made of.

A Mech Eng degree is largely maths. None of which I have since used.

If I had my time again I'd have done Product Design but I'm not sure that was even a thing when I did my BEng (1989 - 1993).

Too true. One term with a 2 hour less playing with lathes and the rest in the classroom other than a few experiments with loading.

Similar time period for me. Likewise, MechEng in those days (if not now, don't know) was basically maths with knobs on. In my day at least, one spent very little time finding out how things worked

The interesting stuff was on the sides - elective final year courses, final year project, etc. Perhaps the most useful (in the long term) part was a compulsory law course over 2 years, run by a fabulous barrister (the idea being that engineers were likely to find themselves in situations involving contracts, disputes, etc. so should understand the law).

I've used (and built upon) that legal course most months ever since, as well as the rigorous problem-solving that engineering requires.

The big change in the time period of course has been computer simulation - we had a bit of exposure to it, but it exploded after we left. The good news was that those of us who understood the maths could question the use of tools with appropriate scepticism. The bad news was that it was a massive learning curve. I don't know a great deal about how engineering is taught these days.

[vaud]

skwdenyer said:

The big change in the time period of course has been computer simulation - we had a bit of exposure to it, but it exploded after we left.

I misread that the first time... that your simulation had exploded after you left the course...

[skwdenyer]

vaud said:

skwdenyer said:

The big change in the time period of course has been computer simulation - we had a bit of exposure to it, but it exploded after we left.

I misread that the first time... that your simulation had exploded after you left the course...

Lol. My final year project involved a high tension power supply; it could have done badly wrong after I left!

[CoupeKid]

skwdenyer said:

Similar time period for me. Likewise, MechEng in those days (if not now, don't know) was basically maths with knobs on. In my day at least, one spent very little time finding out how things worked

The interesting stuff was on the sides - elective final year courses, final year project, etc. Perhaps the most useful (in the long term) part was a compulsory law course over 2 years, run by a fabulous barrister (the idea being that engineers were likely to find themselves in situations involving contracts, disputes, etc. so should understand the law).

I've used (and built upon) that legal course most months ever since, as well as the rigorous problem-solving that engineering requires.

The big change in the time period of course has been computer simulation - we had a bit of exposure to it, but it exploded after we left. The good news was that those of us who understood the maths could question the use of tools with appropriate scepticism. The bad news was that it was a massive learning curve. I don't know a great deal about how engineering is taught these days.

We had one hour a week of "Management" in the first year, 2 hours a week in the second year and 3 a week in the third year. A lot of my mates didn't take it seriously but I suppose the degree is a recognition that you will do managementy things, not just design.

It covered a bit of employment law and law of tort (both very useful), gantt charts etc, basic accounting and general people management amongst other topics and has been very useful in life. It tended to be taught by people with experience rather than academics.

[skwdenyer]

CoupeKid said:

We had one hour a week of "Management" in the first year, 2 hours a week in the second year and 3 a week in the third year. A lot of my mates didn't take it seriously but I suppose the degree is a recognition that you will do managementy things, not just design.

It covered a bit of employment law and law of tort (both very useful), gantt charts etc, basic accounting and general people management amongst other topics and has been very useful in life. It tended to be taught by people with experience rather than academics.

In contrast our management course was pretty poor. Lecture 1 was titled “the manager - subordinate relationship” and it went on front there. No recognition of any other form but a sort of 1950s industrial relations model. Herzberg was a big thing.

[voicey]

bucksmanuk said:

Stroud's Engineering Mathematics Parts 1 and 2

I've still got my Stroud books from 25 years ago - would never have been able to complete the courses without them.

I reckon as a mature student you'll do quite well. My problem as a young lad (25 years ago) was that I frequently skipped lectures and then had to revise like mad on my own to make up the knowledge gap. I finally got my act together in my final year and discovered the "secret" to success - if you turn up to every lecture and seminar then they'll tell you everything you need to know. It was a revelation for me!!

Edited by voicey on Sunday 17th May 09:02

[Jiebo]

As said, I hope you’re good at maths. Engineering degrees is largely applied maths and some courses being more than others.

If you weren’t good at maths when you were younger you won’t be better now. It’s one of those things that some people can do more easily than others, and you don’t want to be on an engineering course being the later.

[vaud]

voicey said:

I finally got my act together in my final year and discovered the "secret" to success - if you turn up to every lecture and seminar then they'll tell you everything you need to know. It was a revelation for me!!

And talking to the lecturer. Reading past papers and asking them what I should focus on was a revelation.

[egomeister]

Dicky Knee said:

My son finished his BSc in Mech Eng last summer and I asked him about it.

His advice was to get the A Level Maths Study and Revision Guides as a start. He said that they didn't use any engineering maths books on the course but all the maths they needed was delivered through lectures and notes.

This. You don't need degree level maths textbooks in order to prepare for a degree - use the same tools as those coming through school/college.