The title of this piece is derived from one of the most dreaded subjects in EEE course. For all the non-EEE folks, it is Power Systems Analysis. It’s like the x in mathematics which still hasn’t been found. By now all of you might have guessed what this going to be. But don’t worry, I will not bore you with all the EEE jargons and try to make this as understandable as possible. So, here goes.
Normally a five years’ course which some manage to complete in 4 years Electrical and Electronics Engineering is one hell of a ride at least in my college. From struggling to getting the most accurate reading in 3rd semester to coming up with our own values in 7th semester, we all grew up. It all started when we got the admission order in hands, that’s when our future was determined. The first two semesters are common to all branches so we study everything from English to Biology. Yes, you read it right Biology was taught to us thanks to the presence of Biotech and Biomed Department of our college. So, after one year of revising class 11 and 12 portions, the real game started.
From 1st to 2nd year everything change so fast that by the time we come to our senses the end sems are over. Lucky you if you cleared all subjects and you don’t need to come for makeup exams. Now these makeup exams are a totally different ball game and needs it’s own paragraph so we’ll return to it later. So in 3rd and 4th Sem they take it slowly introducing the basic concepts and supplementing the classroom learning with practical experiments in the lab. Well it sounds great, but you wish! In the labs we were just given the apparatus, meters and components and were expected to conduct the experiment with little to no guidance and we were evaluated right from the first lab. So much for continuous evaluation, understanding concepts just gets thrown out of the window. Talking of labs, how can we miss every teacher’s favourite viva, where they get to grill the students especially the ones who troubled them during classes. The trick is telling whatever you know with confidence as the teachers already know how much electrical you know. Nonetheless, there were a few people whose answers really stood out, if you know what I mean.
So, 4th sem comes and we are introduced to something called open electives. You have to choose a course from a variety of courses from different branches. So, here is your chance to pursue a hobby or an interest. But the trend says to choose something which you have some idea about so that you don’t have to struggle a lot and also get good grades out of it. So, the even semesters are supposedly easier as they have simpler subjects. It is also evident from the periodical troughs and peaks in our mark sheets. So, “sahi choose karo and khush raho“.
Next, comes the magnum opus of our engineering course, 5th Semester. It’s make or break for your career, make means makeups and break means break free from forces stopping you from your goals. Didn’t expect that, did you? So, you have 6 subjects out of which 3 are really tough and other 3 are manageable and then the department thinks maza nai aaya, kucch toofani karte hain and adds projects to all the subjects. So, 6 mini projects extra over the 6 subjects and 2 lab projects that we usually had. Power Systems, Microcontrollers, Communication Systems are a few of the subjects from this sem. So, if you clear this sem you will clear EEE otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting your degree in 4 years. This sem is the reason behind EEE being a 5 year’s course.
Now is a good time to talk about makeup exams. It is nothing but a synonym for supplementary exams or suppli as they say. Record has it that the makeup paper is tougher than the semester exam paper which is ironical as it is meant for those who couldn’t clear the semester exams. Sad right? Also, there’s a catch, even if you get full marks the best grade you’ll be awarded is a C. It is the only thing between you and a backlog, so the stakes are pretty high. It’s a good practice to not let the situation come to this, as makeups can be really unpredictable and mysteriously haunting as well.
5th sem for us EEE folks was a huge nut to crack and if you get through, then it only gets easier as subjects get easier and also the option for electives makes it convenient for students to choose subjects they like or in other words they can pass easily. 6th semester just goes in recovering from the previous one and then comes the penultimate semester which is when companies come and judge us for the past sins of previous semesters. Wait, before that you need to clear a few rounds of online tests if you pass the eligibility criteria of the companies. “Placements to CS wale hi le jate hain“. If something remains we fight among ourselves for that meager paying job to become slaves of some big time MNCs. It gets really ugly in some of the group discussions and also even after waiting for whole days for interview. The whole process becomes really frustrating but you will manage to come out of it with a job.
Final semester being project work, the lucky ones with internship offer from companies work their asses off to convert into jobs while even the luckier ones have got both internship and job offer while the rest of us choose to do project with our dearest teachers in the best department in college. You must have guessed by now whether project was a choice of more like the only option left. The idea here is to choose the most chilled out profs or the ones with whom you have a good rapport so that they can save your asses during the various evaluations and also give you a decent grade out of it.
Oh snap! I forgot to talk about the fests. We have two major fests at our college namely Tech Tatva and Revels, the techno-management fest and sports and cultural fest respectively. There are a platter of events for you to choose . Tech fest had events like Robowars, Fuel RC, Death Race etc where your technical acumen was tested while there were also fun events like paintball, scavenger hunt to unwind yourself. If you were into acting, singing or dancing the cultural fest had a lot in store for you. Speaking of which, the plethora of clubs at our college also needs a mention. There was something for everyone, arts, dramatics, branch related clubs and more. For the adventurous ones there were student projects like Formula Manipal, Team Manipal Racing, Mars Rover Manipal, Parikshit-the satellite team to name a few.
At the end I would like to say that given the hardships , we all had a hell of a time at Manipal and we graduated with some unforgettable memories. We managed to survive EEE and get our degree in 4 years.
Last but not the least irrespective of whatever choices you make don’t worry it will all pan out well. Good luck, guys!
Life 101 