Is Engineering Mechanics Actually Hard, or Just Taught Badly?

Static mechanics is often seen as the first hurdle that is supposed to determine if you're cut out for a degree in engineering. As mechanical, aerospace and civil engineers all have to deal with statics, it really is seen as a universal first obstacle.

Here comes the real question

Static mechanics is fundamentally built on three equations: ∑ 𝐹𝑥 = 0 ∑ 𝐹𝑦 = 0 ∑ 𝑀 = 0. Most techniques learned (trusses, virtual work, internal force diagrams, friction, menabrea) are all about applying these equilibrium conditions to solve unknowns, each with a slightly different method. So why do statics courses feel so hard?

Why does every student feel like their professor didn't teach the content well?

Why is it such a universal issue that every student believes their university teaches materials poorly? Is every student exaggerating, or are they onto something?

Professors don't understand where you're lost

Most university professors are experts in their research fields. They can talk for hours and hours about an extremely advanced topic deep into the course they're teaching. The fundamental knowledge you're currently learning may seem like common knowledge to them. Therefore, they actually don't get why or where you could possibly be lost.

So what can you do?

The best way to combat this is to retry the full exercises on your own time. It might take a full lecture for you to (not) understand the concepts initially, but if you retry it at home from that point onwards, you're on a much better track to understanding.

Most courses teach content backwards from how students actually learn

Most universities start off with teaching the general theory, then move on to specific easy examples, and eventually to a super difficult example that vaguely follows the same principle.

This might feel demoralizing and almost like you're starting from zero on each new task. You weren't taught the right questions to ask before using the equations, so you don't know when to apply things in new question types.

To combat this, I always redid questions immediately after going through their solution, forcing myself to understand why each equation was being used, not just copying the solution and hoping for the best.

This is truly the most common problem students have.

Students don't try to understand why a question was approached with a solution method, but rather move on to memorising the technique. Additionally, you might feel like you knew, learned, and understood exactly what they taught, but the exam was much more advanced than that. Unlike high school, you did not get the same questions as in the lecture, with the only difference being the constants. The examiners expected you to be able to apply the knowledge, not replicate what was taught in the lecture.

If you feel like this is you, I can guarantee you that you are not the only one. Plenty of students feel this way, but the good news is that you can practice your way out of it.

Most importantly, you need to ensure you always fully get why a specific solution approach was used for a given problem. In engineering, you cannot blindly memorise steps, you truly need to understand.

The solutions don't follow students' thought processes

Solutions provided to practice tasks sometimes seem like magic. You ever get a thermodynamics task where they seemingly find the enthalpy of something completely random, use that to solve heat additions of something halfway across the screen from your solution component, then perform some witchcraft to suddenly get the answer? You read a solution like that and think to yourself, "If I can't guess these steps, how would I possibly get to the answer?"

Start with the final equation and work backwards

The reason you feel this way is because of the backwards thinking of answers, and it is the core thing I do differently in my own teaching. I always advise students to start with the final equation and work backwards. If I need variable z, I set up an equation for z, which may have unknowns x and y, which I then find independently. If a solution just says 'find x and y first', you don't understand why. This also strengthens understanding because you're solving by your own volition, not by a memorised solution sequence. For everyone currently struggling in engineering, just try to start the equation from your solution step and work your way backwards. This will really clear up many issues and help you see questions in a vastly simplified way.

So, is engineering actually hard or taught badly?

Both frames are directly missing the answer. The underlying concepts themselves are quite manageable, and looking back, you'll be surprised you ever struggled with them. However, when learning them for the first time, it can get very overwhelming as everything is new at that point. Couple that with exam time pressure and the feeling that everyone around you is doing better, and it becomes extremely difficult. Just remember, courses mostly teach the theory, leaving complex application tasks to be solved independently. Oftentimes they only provide around 20% of the knowledge base, leaving the remaining 80% for self-study. In cases like this, if you're really struggling, reach out to others who have gone through the same experience. No one understands an engineering student's struggles like a fellow engineering student, so reach out for help from a "local guide".