Thursday, August 2, 2012

ECE Board Exam Review Guide - ELECTRONICS Study Tips and Techniques

Electron has a mass of 1/1836 compare to Proton

In taking ECE or Electronics Engineer Board Exam, Electronics weigh 30% same with Communication or ESAT. It is almost a third of all subjects you are going to review apart from Math, GEAS and Communication/ESAT. 100% score in Electronics do not mean that you will pass the ECE board exam but it will have a greater effect in your overall score.

My previous study guide and technique are all general approach, this time we will go to more specific study review guides and technique and this will be a little bit longer. Better understanding of the parts will lead to better understanding of the whole ECE board Exam.

If you have 4 months to review 4 subjects then, every subject should be given equal time and opportunity to review. Is it right? If you agree with me, Electronics should be given 1 month time to review all it's concepts, principles and answering multiple choice questions. If you don't agree you can give more or less time that depend on your goals. For example, if you want to top the board exam try to review in 8-9 months.


ECE Board Exam Review Guide - Electronics Study Tips and Techniques


A. Use of SQ3R + W

The best approach in reviewing is SQ3R + W, first you must Survey the book and it's chapters, then answer the Questions or make a questions about the chapters, then the 3R + W ( Read, Recite, Review plus Writing).

When writing notes on notebook and index card, try to use 3 different colors of ballpen to easily identified titles, formulas and meaning or concept. Use pentel pen when writing formulas in manila paper. The advantage of index card is you can review anywhere, anytime and instantly especially those formula's.


B. Why Multiple Choice Questions? Advantages vs Disadvantages

ECE board exam is multiple choice test in a limited time and you ask yourself why not an essay or fill in the blanks type of questions? Here are advantages and disadvantages why multiple choice is chosen,

Advantages:

1. Easiest and Simple - It requires less time (4x) to assess the extent of your knowledge compare to other assessment tools. More affordable for testing a large number of examiners and can be automated, the reasons why ECE board exam result is released after 3 days.
2. Objectivity and No Ambiguity - You have to analyze facts not someone's opinion and you are graded with your answer selection creating a lower likelihood of checker bias.
3. Irrelevant factors will not influence the final result - It will assess your knowledge without taking into account your handwriting and inability to express your thoughts.
4. Most Accurate - compared to other test evaluations it is the strongest predictor of overall performance of examiner.

Disadvantages:

1. If the authors are not well trained to construct questions, it become more subjective.
2. Not adapted for complex problem solving and reasoning skills - Easy ECE Math problems like simple derivatives and integral. In Electronics, some questions are facts, trivia and current technology and inventions.  Also, with advanced PRC approved calculators, simple calculations can be answered as fast as lightning.
3. Examiners have a probability to get a correct answer in guessing - Don't leave any item unanswered because you have a 25% chance to get a correct answer in guessing for 4 choices.
4. Examiners don't get credit if wrong answer is chosen even if you are knowledgeable about the question - You are best in Physics and only 1 question appeared and you didn't get the correct answer. Does it mean that you dont' know anything?

With the given advantages and disadvantages of ECE board exam multiple choice question and from 3 subjects (Math, Electronics and Communication) to 4 subjects today, the test is now more accurate to test your knowledge and what should you do to pass it?

ECE/Electronics Engineer board exam passing grade is 70% and if you got 69%, does it mean that your knowledge is not enough? Or if you got 89%, does it mean that you didn't guess and you know all subjects?

ECE Review Materials - Electronics Books, Pens, Pencil and PRC Approve Calculator


C. Sample Electronics Board Exam Coverage Review Schedule

Because everyone is unique and we have different study habits and moods, you can make your own schedule that fit your everyday lifestyle, either you are working, part time reviewer or a lazy one.

Below are the Electronics concepts and principles that you should review plus answering multiple choice questions. In reviewing, we will encounter a mental and body fatigue (either in reading or solving problems) so, I advised not to review a straight more than 2 hours.

Electricity and Magnetism + 200 Questions - 4 days
Electrical Circuits + 100 Questions- 3 days
Electronic/Solid State Devices + 200 Questions - 4 days
Energy Conversion + 200 Questions - 3 days
Electronic Circuits/Analysis + 150 Questions - 5 days
Electronic Instrumentation + 100 Questions - 3 days
Industrial Electronics + 100 Questions - 4 days
Computer Principles + 200 Questions - 4 days


D. Needed Review Materials Books and Calculators

1. Electronics Books - ex. by Boylestad or Villamor
2. 1001 Multiple choice Questions in Electronics
3. Notebook, Index Card, Manila Paper
4. 3 colors of Ballpen and Pentel Pen
5. PRC Approve Calculator


E. What is Electronics?

In my own words, Electronics is Electron + IC's. I easily remembered it that way. It is simply study of "flow of Electrons in IC's or Integrated Circuits". You can also make your own way in memorizing words so that you can easily understand and easily remembered, that is one technique in reviewing.

Today, Integrated Circuits are mostly used in everyday life and IC's are made up of CMOS (complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) logic gates. Logic gates are made up of transistors which are constructed from basic principle of PN junction of diodes.

Before, we have vacuum tubes diode and tetrode. Because human always seek continuous improvement on cost and power consumption semiconductors diodes and transistors are invented.


What is Flow of Electrons?

Flow of electrons or flow of charge is called Current, same analogy as flow of water in river which is called water current. Basically, have you ask yourself why there is flow of electrons? Before that, let's take a look what is electrons, where it came from, how it begun and it's structure.

The secret of understanding electronics lies in how much you understand Electrons. A simple words that our college teachers failed to teach to us.

Property of Electrons

Beginning: From energetic photons after first milliseconds of Big Bang
Discovered by: J.J. Thompson on experiment on cathode rays - 1897
Characteristics: Elementary Particle
Subatomic Group: Lepton
Substructure: None
Mass: 9.109 x 10-31 kg
Charge:  -1.602 x 10-19 C
Spin: 1/2 - a Fermion
Quantum Property: Wave-Particle duality
Atom Bonding: Bound to nucleus by Coulomb Force
Interaction: 
A. Electrons generates Electric Field (E) and Force (F) determined by Coulombs Inverse Square Law
B. Electrons when in motion generates Magnetic Field (B)
C. When moving in Electric (E) and Magnetic Field (B), it is subject to Lorentz Force

Atomic Orbital: 
A. Electrons travel in circular shell or orbit around the nucleus from Bohr Atomic Model. The maximum number of electrons in a main shell can be determined by:

N=2n2; where n is the nth shell;

B. Each orbital has a set of quantum numbers such a s energy, angular momentum and projection. According to Pauli Exclusion Principle, each orbital can be occupied by up to two electrons which must differ in their spin quantum number. Does the formula above violate Pauli Exclusion Principle?
C. Electrons can transfer between different orbitals by emission or absorption of photons.The sharing or transfer of electrons from atom to atoms allow the formation of molecules. Within molecules, they are under influence of several nuclei and occupy molecular orbits.

Flow of Electrons: 
A. When free electrons both in vacuum and metals move , they produce a net flow of charge called electric current which generates magnetic field
B. According to Ampere, 1 Ampere = 1 Coulomb of charge flowing in 1 second in a material.

1e- = 1.602 x 10-19 C
1C = 6.24 x 1018 electrons

So, 1 A are flow of 6.24 x 1018 electrons in 1 seconds, that’s a lot of electrons right and only 0.015A can kill a human heart.

C. According to Einstein, speed of electron in vacuum can approach but never reach, the speed of light. In medium like water, electrons can temporarily travel faster than light and interaction with the medium generates faint light called Cherenkov Radiation.

Temperature Effects: Does flow of electron affected by temperature?
Observation: Observation of Electrons requires detection of their radiated energy.
Application: Electron Microscope, Cathode Ray Tubes, Free Electron Laser,  Electron Beams, Low-Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) Solid State Devices such as diodes and transistors.

I hope you appreciate about electrons, it's beginning and properties. Electrons flow in solid, liquid and gases and Electronics is study of flow of electrons in vacuum tubes, semiconductors, electrical circuits and electronic devices like diodes, transistors and IC's.

It is now very easy to understand other subjects of Electronics and it's applications if you understand Electrons in the first place.


Sources:
Multiple Choice Questions
Wikipedia Multiple Choice
Wikipedia Electron


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+ ECE/Electronics Board Exam Sample Questions - Review and Analysis
+ PRC Aprroved Calculators for ECE - Casio FX-991ES Specs and Review
+ PASS the PRC ECE Board Exam in 40 Days
+ How to PASS ECE Board Exam Using SQ3R Study Method?

6 comments:

GbSb said...

Thanks for visiting, I hope this guide helps. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

thanks :)

Anonymous said...

thanks po :) kaso problema ko ngaun sir is tamad ako or out of focus.

GbSb said...

You should try your best para makapag focus at bigyan ng priority ang pag-review kasi if you failed, magtatake ka ulit, repeating the whole process again.

Anonymous said...

mga sir graduate po ako ng ece nung 2000 pa, naka dalawa po akong take ng board exam nung 2001 and 2002 pero di po ako nakapasa, pwede pa po ako mag take ng board exam..salamat po sa sasagot..

Anonymous said...

same problem batch 2005 twice na rin nag take ng exam and same results. plan ulit mag take though d ko na kailangan sa trabaho but kc parang may kulang. thanks sa advise

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