Engineering Mechanics 1 (a GOP) at TUM

Engineering Mechanics 1, or EM1 (Technische Mechanik 1) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), can feel extremely intimidating at first. It's an entirely new field you've never encountered in high school and is one of the hardest versions of a 1st semester statics course at any university in the world. Additionally, time is your main adversary, making it all feel impossible. As someone who has been through this and managed to top-score the course, I would like to share my perspective on it.

Topics overview

Most static mechanics exams for a first-semester bachelor's course at other top universities contain 3 main topics. At TUM Aerospace, you will encounter 7 main topics and an additional 6 minor topics. They are as follows:

Main topics:

• Truss systems
• 2D internal force diagrams (2D NVM)
• 3D internal force diagrams (3D NVM)
• Virtual work
• Static friction
• Static potential
• Force magnitude

Minor topics:

• Equilibrium
• Static determinacy
• Zero force bars
• 2D internal force diagrams solved with integrals
• Stress-strain relations
• Castigliano and Menabrea

This list is very extensive, and covers most static mechanics bases.

Why the topics feel so difficult

The major difficulty in learning these topics is how they don't flow into one another. You just got to university, you briefly heard of a force sum, then you encounter a super simple version introduced in the lectures and central exercises. You then look at your exercise sheet for the week, and it's a humongous system you have no clue how to start approaching. Once it finally starts making a bit of sense (meaning you can read the solution and not be totally lost), you move on to internal force diagrams that seem to have nothing to do with what you just learnt. And the cycle continues. Each new topic seems barely related to anything you did previously, so you always feel like you are starting from scratch.

Understand it before the lectures move on to the next topic

You need to know you're not alone on this. Every single person sitting in the class has no idea what's going on the first time it's taught. The most important thing is to try to understand it before the lectures move on to a different topic. Once a new confusion arises, your previous uncertainties will be pushed aside, and you'll only have time to learn it once the exam phase starts. Save yourself the trouble, try to grasp it before it goes away. It'll make your exam prep much simpler.

Go to the exercise sessions!

The exercise sessions are where you'll learn exam techniques the best. The tutors teaching the exercise sessions are students who scored excellently in the course. They know what you're struggling with, and they were struggling with it too. The tutors found a way to do great in the exam, and they'll try to help you do the same. I tutored the course in my 3rd semester and was head tutor in my 5th. I can tell you with certainty that EM1 is the most competitive tutoring position to get for any course in the Aerospace bachelor's, so the ones that end up tutoring are the very best and you can learn a lot from them.

Listen to the tutors

Tutors may tell you certain topics are less relevant, or certain techniques not introduced in the lectures are what you should do in the exam. From taking the course in the previous years, they have the best grasp of practical advice. Try to stick with one tutor, so they personally know you and what you're struggling with. I changed my teaching approach depending on what my students knew and didn't know, a large reason why so many of my consistent students ended up scoring a 1.0. If you develop a bond with one of the tutors, they'll really try to ensure you do well.

Timing is key

Static mechanics at TUM requires you to understand many concepts in quite a short time frame. Once you finally are able to solve the tasks, you'll realise that the hardest part of the exam is actually finishing everything on time. I've gone into extensive detail on other blogs explaining how to train your pace for the exams, but a brief summary is:

1. Understand how to solve the questions before the exam phase.
2. During the exam phase, ensure you can solve the full exam within the time limit, not just individual subtasks.

Just because you can solve each question under the time limit doesn't mean you can do all of them in one go.

Don't underestimate it and change your learning approach if needed

The course truly is difficult. As someone who understands every bit of content taught in the course, I can say it's really hard. Knowing this, change your approach to learning for the course. If you usually leave studying for the exam phase, make an exception for statics. Start much earlier, and get help on topics that don't make sense during the semester. Statics is a GOP, and a really hard one at that. Don't mistake it for a common course and actually put in work from the first lecture till the exam phase.

In the exam, write down everything you know

Additionally, do not ever give up during the actual exam. I've seen many students stop writing on the exam because they feel like they don't know much. The examiners are there to help you, they're really nice people who have no malicious intent. Write down points you understood in the question, and don't ever think you'll try to get a better score in the retake. Do that with other exams, not your GOPs. I've seen many students who passed because they wrote down what they could. Even when you don't get the answer, steps can save you (given the task allows for step marks). A nice examiner can be lenient only if you actually wrote something down.

Final small tips and tricks

Cheat Sheet

Fully write your own cheat sheet and know where everything is. Ideally, you should barely need to use the cheat sheet during your exam (as otherwise you risk running out of time), but for the handful of formulas that you might need to double-check (like the influence numbers for a 2x overdetermined force mag task), ensure you know exactly where they are. Do not waste time looking things up in your own cheat sheet, and definitely do not just copy someone else's.

Solve tutorial tasks beforehand

Go to the tutorials already having attempted the tasks on your own. You'll then have insightful questions to ask the tutors at the start of the tutorial, when there aren't many students queuing to ask questions. It'll save you a lot of time, and repeated practice is the way to learn best.

Save a fresh exam for 3-4 days before the real exam

Ensure you have a completely unseen exam to test your pace and knowledge. Any exam you previously solved will not give you the same feeling as a new one, no matter how little you think you remember from it. Don't push it too close to the exam to avoid any last-minute panic attacks.

Get extra help if you really need it

If you're truly struggling and can't grasp it at all, find external help on the matter. Especially during the semester, your peers will likely not be able to explain much, as most students just leave studying till the exam phase. There's no shame in getting extra help.