1st semester at TUM guide

If you are about to start your degree at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and are feeling a bit overwhelmed, or maybe you are just curious about what awaits you, continue reading. This post should ease your worries and give you some tips for your first semester at TUM!

Lectures (Vorlesung), Central Exercises (Übung), and Tutorials (Tutorium)

Lectures

Lectures are held by the professors. They are meant to introduce the concepts and show how they were historically derived. Here will be the first time you see a new concept and the professor will have the most insights into the topics discussed. If you are genuinely interested in a research topic in this course, or want to discuss a very advanced topic with a true expert in the field, the professor should be your first choice.

Central Exercises

The central exercise is taught by the Teaching Assistant - TA (PhD in the institute where the professor is from), and its premise is to solve tasks related to topics introduced in the lectures. Tasks are usually simpler than tutorial tasks due to time constraints during the Central Exercise. The TA is also generally the person who makes the examinations, so it is best to reserve your inquiries about exam organisation for these sessions.

Tutorials

The tutorials are held by students from previous years who scored well in the course. These cover the hardest tasks that you are meant to try on your own, then ask the tutors if you get stuck. I strongly recommend attending all tutorials as the tutors have the most direct experience with the exact course material and understand your struggles. Tutors will also provide the most practical, usable advice for the course specifically. They are the best source of information if you actually want to do well in the course. They know exactly how it is to be in your shoes, still remember studying for their own exams, and know the tricks to scoring well.

Grading is Exam-Heavy

Most courses, (especially for engineering degrees) are entirely dependent on the final examination. This puts a lot of pressure on students as one poor performance for 90 minutes at the end of the lecture period costs you your entire grade. To combat this, ensure you are always up to date on the knowledge as soon as it is taught in class. You should feel comfortable solving practice tasks within a week after they are introduced. If not, ask your TA or Tutors about it. If you cram everything at the end right before the exam, you'll likely only learn the exact application of concepts to specific tasks, rather than really learning the concept. This means if the examination isn't a mild modification of an exact task you've seen, you won't be able to solve it. Stay up to date on course content and you'll see the heavy exam-focused grading can actually be turned into an advantage.

Exam Curving

At TUM, most examinations are curved to fit the difficulty of the exam. There is no fixed way an exam is curved, but there are some trends I have noticed throughout my time at the uni.

1) Multiple choice exams have a fixed curve

All strictly multiple choice exams (4 options with one correct for the full exam) have a fixed curve mandated by the university. The curve must have the median score be 3.3, and +- 1 standard deviation be the scores above it, so 2.3 is +1 standard deviation, 1.3 is +2 standard deviations.

2) Normal exams are usually curved

The curve depends on the department, but they will generally try to keep the fail rate below 45%. For all the exams I received a 1.0 on, I usually had around 75% of the total achievable points. The curves for most departments are centred around the top-scoring student, rather than the maximum achievable score.

3) Professors generally curve around the 4.0 bound

In most exams, the examiners do try not to fail students. So if a large chunk of students are centred around the 40% score, they will try to get those students to pass. They are not malicious, and they do try to help.

4) Easy exams are still better

In your studies, the exams you take might differ in difficulty compared to what previous cohorts have described. Sometimes an exam is just going to be significantly easier or harder depending on the year. In these cases, the curve does try to compensate for the harder exam by making the bounds lower, but it's still significantly easier to be in a higher grade boundary if the exam is relatively easy.

In most cases, you won't see how the curve is helping you. But just note that it's almost always there and is trying to help you score better.

Use NavigaTUM to find classroom

NavigaTUM is TUM's own software to find the room a class is scheduled to be in. It is a browser-based search that provides a schematic of each campus and geolocates the room you're looking for. You will be provided a room code (e.g. 5502.EG.250) that you just type into the search browser.

Navigatum is very useful when you're navigating a new campus. During your introduction week, a guide may bring you to all important buildings and show you the basics, but the exact rooms where tutorials will be held are up to you to find. Additionally, some degrees have two campuses for courses (e.g. Aerospace is in Ottobrunn + Garching), and the less frequented campus might be a struggle. NavigaTUM ensures that you know which section of which building your class is scheduled in.

Bonus tip: ensure you always look at NavigaTUM before an exam. The examination rooms are usually rooms disassociated with the lectures and exercises (as they need to house a significant number of students in one go). Always make it a habit of checking the examination room a day before the test. You really do not want to find out you're on the wrong campus 30 minutes before the exam is supposed to start.

Complete Duties well before the Final Deadline

There are many things at TUM that have a hard-coded deadline. This primarily concerns projects and assignments from classes, but I want to emphasise organisational deadlines. Register for all exams that you want to take when the registration period opens, not just before it closes. For the semester fee, pay it at the start of the 2-month payment period rather than near the end. For lab course registration, submit your preferences on the day registration opens, not just before it ends. Many students miss deadlines because they just forget at the last moment, but if you simply respond early, you can avoid the issue altogether.

For actual course assignments, I recommend also trying to do them when the task is initially given rather than near the end. This is especially important if you can systematically get help from Tutors or Teaching Assistants. As the deadline approaches, all students will have many questions, and you will have to wait a while before being able to ask yours. If you start early, you will have a much easier time getting help from the tutors, and they might be much more willing to give you advice.

Find Like-minded People

Your degree will be significantly easier if you find a group of friends to go through it together. You'll feel much more motivated to study if there're 5 others studying in front of you, and a project submission will feel much more secure if everyone independently arrived at the same answer. Attend the “Ersties Events” scheduled by the university and see if you can find some people to bond with.

Do not put too much pressure on yourself though. If you are introverted and don't enjoy interacting with others, that's completely okay too. Being accustomed to self-study and relying on yourself will help you significantly when the electives start, as at that point, everyone will be taking different courses.