Tip of the sem : Keep your friends really close.

(kidnap if possible)

In this semester anyone who is serious about placements normally begins his/her preparation,
as the time during summer is pretty constrained due to the compulsory industrial training
component/onsite intern for most people, so most people choose to do the bare minimum for
courses. Also, the cpi can’t increase or fall much due to the cumulative calculation, so unless
someone is at the borders like ~ 6.95/7.95/8.45/8.95,there isn’t much to lose/gain. Do your
calculations and decide your trade offs.

ME 322 ,Machine design: Perhaps the easiest course. Most of the questions again came
directly from the bhandari book. (and others from shigley book). There was a 33% project part in
our time and that had multiple presentations and a report part, which was fun because I had
great teammates. People were free to choose any topic related to machines. Lots of people took
their club projects (robotics/auto). Poonam mam is very kind and approachable. There were
multiple quizzes, but they were pretty easy and memory based. (You will have to cover the
chapter word by word because they use to give fill in the blanks by removing any technical word
from a sentence). Choose fun names for your teams. We had named our team “jai shree
ram” (ok I had, my teammates were against it. Mam was cool though.) and we didn’t do a lot of
work but spent a lot of time hanging out together (Somehow I remember doing a lot of work
though) .

ME 688 : This course was easy too. Rinku sir gave really nice slides, and reading them is
sufficient. He gave a lot of new questions in the exams. If you like basic geometry and
derivation, the exam would be fun. This course has a lot of memory based components, but sir
used to give a lot of numericals in the exam, so understanding the formulas and knowing the
basic theory used to be sufficient. Graphs and diagrams are really important. There was a term
paper/ppt component, which was again fun cause I had the same set of nice teammates.

Applied thermo : Steps to get through this course:

1. Go to library, pick a book on applied thermodynamics which has topics like steam power
plant, jet engine, gas turbine engine (reheat, intercooling and regenerative cycles).(by
any indian author!)
2. Solve the solved examples after the topic is discussed in the class.

Most of the questions asked were the same as the model questions in books. There is an IC
engine part which is really really really important, and is totally formula based. In our time, sir
had given a lot of slides for this topic, and all the questions asked were exactly the same one
given in the slides at the end.

This is easier than the last thermo course you did. Just remember the figures for different kinds
of systems, apply the fundamental equations and you will be fine. Boilers are important!
Also do revise your basics of the steam table. (superheated steam and stuff)
ME 324 : (sad noises) . This course has a really hell lot of calculations and if you are prone to
doing silly mistakes you will pay dearly. There is nothing much to understand here, there are
some obscure algorithms and methods which are taught without proof. I found this course
difficult, but a lot of people were fine without applying much brain. I liked the last part where
there were questions regarding exponential distribution/probability.
The grading was really harsh in our time. If you don’t do assignments properly and do not
perform decently in the exams, you can get a F too. Attendance had marks but was waived off
in the end. There was negative marking for people less than 75%. It starts with linear
programming, and contains various methods of optimization. There is an inventory management
part which is easy and has some problems with the probability component. The pure theory part
about manufacturing planning was ignored but it came in the exam and all questions were from
slides. Do practice a lot cause there are so many variants of simplex method on which
questions can be asked. Also follow up questions were clever after you optimize a given set of
equations. I see they have added an IOT part and a data analytics part too which wasn’t present
in our time. I am not sure if they will teach you dynamic programming or not (we weren’t taught).
Anyway that kind of dp is not of any use, go to codeforces and do some nice 1600-1900 rated
questions if you really want to learn some dp.

Control systems : Not sure if the course was tough or it was the fact that I never attended the
classes, I found this course pretty challenging. Pre midsem part was easy I guess. Learn how to
reduce the circuits. Don’t forget the equations of damped vibrations in exam. Questions based
on solving physics/Mechanics questions using the theory you read here will compulsorily come
in exams. (predictable) Try to understand the significance of laplace transforms. Mathematical
modeling of physical systems is cool. The problem starts after the root locus method,nyquist and
stuff like bode plots come into picture. Everything after mid sem seemed french. (maybe cause i
saw all that a day before the exam). Problems regarding lead and lag compensator will be
asked. Professors were nice and supportive (At Least on the day when I came to class)

Mechanical measurements : I studied this course for about 5 hours in total, in the whole
semester. Learn the theory somehow about various kinds of devices used to measure
temperature, pressure, air flow. The exam had lot of numericals.

Use this book : [1] E.O. Doebelin, Measurement systems-Applications and Design, 4th Ed., Tata
McGraw-Hill, 1990.

Mathematics minor : group theory : I remember walking into the end sem room and walking
out. I got an 8. One night is mostly sufficient. (Didn’t attend the classes/quizzes).
Tips:-
1. Choose your teammates wisely in projects. Don’t do the project with your crush. You
need to divide the work proportionally or else make them give treats proportionally.
2. Use your friends wisely (yeah, and you will realize the importance of having good friends
next sem. So if you were ignoring your friends for some girl/guy, this is the sem to make
up for that) . Make them teach you stuff you don’t understand. Be friends with the guy
who makes notes.
3. Don’t cheat in the exams. You won’t fail (in mech) if you score low but you will surely fail
if you are caught.
4. Force people to go on walks if you are depressed/sad/bored

5. Keep such friends close :

The semester was fun, overall. You get to socialize a lot because of the project part. We use to
party after every ppt (and make the guy pay who did the least work). This is the last sem you will
have so many courses together as a branch. From next semester there will be only electives. It
was all very emotional towards the end, I remember a lot of people cried. Just kidding.

Gyanendra
(7th sem mein jo maje ayenge , padh lena )