5 study tips for studying for AeSI

AeSI is tough, AeSI is this, aesi is that... We all hear this often,
but whatever it is, if you want to clear it you have to study for it,
you have to clease those papers. So in this post i will list 5 general
suggestions that any aesi student can apply to improve his chances to
clear AeSI papers.

1. Keep simple.
Yes keep things simple. Make a simple plan. Set a minimum hour and
stick with it. Grand, complicated plans are not needed. Just a simple
barebone plan is lot better than no plan. So keep a simple routine for
study and a strong resolve to stick with it.

2. Attend classes.
Even if you are studing the subject second time, attend classes. Even
if you don't feel like, attend classes. Even when it needs some
effort, attend classes.

Attending classes, discussing and asking questions will open up lot
more mental neurons than just reading old notes.

3. Be systematic
Following a simple plan is better than no plan. A free wheeling wind
mill generates no power. So plan and make simple routine and stick
with it.

Systemetic study of the sections will help you harness the power of
incremental learning. So begin making a routine. Next step is to
execute it

4. Play
Here's a simple rule for making a routine that actually allows soaking
the maximum knowlede in minimum effort.

Decide on the number of hours you want to study per week. Double this
amount and keep this time free for other things of life. If it exceeds
try reducing the number of hours to study and do the process again.

The point is have play time double the amount of study time. This is
the time your mind will have a chance to soak up all the info. This
play time can be used to pursue other projects like learning a new
programming language, reading, model making etc.

5. Murder
Murder all distraction. Murder all fruitless activities. Murder the
belief that you need to study every available hour of the day. Fill
the first hours of the day with the most important activities.

AMAeSI results - where and when will it be declared

When will AeSI's declare the amaesi results? This is the question that
is popping up in my email everyday now.

This time aesi has delayed the result of June 2009 longer than I have
seen.

Frankly I don't know when aesi plans to declare amaesi results, but I
have a feeling that it will come out this week. So wait till Friday.

And for those who are searching for amaesi results at www.amaesi.com
aesi.org, don't waste time it will only be declared at aesi's official
website at www.aerosocietyindia.com.

So keep an eye on that.

Best if luck!!

If you are new at this website then please feel free to explore the
site for it catters to everyone who is related to AeSI!!

Go for high quality books in AeSI

In the AeSI yahoo group, Senthil kumar, rightly pointed out that
people shouldn't concentrate on books like Sharma and Sharma etc.
Instead they should read the books like sutton, anderson etc.

His arguments and observations are right on. Most of the Indian author
books are just diluted, exam-ready materials with very less emphasis
on concepts but more on exam recipes.

So go for the standard books. If you want a source for the book then
look into the syllabus book. It does a good job listing all high
quality books.

Just like tutors, select your base book with care. Go for the book
that has high potential instead of plucking the ready made dishes
served by most of the regional authored books.

Read more why selecting base book is important by following the link
given below.

http://www.my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=book

2 tips to get maximum out of your class

For most of you the new semester has began, you might have enrolled
yourself for many classes. Here I present two tips that helped me get
maximum out of the classes I attented.

1. Go prepared
Before going to the class, read what's going to be taught. Read what
the teacher intends to teach that day.

This has many advantages. Reading before the class wets your mind.
Makes you more aware of the flow of the subject. Keeps you aware of
the overall context.

2. Ask questions
Asking question during the class is like discussion. It's helps you
connect the information that you just received. It focuses your brain.

Even if you understand everything ask questions to help others learn.

These two simple acts can help you spend less time on your studies in
the long term. Try it!

Aim to be consistent

Aim to be consistent. Since my Internet connection is down and this
affords me few extra minutes ifnthe day, so I have been involved with
couple of small projects.

From ebook, to developing some wallpapers, to creating vedios of my
daughter, creating a dos goal logging system etc. are some of the
projects I worked on.

Each of them is complete and the broad lesson that I have learnt in
all this is aim to be consistent.

Consistency will beat any goal. For all the projects that I did, all I
did was set 30 mins minimum time for it and then applied that 30 mins
consistently each day.

This focus on being consistent not only helped me overcome inertia but
also put my goals on autopilot.

So if you are stuggling to get your goals on track, your to do list
remains unalterted, it's time to focus on consistency, it's time to
set a minimum hour!

7 things to take note while learning an analysis program

I used ansys back in NAL, I tried nastran in my free time and now I am
working on a in house fem software. So I thought let me enumerate some
points I noted while dealing with these analysis softwares.

1. Understand and be comfortable with the fact that GUI is not
important.

Most of the GUIof analysis programs suck.

And it doesn't matter because in the long run, the solver is the one
where most of the analysis results should come from.

2. Everything can run though batch.
As I said GUI is just an addin, for efficiency and automation,
knowing how to run the softwares to run in batch is important. This is
where you should spend your maximum time while learning. Learn how to
complete an analysis with ASCII text files.

3. Understanding the underlying principles is more important than the
technique.

How to create model, appling boundary are crutial but knowing why
those boundary conditions are needed is more important. Knowing which
element to use is more important that how to add elements.

4. Use small models.
Big complex model look sexy. Working with them provide a sense of
accomtplishment, but if you want to truly learn the priciples of
underlying theory and application then use small models. They are easy
to modify, easy to solve and most importantly easy to try out
different combinations. Basics come not from analying a big 3 million
nodes landing gear model but playing and tinkering with small cube.

5. Experiment with the core functionality of the software not the
models. As I said earlier, models are just models. You are learning
analysis here, so keep learning that, models are just a way to learn
the different features.

6. Keep the end goal in mind.
Don't forget you are learning to do analysis. It's about designing
products. You are learning it to design safe, reliable designs. So
learn with that thing in mind. Also remember automation, the better
you are with it, the more efficient analyst you will become.

7. Verify all your results.
It's a software. Your job is not just to setup experiments, and
present the results. An analyst job begins after the run. It's the
interpretation of the results that matter. Verifying what you got
after the run is what you should teach yourself.

These were some of the things I remember and will suggest to anyone
learning analysis softwares like ansys, nastran , ls dyna etc.

Some thoughts on how to design your resume!

If your resume exceeds two page then you are doing something wrong.

A resume longer than two pages never get much attention.

Be Brief.
A resume is like a preview, a trailer to entice the recruiter to call
you for an interview, not the entire movie. So be brief.

Cut ruthlessly and eliminate all projects, tasks, and information that
isn't relevent to the job requirement you are applying. If in doubt
about something delete it. When you doubt the relevance of that
information in your cv then how will the person at the other end will
believe it?

CV is not a fish hook that you are just throwing into the pond to
catch any company. It's should be a net that invites interview
requests from the companies you want. So design it properly.

Develop skills early on?

If this is your second last and the last semester in AeSI, then its high time for you to take a skill that you want to use in your work life. Its the time when you can put in just 30 minutes to it everyday and have a sizeable amount of knowledge about that tool. So begin.

the advantage of starting now is in compounding. You have time now, all you need is consistent use of that time to learn a skill.

the skills can be anything from learning catia, to programming in FORTRAN or making excel charts. The size, shape and volume of the skills is not important, whets important is that you develop some tangible skills that can be used when you enter into the industry.

select something that you can do daily. select something that you can begin today. select something that you know will come handy when you enter the industry.

remember this skills are the stuff that will separate you from the other graduates. This are the skills you can honestly highlight in your resume and cover letter just out of college.

Just like me perhaps this will be the skills that will land you your first job... So are your preparing yourself for it? Its your career and you have to pilot it. And setting 30 minutes daily for this pursuit is the best autopilot technique for achieving it.

Intermediate step

Not everyone lands up a job, just after graduating, It seems like we need some Intermediate step after you graduate from college (AeSI)!!!

I know very few people, in my life, who has bypassed the Intermediate step. But for majority, there is an Intermediate step just out of graduation. For me It was the training that I did In NAL.

If graduating from AeSI instilled some confidence, then the stay and work at NAL under an able leader was confidence on steroids. It boosts mine like intro does to the bikes in Need For Speed (NFS) games. It supercharged my self-confidence. A look at my resume over that period reveals how I evolved from a timid, hesitant AeSI graduate pass out to an aerospace engineer ready to take on the world. :)

The confidence didn't come from vacuume but rose from the tasks , projects and assignment i handled in NAL. So, for the graduates of AeSI who are stepping out Into the Industry, embrace all the opportunities that come your way.

From training to apprentice to other avenues of professional development, leap to opportunities and let the Intermediate period be the springboard for a greater success in life.

Customisation

I have talked about automation a couple of times in this blog. But why
there is so much need and where do automation fit in for the
organisation you work for and most importantly for you.

Following points will give you an idea!

1. Customize CAD software to suit the needs of the organization.

2. Repetitive tasks can be automated.

3. Time consuming operations can be scheduled to be performed overnight.

4. Custom applications written with C, C++.

5. Office applications can be integrated with your CAE software.

6. Utilize standard part library for different CAD/CAE softwares

All this points converge at reducing two things for an organisation:
time and money.

If you keep this simple fact in mind while learning any CAD or CAE
tool, you will never face recession of job in life.