CSS Forums - Applied Mathematics; all the Glitter is not Gold.

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Applied Mathematics; all the Glitter is not Gold.

This is my personal opinion based on my recent experience of applied mathematics in CE-2014. Lets have a conclusive discussion about this subject, so that the newbies can save their time and energy.

First of all, let me introduce myself. I have done Electrical Engineering and have given the 2014 exam with Applied Mathematics, Physics and British History.

Although, throughout my academic career i was an average student in mathematics, yet when i first checked the syllabus for Applied Mathematics it seemed very compelling. I had studied Differential Equations, Vectors and Numerical Analysis portion during by degree and by the first look i thought i can do it easily. I had never studied mechanics and tensors, but i was sure i can do it.

But now that i have given the exam, i have realized that it was just a trap because of following reasons:

1. The course is enormous and requires a lot of time. Completing the course for 3 times ( at least 3 times for mechanics ) requires minimum 3 months with 5-6 hrs daily.

2. There is no objective and you have to solve 10 questions in each paper. So on average you have got only 18 min for one question which is not enough. As the questions are very lengthy, and if you are stuck in any question it may take much more time.

3. Another attraction in Applied Mathematics is that it gives solid marks if the answer is completely correct, but for this you need much much practice, so only opt it if you have ample time for the preparation and you are really strong in mathematics.

4. Majority of the people who opt Applied Mathematics have engineering background and mostly they don't have very strong concepts ( of course exceptions are always there ) but it's a different game in CSS. In engineering, we mainly focus on questions rather than proofs, but here proofs are equally important, and unless you have strong concepts you will be stuck in the middle.

So in the end, i must say that please consider these points before going for Applied Mathematics. It may prove a trap for you, like it did for me. All my other papers went so good but this subject has let me down:confused.

could you share the papers of applied mathematics on this forum?

[QUOTE=beinghuman;700859]Sir,please share your experience and give emperical advises regarding physics.Furthermore,I am also having engineering background and preparing for CE 2015.

Waiting for your reply,
Stay blessed.

Sent from my ST25i using Tapatalk 2[/QUOTE]

Sure bro, for physics first of all you should know that people say physics is low scoring, but i am sure this is not the case. For engineers this is a very good subject because the had nearly 80% of topics in FSC. Yes it may sound shocking but this is true that 80% topics are same, although in FSC they were written in simple terms but still we are familiar with them. Now first of all you should buy FSC books and go through both of them in detail. After that you should consult fundamentals of physics by Halliday, Resinick and study the same topics in detail. Then you should check the past papers and make a list of important topics which repeat in nearly every exam. You would observe that there are very less questions of electronica, thermodynamics, light and fluid dynamics and they tend to repeat. So you should focus on them.

[QUOTE=saadqureshi;700872]Sure bro you can ask anything about physics.[/QUOTE]

First of all thanks,for your prompt reply.As you know,physics syllabus is huge so what about if I will prepare past papers from 2000-2014???
And Please share your strategy for physics preperation.

Sent from my ST25i using Tapatalk 2

[QUOTE=flying ace;700807]could you share the papers of applied mathematics on this forum?[/QUOTE]

Sure, I'll do.

[QUOTE=beinghuman;700879]First of all thanks,for your prompt reply.As you know,physics syllabus is huge so what about if I will prepare past papers from 2000-2014???
And Please share your strategy for physics preperation.

Sent from my ST25i using Tapatalk 2[/QUOTE]

You can check the strategy for preparation on this thread.
[url]http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-d/physics/90522-preparation-physics-beginners.html#post700886[/url]

[QUOTE=saadqureshi;700888]You can check the strategy for preparation on this thread.
[url]http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-d/physics/90522-preparation-physics-beginners.html#post700886[/url][/QUOTE]

Thanks :-)

Sent from my ST25i using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for this saadqureshi. I was going to ask about App. Maths. This post will prove helpful.

[QUOTE=saadqureshi;700711]This is my personal opinion based on my recent experience of applied mathematics in CE-2014. Lets have a conclusive discussion about this subject, so that the newbies can save their time and energy.

First of all, let me introduce myself. I have done Electrical Engineering and have given the 2014 exam with Applied Mathematics, Physics and British History.

Although, throughout my academic career i was an average student in mathematics, yet when i first checked the syllabus for Applied Mathematics it seemed very compelling. I had studied Differential Equations, Vectors and Numerical Analysis portion during by degree and by the first look i thought i can do it easily. I had never studied mechanics and tensors, but i was sure i can do it.

But now that i have given the exam, i have realized that it was just a trap because of following reasons:

1. The course is enormous and requires a lot of time. Completing the course for 3 times ( at least 3 times for mechanics ) requires minimum 3 months with 5-6 hrs daily.

2. There is no objective and you have to solve 10 questions in each paper. So on average you have got only 18 min for one question which is not enough. As the questions are very lengthy, and if you are stuck in any question it may take much more time.

3. Another attraction in Applied Mathematics is that it gives solid marks if the answer is completely correct, but for this you need much much practice, so only opt it if you have ample time for the preparation and you are really strong in mathematics.

4. Majority of the people who opt Applied Mathematics have engineering background and mostly they don't have very strong concepts ( of course exceptions are always there ) but it's a different game in CSS. In engineering, we mainly focus on questions rather than proofs, but here proofs are equally important, and unless you have strong concepts you will be stuck in the middle.

So in the end, i must say that please consider these points before going for Applied Mathematics. It may prove a trap for you, like it did for me. All my other papers went so good but this subject has let me down:confused.[/QUOTE]

let me disagree.
first of all let I also appeared in 2014 with applied maths. will I score excellent? no. will I score fine? I think so.

let us analyse the syllabus.
PAPER I
three questions were to be attempted from section a and two from section b.
if you had just prepared mechanics by q.k. ghouri you would have been able to attempt all five! and what is in that book? ten exercises? or twelve?
so if you give one day to each exercise and make your own notes you can prepare it in two weeks max. and if you go only with this one book good preparation you can get at least eighty marks.

PAPER II
two questions from section a
one from section b
two from section c

section c is all numerical analysis. the questions lengthen but you can shorten them by applying convergence formulas. for this section you just need to prepare numerical analysis book taught at bsc level.
if you are counting you already have 120 marks in your pocket in three weeks preparation.
of course you have to revise, but tell me which other subject gives you at LEAST 120 marks in three weeks and we are not done yet.

section a is differential equations
for that use schuam's outline series book. use mathematical methods by s.m yousuf for Cauchy euler equations.
I did not consult any book for PDEs, did it only from the internet. but you can use a book if you like.
you do that and you covered 160 marks. tell me which other subject gives you 160 marks by covering four books considering the new paper patterns?

the end
then you can pick the vectors and tensors and better still; just solve the questions from the past papers

I will change my other optionals, but never applied maths. thANKS

[QUOTE=waqas izhar;701159]let me disagree.
first of all let I also appeared in 2014 with applied maths. will I score excellent? no. will I score fine? I think so.

let us analyse the syllabus.
PAPER I
three questions were to be attempted from section a and two from section b.
if you had just prepared mechanics by q.k. ghouri you would have been able to attempt all five! and what is in that book? ten exercises? or twelve?
so if you give one day to each exercise and make your own notes you can prepare it in two weeks max. and if you go only with this one book good preparation you can get at least eighty marks.

PAPER II
two questions from section a
one from section b
two from section c

section c is all numerical analysis. the questions lengthen but you can shorten them by applying convergence formulas. for this section you just need to prepare numerical analysis book taught at bsc level.
if you are counting you already have 120 marks in your pocket in three weeks preparation.
of course you have to revise, but tell me which other subject gives you at LEAST 120 marks in three weeks and we are not done yet.

section a is differential equations
for that use schuam's outline series book. use mathematical methods by s.m yousuf for Cauchy euler equations.
I did not consult any book for PDEs, did it only from the internet. but you can use a book if you like.
you do that and you covered 160 marks. tell me which other subject gives you 160 marks by covering four books considering the new paper patterns?

the end
then you can pick the vectors and tensors and better still; just solve the questions from the past papers

I will change my other optionals, but never applied maths. thANKS[/QUOTE]

Well bro first of all, without having any background in mechanics and without any instructor you CAN'T cover Q.K Ghauri's book in 2 weeks. It's no just about exercise it's also about the solved examples and proofs. And above all it's about developing and appreciating the concept which is not possible in 2 weeks, no matter how geniu anyone is. Calculate all the time you had given to mechanics and tell me did you spent just 2 weeks for it ? I bet not !.

Secondly, yes i agree numerical analysis portion is easy but it's just 40 marks.

Differential equations portion is quite large and complicated, it also takes a lot of time. Tensors also take a lot of time as to develop the concept from scratch. Similarly vectors too is quite enormous topic and takes a lot of time and patience. You can't rely on past paers for them.

And lastly, You have just covered 160 marks, but how many marks you will get is what matters.

Keep pouring in the suggestions and input. This is really getting helpful.

I believe it's not easy to tackle this subject, partly because of the fact that it has never been discussed at length in these forums as compared to optionals of other groups.

I am sure that with ample discussions, we can make it a blissful domain.

I have not seen the AM papers but i will consent with Maria here. For a person with an engineering background, leaving out AM just because it is lengthy or risky makes no sense. This and physics are two subjects which can can turn things around totally for a candidate.

If we are talking about the element of risk, we all also need to agree that CSS itself is all about taking risk. You study for an year just to come to know that you failed an essay - haan. Is not this a risk ? :) .

I ll be going in with AM in my first and last attempt in 2015 and all i can rely upon are AM and Physics! :)

applied maths paper 2014

[IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/qqe7vs.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/2ceq4k8.jpg[/IMG]

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[IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/fvej2s.jpg[/IMG]

the case for math

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[IMG]http://i61.tinypic.com/65tzwm.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/fng3cy.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/2ds44zd.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/140hnv8.jpg[/IMG]

@waqas izhar

Hands-down!! Applause!!

Thanks a lot brother for this wonderful piece of writing. Guidance coupled with enthusiastic encouragement affected me at least. Thanks, once again.

I am waiting for the "Later" part too so as to grasp an overall idea of the entire syllabus.

after this go for numerical analysis portion from paper b. use any notes available in the market for ba/bsc. must learn about convergence or you will waste a lot of time in the paper on numerical analysis.

so by now you have covered 120 to 140 marks. you ought to have a weekly revision plan too. a formula sheet if you need to cram them, else what I did was that on the day of paper I entered the hall about twenty minutes ago and derived the tricky formulas at the back of the answer sheet.

then go for differential equations. use schuam's outline series; it is simple and comprehensive. as you go through the series keep on solving past paper questions. I was scared of ode's and pde's but now I find them the most interesting of the lot.

now we are left with vectors and tensors. I just solved the past paper questions for vectors and tensors. I used nawazish ali shah's book as a reference book.

also use a proxy and just learn from these videos:
1. for vectors [url]http://www.digital-university.org/free-vector-analysis-videos[/url]
2. for tensors [url]http://www.digital-university.org/free-vector-identity-techniques-videos[/url]

rest Inshallah I will be here on the forum so if there is a tricky problem just put it on the forum.

myself an Electrical Engineer, having opted both Physics and Applied maths, and looking at the discussion people have had here i'm certain than applied maths isn't really that difficult hell it isn't that easy as well. i'm sticking to both of them.