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Rating

Total average

79.9/100
Learning Materials ( 84 )
Learning Activities ( 73.5 )
Blackboard Management ( 87 )
Course Content ( 62.8 )
Course Structure ( 80.5 )
Contact Availability ( 84.3 )
Course Difficulty ( 87.5 )

Reviews (4)

Anonymous
   
CIVL2330 – Structural Mechanics 84.0

Structural Mechanics will be your introductory to the difficult courses you will be undertake in civil engineering

Vin Dao is a very smart and friendly guy who tends to always help you out when your in your hour of need, however you may find him very hard to understand especially when he manipulates different methods in comparison to you and you end up hating yourself while you down ice-cream. To manage this please use the tutors in contacts, they will answer our burning questions on why " this stupid beam deflects like that" or "why must I spend 2 hours on one single deflection question etc" it makes ALL the difference!

The most talked about topic with this course is the "30% mid" 70% final, with 2 questions on a MID-SEM and 4 Questions on the FINAL.
PREPARE to be heart-broken, due to the ~structure~ of this course Vin dao will leave out some topics out of the exams, in my case I never did any questions on Mohr Circle/Principal Axis on my Deferred Final Exam. Lucky me? No, I was more shocked not finding a single question I spent countless hours on than the terrible ending of How I met your mother.

The moral of the story is that you're going to get screwed from getting a 6 or a 7 unless you study every topic with full bloody passion and give it all your otherwise you'll end up laughing insane when the topic you spent forever on studying doesn't pop up on the Final [RIP]

Overall I would rate this as a very interesting course in terms due to the behind the scenes of structural engineering using hardcore mathematics. Remember to not "yolo" this course the night before otherwise you'll end up having a panic attack & remember to say no to drugs and yes to structure free learning ! GL kiddos
Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2017

Your program/major

Bacherlof of Engineering - Civil

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Yes & No. I preferred to re-watch lectures online, as I could pause every 5 minutes and look up videos on youtube to help explain said topic!

Is the textbook necessary?

No

Positives
  • First real insight on what structural engineering mathematics is all about
  • Easy to pass after the 9th panic attack
  • Exam Content is mostly predictable
Negatives
  • Concepts very difficult to understand alone
  • 6 Questions to decide your fate for this course
  • Explanations are not exactly "clear"
Posted on July 31, 2017 5:37 pm
Anonymous
   
CIVL2330 – Structural Mechanics 79.3

Probably the first difficult course many will encounter in their civil engineering degree. Vinh Dao is a great lecturer, and genuinely cares about his students. The tutorial questions are very important, as in 2016, almost 100% of the mid sem and 50% of the final was directly relatable to the tutorial questions.

Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2015

Your program/major

BEngg

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Can watch at home - vinh uploads his written notes

Is the textbook necessary?

No

Positives
  • Small workload through the semester
  • Great lecturer & tutors
Negatives
  • Big final weighting
  • Whole course grade determined by 6 questions (2 in mid sem, 4 in final)
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:41 pm
Anonymous
   
CIVL2330 – Structural Mechanics 79.3

The concepts are definitely difficult to grasp, however dao is pretty good at what he does.
Practice is an absolute MUST.
Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2015

Your program/major

Civil Engineering

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Highly Recommended

Is the textbook necessary?

Yes, its very helpful

Positives
  • Interesting
  • Easy to pass if lectures are followed
Negatives
  • Difficult to understand concepts
  • Needs alot of practice
Posted on June 30, 2015 6:10 pm
Anonymous
   
CIVL2330 – Structural Mechanics 77.1

This course is by far the most difficult in the 1st Sem of 2nd year. The course was split into a Tuesday 1 hour lecture and a Thursday 2 hour lecture. The 1 hour lecture was used to derive the formula's for each concept, which was hard to follow and easy to loose concentration. It was a common feeling walking out of the lecture to have absolutely no idea what happened. Fortunately the Thursday lecture is much more practical and more easy to follow. The assignments are quite difficult and are severely under-weighted (1% for 3-hours work). However if you complete the assignment directly after the Thursday lecture it should not be too hard. However if you leave it till the night it is due (roughly a week later) it can seem impossible. Before both the final and mid-sem, Vinh gave a revision lecture and covered some examples that were similar to the exam questions. For both exams, about 1/2 of the questions he covered were on the exam. The only way to know the other question is to understand the assignments. Thankfully the final exam is similar to past exams and if you complete those than the final is no surprise. Vinh is quite difficult to understand, however he runs the course fantastically and gives you the best opportunity to pass a very difficult course.

Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2014

Your program/major

Civil Engineering

Is lecture attendance necessary?

1 hour lecture: No, 2 hour lecture: Yes

Is the textbook necessary?

No

Positives
  • 2 hour lecture is structured well
  • revision lecture is very good
  • exam content is predicable
Negatives
  • very difficult course concepts
  • lecturer is difficult to understand at times
  • the lectures can drag on - watch online and take breaks every 30 minutes
Posted on August 31, 2014 9:25 pm

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