An Insider’s Guide to PII Structural and Civil Engineering Courses

ENGSCI 211: Mathematical Modelling 2

You are all probably very familiar with the scope of this course and what it is all about. And you guessed it right; it is MM1, but in its second-year form! You will cover some concepts you have already been introduced to, plus a couple of new concepts.

The concepts are: 1) ODE, 2) Multivariable Calculus, 3) Data Analysis and Machine Learning, 4) Linear Algebra and 5) Fourier Series.

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: Definitely a course you want to stay caught up on as there is a lot to cover in 12 weeks. One advice I can give is to do the practice problems for each module (similar to 111). That was one of the things that saved me. I know we are lazy here (well, I am lol), but trust me, at least one question daily will save you. The practice problems prepare you well for the quizzes and touch on the basics you are meant to know!

CIVIL 202: Fluid Mechanics and Pipe Flow

Fluid mechanics will be heaps of new concepts you have likely not encountered before. You will be learning different ways to analyse the very complex behaviour of fluids. It is crucial to understand these concepts, even if you are considering pursuing structural engineering.

The modules you will cover include: 1) Fluid Properties, 2) Hydrostatics, 3) Kinematics and Conservation of Mass, 4) Conservation of Energy, 5) Conservation of Momentum and 6) Dimensional Analysis and Similarity

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: Another course you want to stay caught up on! If you are an avid lecture skipper, definitely stay up to date with your 202 lectures, as, yet again, it is a content-heavy course! I recommend doing the practice problems given to you for each lecture. They are great practice for the weekly quizzes, tests and exams.

CIVIL 203: Transport Design and Geomatics

It is one of the more chill courses of this semester and has two main modules. The first half of the semester focuses mainly on the design of longitudinal infrastructures and geometric design. The second half will be focused on transportation engineering and its design. Fortunately, your test will focus on geometric design, and the exam will focus on transportation, so you won’t have to study 12 weeks’ content for the exam.

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: As this semester will be one heck of a ride (specifically workload-wise), this course is more on the chill side. So you can take a break when it comes to stressing about 203. I still recommend doing the practice questions here and there, but falling behind on content is not as life-ending as the other courses in this semester.

STRCTENG 200: Introductary Structural Mechanics

Your first structural course! (WOOOO) This course will be a continuation of the statics part of ENGGEN 121. I recommend revising and going through the basic skills taught to you, as you will be tested on them in your second week back! You will dive deeper into the principles of equilibrium and elasticity applied to structures and their components.

The content you will cover are: 1) BMD, FSD and Axial Diagrams, 2) Stability and Determinacy, 3) Structural Engineering Communication, 4)Design Loads and Load Paths, 6) Elementary Elasticity, 7) Moment of Inertia, 8) Flexural Stress, 10) Bi-Axial Bending, 11) Shear Stress, 12) Stress Transformation and Failure Criteria, 13) Deflection in Beams

phew that was alot…

Structural specific questions asked from the survey:

“What is your status with STRCTENG 200?”

“What did you find the most enjoyable about STRCTENG 200?”

1. The lecturer’s teaching
2. The handwritten notes
3. Finishing it (too many people said this)

“What did you find the least enjoyable about STRCTENG 200?”

1. The lecturer’s teaching (..again..)
2. “New scary content esp for civil students”
3. The exam

“Tips and advices on STRCTENG 200?”

1. “Make sure that you can visualise all the theory you learn. Drawing stuff up while you revise and trying to imagine how it will work practically is the key aspect of this course. Its technically all about making strutural knowledge intuitive.”
2. “Watch lucas’s (the lecturer) youtube videos, and understand why the equations make sense. Check for dimmensional consistency”

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: Oh boy, now this course does not have many fans. I’d even dare say it has more haters than just neutral opinions. Even as a fellow structural student who loves structural concepts, I found this course challenging. My advice? Practice, practice, and more practice. The more you work through problems, the more confident you’ll feel when exams roll around. Watching videos on certain concepts also helped me a ton.

Test Difficulty

1. CIVIL 202
2. ENGSCI 211
3. STRCTENG 200
4. CIVIL 203

Exam Difficulty

1. ENGSCI 211
2. STRCTENG 200
3. CIVIL 202
4. CIVIL 203

Overall Difficulty

1. ENGSCI 211
2. STRCTENG 200
3. CIVIL 202
4. CIVIL 203

ENGGEN 204: Professional Skills and Communication

This course is all about group work. As the title suggests as well, it focuses on developing one of the key skills (and biggest weaknesses) of all engineers: communication. You will be assigned a group of eight people and will have that group for the entire semester.

The course focuses on four skills: 1) Teamwork, 2) Function or dysnfunciton of a team, 3) Conflict Management, 4) Decision Making

This course has no tests or final exams. So in order to do it justice, here are some extra questions the survey answered to regarding 204:

“How are you going with your group so far?”

“Anything specific you find challenging about ENGGEN 204?”

1. “fitting in group meeting/ filming around different specialisations timetables.”
2. “The marking for the video assignment is quite subjective. And some quiz answers have grammatical errors.”
3. “The quizzes.”
4. “Collaborating with different people 😌😌😌”
5. “Communication and conflict. The “storming” phase”

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: I found this course to be one of the most relaxed among the other general engineering courses. My opinion may be very subjective, depending on the group and role you would get. But my advice for this course is to put effort into the given tasks, as you will be peer-marked individually later. Remember that your teamwork skills are crucial for a future engineer.

CIVIL 200: Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering

Rocks… yay… nah joking. Although geotechnical engineering does involve rocks, it also covers the mechanical behaviour of soils (which is way more complex than you may think it is). It does also signify how crucial the communication of engineers and geologists is (specifically for a geologically young country such as New Zealand.)

Some of the concepts you will cover are: 1) Rocks and their properties, 2) Geomorphic processes, 3) Soils and their characteristics, 4) Stresses in soils, 5) Seepage in soils

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: As geotechnical is my second choice out of civil engineering specs, I find this course also very interesting. You will learn heaps on how crucial it is for geotech engineers to analyse the ground the structure will be built on. So you could say structural and geotechnical engineers do work very closely to each other.

As I mentioned beforehand, I have yet to sit the test for this course! (Actually am studying for it as of now…) So I won’t have much of an opinion on the tests. However from what we have learnt so far and how we are meant to prepare for it, it is a mixture of both memorisation and doing practice problems. So, I recommend making flash cards for every lecture (as exhausting as it is) and going over them to make studying easier.

ENVENG 200: Fudamentals of Environmental Engineering

Civil and structural engineers, play a crucial role in shaping the world. With this role, comes the responsibility to understand the complexities of infrastructure and the need to balance human demands with the preservation of the natural environment. Specifically in the current age where our generation of engineers face global environmental challenges, needing to be addressed.

Some of the content you will cover in this course are: 1) Current global environmental challenges, 2) Emerging challenges in environmental engineering, 3) The three waters, 4) Air quality and noise, 5) Assessing the environmental impact of engineering projects

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: Another chill course (with valuable information) that is more memorisation based than calculation. You will have three lab reports to complete, so my number one advice is to NOT LEAVE IT TO THE LAST MINUTE. Making flash cards and working on the tutorial questions are also very helpful on getting that A+ for enviro. This is another course that will not have an exam but tests instead, so you will need to grind out the tests and lab reports.

STRCTENG 201: Civil Engineering Materials and Design

Your second structural course! Yipee!! By second semester, it is likely that the word “structural” sends shivers down your spine with traumatic memories of STRCTENG 200, but trust me when I say this course is way more chill than 200. (Well from what I have seen so far :D)

201 has three parts. First three weeks will be spent on introducing the three main structural engineering materials which are concrete, structural steel and timber. The second part will be a week based on transportation materials which are aggregates, asphalt and bitumen. And the rest of the semester will be spent on principles of mechanics and their application on the analysis of structures.

Structural specific questions asked from the survey:

“What is your status with STRCTENG 201?”

“What did you find the most enjoyable about STRCTENG 201?”

1. The teaching and the lecturers
2. The pace of the course
3. The given assesments

“What did you find the least enjoyable about STRCTENG 201?”

1. The structural mechanics part of the course
2. The content’s density

“Tips and advices on STRCTENG 201?”

1. “Stay up to date, or else the concepts discussed in lectures aren’t going to seem as interconnected as they actually are.”
2. Asking for help
3. “Cheat.” (please don’t guys I just found this response funny)

Sonia’s structural-student-experience: So far, this is my favourite course of the semester as it is very interesting (I love concrete too much). As mentioned in the survey, the assesments are not challenging and the labs are actually enjoyable if you are really interested in the content taught. The structural mechanics part of the course can get overwhelming however (a bit nervous for the exam :D). Writing down summary notes for the materials section is quite useful as you can easily forget everything you have learnt.

Test Difficulty

1. CIVIL 200
2. STRCTENG 201
3. ENVENG 200

Exam Difficulty

1. STRCTENG 201
2. CIVIL 200

Overall Difficulty

1. CIVIL 200
2. STRCTENG 201
3. ENVENG 200
4. ENGGEN 204