I am not good at word problems, and my math SAT score was in the mid 500's, will this effect me as an engineer

Question

Whenever a word problem asks me to set up an equation, I fail at doing so and I suck at other word problems as well. Also, my SAT math score was in the mid 500's (which I feel is nothing compared to other engineers) But, I just finished calc 1 with an A, and when it comes to problem solving in calculus or algebra I am pretty good (integrals, derivates ect.). With all that said, am I going to have trouble as an engineer?

Answer 1

It could. Unfortunately all real-world problems are word problems. As an engineer for 15 years, I've learned that problems aren't served to you pre-digested on a silver platter, nice and neat and organized. You have to figure stuff out on your own; you have to determine what elements are relevant and which are not. Not only do you have to solve word problems, you have to write your own word problems. What I mean by this is that you have to figure out what to look for, you have to ask your own questions, you have to figure out the steps. Your boss will give you a very high-level problem ("Build this bridge with these requirements", "Add this feature with these requirements", etc.) and you are responsible for figuring out, start to finish, how to solve it. If you can't do this you should reconsider engineering.

While it's been awhile since I've compared SAT scores with fellow engineers, mid-550 does not srike me as tremendously strong. But according to , fewer than 1/3 of engineers & scientists in the workforce had SAT Math scores over 650, although the same study cast doubt on whether SAT scores predict success as an engineer. You may want to google for "average SAT math engineer" and poke around to see what it says.

Here's my recommendation. I am not sure if you are in high school or college, but in any case you're not likely to be more than a college freshman. Get on an engineering track and see how your classes go. Being good at calculus is certainly an excellent sign. Also find a project to do, sometimes they have project courses. If you do well at solving a large project, you will likely do well at engineering.

My experience has been that the most important thing in engineering is having a mentality that always analyzes and asks questions: What happens if I do this? What if I change that? How can I prove my hypothesis about what is wrong? If you are curious about how things work, that's an important sign. You have to be "into" it. If you're not into it, forget it. To me, an engineer is predestined: If you are not already an engineer in the way you think, no amount of training will make you into one. But also, very little will stop you.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I was never real strong at math in high school, but they didn't have SAT's when I was in school, so we never really knew how bad we really were.
I went into Mech. Engrg. and did a lot of equipment design and stress analysis work through the years without being a math whiz and didn't meet more than 4 or 5 engineers in all that time that were. And even they hardly ever got an opportunity to use those skills.
Most of engineering is pretty practical work, and engineers work in groups as a team assigned to a project. There are always other more experienced engineers in the group to ask for help with problems. You don't have to be good at everything, except you have to be able to learn as you go.

I would suggest that if you want to be an engineer, go for it and don't worry about some SAT test. You probably have some talent that you don't even know about yet, and what's the worst thing that could happen? You could flunk a couple of courses and bomb out of engineering, but at least you would know that you gave it a shot.

Answer 3

If you have time, you can always take the SAT again to improve that score. In the mean time, get a good test-prep book or go to a test-prep tutor. The books will cost a lot less money and are very effective if you are motivated to read them. I know the Kaplan company gave me great ACT test advice. The test-prep books will help you on test day since you will have seen many sample questions that look a lot like the real SAT questions. Many people know a lot of math, but then get tripped up by the SAT format and trick questions (and there are quite a few trick questions). If you are comfortable with the format and can identify the trick questions, your knowledge of math will shine through. You just have to sacrifice a bit of time now to reduce the stress on test day.

And with word problems, I like to go through the problem sentence-by-sentence and make sure to write down the important variables and relations in a summarized format below the question. Then you have all the math information extracted from the problem and put in one convenient spot, and you can go ahead doing the math (which it seems you are very strong at).

So, if you really want to be an engineer (or just get an engineering degree and pursue some other career), the above advice should help.

Answer 4

Your SAT scores will placed you at a exceedingly severe draw back. That suggested, there are colleges which you nevertheless have a raffle at. between those you indexed, you have next to no risk at Loyola, pondering the certainty that purely 25% of their scholars have SAT scores under 1630, which might placed you contained in the backside 10% at ultimate. As for the different 2, you will desire to have a raffle - you would be contained in the twenty 5th percentile - yet you will desire to nevertheless discover some much less selective colleges to persist with to. case in point, as a student from California, I even have encountered many Cal State Universities with remarkably low SAT scores. the main outstanding of those is Cal State Dominguez Hills, the place your SAT score places you nicely above the seventy 5th percentile (possibly contained in the actual 10% of the college). you will very virtually actually get into CSU Dominguez Hills. so a techniques as expenses bypass, while you're no longer from California, instructions heavily isn't low, yet you're staring at Quinnipiac, so i'd assume that your loved ones can discover the money for to pay upwards of $30,000 each and in line with annum. If this is not any longer the case, you will desire to look at greater value-efficient colleges, simply by fact the colleges that supply beneficiant want-based economic help are a techniques out of your attain except your extracurriculars incorporate curing maximum cancers or inventing the time device as a fashion to end Hitler. attempt staring at public universities interior of your state, pondering no rely if or no longer your SAT scores are interior of (or above) their center 50%. additionally, there are a number of universities which call for low instructions from out-of-state scholars. case in point, Minot State college (in North Dakota) is somewhat worth a glance (it expenses in-state expenses to anybody); your SAT is approximately a hundred factors above their widely used, suggesting which you will have a sturdy risk at entering into there. As a edge notice, in case you desire to check for the SAT effectively, i'd advise which you purchase the "stable SAT study handbook" from the college Board and finished the practice tests. After each and each, look at each and each question you responded incorrectly and attempt to comprehend why your answer replaced into incorrect and which techniques you will desire to check. Doing this, I went from a a hundred ninety PSAT to a 2340 SAT, so which you will desire to conceivably get a score of 1930 the comparable way.

Answer 5

I think it will limit the schools that will consider you for their engineering program. Most of engineering involves looking at real life situations and being able to express them mathematically (which is what word problems require also).

There may be branches of mathematics that would fit your math skills better.

Answer 6

I got 2 perfect scores in math and reading, but my writing score was only 720, for a total of 2320. I only read this SAT guide, and that is how I got such high scores:
http://www.guideparadise.com/index.php?option=com_guides&task=buy&id=10
I recommend this guide to anyone seeking to get a higher score to get into a first choice college.

Answer 7

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