He is a short guy, really short one, someone call him baccha. and whenever I meet him he always asks me "Bhaiya how do I study propulsion 1?" he has asked me a lot of times, the first time I said study as usual. But now his perpetual question has not been answered so I thought to pen all I know about this topic.
So how did I studied propulsion 1, joining class is a very good point to start. This not only helps in better preparation but gives you consistency and you are always in touch with the subject.
Propulsion I is divided into two sharp edges and that is numerical and theory and thank god the theory is simple and not like propulsion 3 where you have to think and give answer. Here the answers and theory is straight forward. Just give out what is being asked.
So as I said numerical are must in p1 and for that if you are studying in GIE and have access to Mathur and sharma is must. Most of the questions are based on this book and this books covers all the topics And if you are in Mr. Natarajan sir's class you will have ample opportunity in solving this numerical and that too with all of the class. Its nice doing that. One more perk of p1 class in my time was the whole night shift class!!! It was great!!!
Tips on p1:
1. Read all the topics. Bring out the syllabus book and do all the topics that had to be done. Don't leave a thing. One thing you don't get in propulsion 1 paper is lot of options. You have to do 5 out of the 6 questions and leaving a chapter or topic or two can be very risky and as a friend of mine learnt during the last semester when he did left a single chapter and it ruined his above 60 marks!!!
2. Read thoroughly. This will not only equip you to handle all the short type questions but will you better understanding of all the topics as you study them. Everything you will read from the first chapter on basics to the last chapter on lubrication has a link and reading thoroughly will help you understand the salient facts that may go unnoticed if you treat every chapter as an individual unit.
3. This is one of the most important thing that you should do while studying propulsion 1. and this also applies to all the other subjects. Use your imagination to see what you are learning. That is when reading about supercharger and the variables involved see how the variable affect, see how a bigger cylinder will cause more detonation and why air capacity is such and important variable. See it and I know you will have a better and lasting understanding of the subject and will have memorize less things !!
4. As you go through propulsion 1 , you will see there are so many variable as each one affect different parts and things differently and this could become hard to remember but if you imagine and understand the reasons behind the logic once. You can sale through.
5. Fortunately, the topics in propulsion 1 are inter woven and as you progress through your course on propulsion 1you will find it easy to go in chronological order. This will help in better memorization and understanding. For example studying the cc of IC engine is one such topic where a natural progression from detonation to design of SI engine head and then to the design and types of CI head, will be more efficiency than any other way. And this natural progression also has the advantage of quick revision.
6. My biggest mistake was not starting early, So at last I had to prepare some topics quickly and which brought my marks down, but you learn from my mistake. Start early. By this I don't mean not making notes, making notes is no study, memorizing and keeping the things in mind is what I referring to. Prop1 has so many topics and so for a firm grip on all the topics start early, and you won't have to ease through the last topics!!
7. Numerical. Well There are one way of solving the numerical ands that Mr. Natarajan sir teaches very well. Go to the basics and attack the problem. See what is given and what is asked. and answer it. Most of people I see is they refer to the example and try to understand what he is doing. Well all the examples in the books are done in different ways . And I have never followed what they did, I just take the question and solve it the way I know and what eventually matters is the answer and this is what studying in Mr. Natarajan sir's class will teach you!! You will get into this habit of solving with the basics and that I guess is the biggest lesson that one might acquire at a class.'
8. Propulsion 1 diagrams and they are simple and one should draw them neat without much shading and one point to remember is always draw the picture before you explain the thing. This not only helps the paper checker but also helps you to be methodical and you can explain better.
Well as for the baccha, I know he has cleared the propulsion one paper with good marks and all due to his hard work and long hours I heard he put in. Well I don’t know for certain if he is reading or read this but I would certainly like to see a comment or two from him on “Bahaiya How should I study propulsion 1?”
