Eased turn over - Analogue Electronics

Last semester, I've taken a hard subject. It was Analogue Electronics and the subject somehow did not seem to have the same pattern as the other electrical and engineering subject I've taken before. Perhaps the view was only from me.

One of my principles in studying is to never put the blame on your teacher if something does not happen the way you want. My senior said that barakah was something worthy to hold and grasp dearly. Barakah comes in respecting teachers and respecting the knowledge. The intention of why you are studying will make you different from others.

Before, whenever my friends ended up in classes taught by problematic lecturers, I have always told them to do their part. I did not deny their complaints. For the sake of efficiency, I told them to be the manipulated variable. Their exam results would be the responded variable and lecturers would be the constant. Therefore, the end results would be depending on how they act upon. However, life was not that easy and simple. Even in mathematics, we know in certain functions, no matter how we tweak the inputs, if the important constants are still there, the output would be in the same range. Whether it is negative or smaller than 1, even infinity. And therefore, I have seen some of my friends failed and repeated subjects. Still, in my opinion, they did not try hard enough.

Interestingly, last semester was the semester in which I went through the exact same thing as my friends went through. The difficulty level added when the required books were not there in the library, and all I have to depend solely on was the lecturer's notes. Being the class rep for the subject (a job that I was very not fond of), I was responsible to inform my classmates if any class was canceled or any other thing. At the early of the semester, the seven hours a week classes were cut by our lecturer to only four hour classes a week. She canceled it without any explained reasons. Even with the four hours balance, the class was often canceled without no replacement class. Initially, my classmates cherished it. Later, due to the difficulty of the subject and the unbelievable velocity the lecturer's cover the syllabus to meet the duty roster, we began to realize that this would go bad.

The situation went worse during midterm tests and quizzes, our lecturer told the exact subtopic and questions that would be asked in the tests. In my point of view, she did that to compensate for the time she'd cut for our. And she even did that during our final exam. In the end, she asked me to tell my classmates if they want nice marks, they ought to write nice feedback about her in our online feedback report. I did not know whether she was kidding or not, but at that time I was already furious.

For those who can catch up easily were simple, but for those who could not, I saw they had a hell of a time to understand the subject. That made me a bit angry and frustrated. Approaching final exam, my carry mark was 22 over 40. I did not take note when she told us 'soalan bocor' as I thought it was inappropriate. Plus, I was egoistic. Test was meant to challenge. There was no point of doing test when you know what you were gonna face. I want my mark to indicate my level of understanding. Not how much I know the soalan bocor.

My carry mark was not a blow for me although it was the lowest so far. It was expected. Still, I could see my friends' frustration and disappointment. My understanding for the subject at that point was fuzzy and unclear. Therefore I could not help my friends. Even I needed help at that time. During the study week period, the urge to blame my lecturer and not doing nothing was insurmountable. I tried my best to stand up to my words and not doing the thing I refrain others to do. I always told myself, if some things gonna change, I need to start the change. Not others. At that point, I've spent some sleepless nights just to understand the subject, still the firm understanding was way too far. I've just got to push harder.

Alhamdulillah. Allah really helped me through. Two of my adik usrahs, I was proud to say their names, Hamizan Arif and Asma'an Affandi were the ones who helped me through. Being taught by different lecturer than mine, they helped me understand the subject essentially from A to Z. They spent three days before the paper to teach me and others. From morning to night. The only break was to pray, eat, nap and sleep. But, they really pushed all of us to understand the subject. I did not know how could I repay them because what they did for us was very helpful. Those three days were among the most intense and packed days in my life.

I was determined to obtain an A for this subject. For my personal record. So far, there was no B in my subject grades. That day, the paper was tough, but it was eased. I can answer the questions although I didn't manage to finish them all due to insufficient time. Still, I was blessed that day. I did what was needed to be done. I was the class rep, I was the one who held the responsibility to report what had happened the whole semester. Instead of blaming and backbiting, it was more efficient and significant to write a proper online report so that future students would not need to go through what we have gone through. She will understand why I wrote the feedback that way, Insya Allah. Still, a lecturer will always have my respect. She had taught me. She earned my respect. The things we had gone through this semester, perhaps she too were going through rough moments that we did not know. We just need to be more empathy and understanding.

Normal circuit

Electronic circuit

And my result came through later. I got B for the subject. Alhamdulillah.

Next time, I need to really observe my lecturer for the first week.

Above are basic images of circuit.

Our Lab Techinicians

I am blessed to study here. Really. Especially with my lecturers and lab technicians.

As an engineering student, I go through a lot of hands-on and practical session. And lab is one of them. This year, we don't stick with one lab technician only, our group will go through many lab technicians for different experiments. So we got to meet a lot of interesting characters.

What I am about to post may be a bit harsh, but there's where the perk lies. Reader discretion is advised.

1. Motor - DC and AC motor experiment was interesting. But the lab technician was even more interesting. He was unique with his own analogy. One time, when we obtained all the result, we quickly turn the motor off, not following the ordered manual. Then he came angrily and said, "Kamu kalau nak pergi tandas, kamu buka seluar dulu baru seluar dalam, atau kamu buka seluar dalam terus tanpa buka seluar. Hah?". Instantly, we laughed, violently. All boys in my group, so the excitement was understandable. And he laughed too. I did not know why he laughed. Perhaps due to his creativity for the analogy. What he meant was we should turn off the motor by its sequence, not aiming straight for the power source.

2. Transformer - I was always motivated by 'going back early'. When the lab technician said, "Okay, siap procedure, present result dan calculation, boleh balik awal. Minggu depan lab report mesti siap". The moment my group heard that, we became so pumped up nothing could stand our way. Still, experiment involving transformer was pretty dangerous. When we were done connecting all the wiring and setting up the components, we called our lab technician to switch on the voltage source. The source must be opened with a key because if the circuit was wrong and the source is switched on, we would die instantly in the explosion. So, we called him to check our connection and switch on the VS. When he came, however, at that instant we saw an open connection/open wire. He immediately said "Ok, volunteer sorang. Cuba pegang open connection ni, kita tengok dia mati ke tak. Mari, volunteer sorang. Nak sangat biar open connection, datang sekarang pegang!" he said fiercely. It was a sincere mistake. We became speechless. And then we dismantled it all and started all over again. Still, we managed to finish first. :D

3. Ammeter and voltmeter - we once used a huge ammeter and voltmeter one time. The screen was big. We connected everything, and we called our lab tech to open the VS. He eventually came, looked at our set up for a while, and said "Kamu, kalau makan makan. Makanan tu akan keluar balik tak bila di tandas nanti?". We answered "Mestilah sir. Takkan nak simpan lama-lama". "Cakap pandai! Cuba kamu tengok connection kamu, ada makanan yang kamu simpan dalam perut tu tak nak teran-teran!" he replied sarcastically. Later we realized that the IN connection of one of the ammeters still had no OUT yet. And again we were saved.

We had many more intense moments with our lab techs. Still, what amazed me was, they never forget to recite du'a before and after the lab session. Never! Not even once! They were not golongan yang berkopiah and look religious. Still, I saw they really valued the prayer and adab. Because of that, even with their dramatic over reaction to things, we 'salam and cium' their hands.

Even one of my female lab tech had 'R4BIA' symbol as her wassap DP. Amazing.

May Allah bless all my lab technicians, lecturers, and teachers. I love them.