[Answer] For a First-Year Student About to Study Electrical Engineering and Automation, What Are Some Good Ways to Preview the Major? Could You Recommend Some Related Books?

[Answer] For a First-Year Student About to Study Electrical Engineering and Automation, What Are Some Good Ways to Preview the Major? Could You Recommend Some Related Books?

For many students who have just graduated from high school, how to prepare for university study is a very important question, yet one that is generally hard to get professional guidance on. In my view, preparation for one’s major should begin from the following aspects.

Compared with specific previewing tasks, the most important thing for a prospective university student is first to conceptually accept and understand the differences between higher education and primary/secondary education in terms of structure and learning methods, and to be mentally prepared for them. During the more than ten years of education before higher education, knowledge is presented as fixed and continuous, in a step-by-step teaching model where each part is closely linked to the next. For example, if you do poorly in first-year high school mathematics, it may directly affect your further study in the second year. The entire pre-university education system, on the one hand, is meant to provide the necessary basics for broad educational access (since quite a number of people will not continue studying after primary and secondary education), and on the other hand, in the current system, its most important function is to prepare students for higher education.

After entering university, however, one actually steps onto a much higher level in terms of the stage of education being received, and most high school students—even many university students—are vague about this and know little about it. In primary and secondary education, what we learn is the established and certain foundational part of human knowledge. One of the main purposes of higher education, by contrast, is to open the door to the unknown world for each person. Although most people may not eventually engage in particularly cutting-edge work and instead will use their education to obtain an ordinary job, the goal of education itself is consistent.

The main reason for this difference is that higher education, beginning at the university level, no longer emphasizes complete and solid foundational training in the same way. Although every major will still systematically introduce both basic and specialized knowledge, teachers will no longer stress that a certain text must be memorized or that a certain exercise must be fully understood. Instead, they focus more on introducing the basic structure of the discipline from a systematic perspective, as well as its specialized and frontier directions and methods. Presenting the overall framework of the discipline to students—so that they understand what kind of foundation and preparation are needed for research in the field, what important aspects and goals exist, and what kinds of exploration and research are currently underway—is a guiding idea that runs throughout university education.

In practical terms, this often shows up as relatively loose connections between courses. A course this semester may have little to do with one next semester. Once a course ends and you earn the credits through the exam, that stage is over, and you may never encounter it again in later study. This is completely different from the tightly linked structure of high school learning. Therefore, in university study, some of the most important things are to quickly understand and accept the core spirit of each course, recognize its place and significance within the discipline as a whole, and, by passing subject exams in a targeted way, gradually build a framework that improves your professional knowledge structure.

As preparation for higher education, before beginning systematic study, motivated students can prepare in several ways during the transition from high school to university.

First, to some extent, the entire higher education system is built on advanced mathematics. Therefore, previewing the basics of calculus, linear algebra, and probability theory will be very helpful throughout university and can be treated as a key area of preparation.

Second, most majors have some popular introductory books. A representative example is the Japanese series of illustrated guides on various subjects. Books like these can help you gain a general understanding of the major, so that when you study each course, you will not feel completely lost. Instead, you will have some idea of where that course fits within the major and how it should connect with other courses.

Third, for most majors, solid computer skills will be beneficial for both future study and work. Basic preparation includes learning the Office suite (how to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). More advanced study can include a programming tool such as Python, which can provide direct and effective help in learning.

Within the limited time available during the transition from high school to university, these preparations should make that transition smoother and help you achieve your goals.

Best of luck.