Grind

Studying for the upcoming Professional Engineer exam is becoming burdensome. I've almost finished all of the practice problems. My textbooks and references are bedecked with a rainbow of quick tabs. There's not much left to do, but getting it done each evening is getting harder and harder.

It isn't as much work as I once did with ease in college. But clearly I've gotten out of the habit of studying. And while the mechanics of it came back quickly, I don't seem to have the endurance for it. I think I may have started off too fast - flaming out quickly. If I end up following up the PE with an attempt at grad school, I'll need to remember that particular lesson.

The studying has come in handy on the job, however. Not in a direct way - I haven't had work projects recently that use the particular theories and principles I'm reviewing. But I have been doing some analysis that goes more smoothly when tackled with more methodical techniques. Lots of notes, showing all the work - exactly how I work the study problems. It's true that most engineering work benefits from that kind of treatment, but this project particularly so. It is nice to have some tangible benefit from this grinding effort almost immediately.