Engineering

What type of Engineer? Try this quiz from University of Waterloo. Follow this up with a great breakdown of the five main types of Engineering described in the Born to Engineer page. 

What is the study:

 

Super Curriculars

How can you go deeper in high school?

Listen to podcasts

  • How do you engineer? A podcast about how engineering is done. Each week we explore and explain a part of the engineering multiverse.
  • In our engineering podcast, Being An Engineer, we interview the world’s highest performing engineers to learn their lessons for success so we can apply them to our own lives and careers. The podcast is a central repository in which we collect and share industry knowledge & best practices associated with the discipline of engineering. We hope that engineers throughout the world will benefit from this content as they learn about and connect with the companies, technologies, people, resources, and opportunities featured on our show.
  • Brady Heywood podcast: A show about engineering failures and disasters. We examine the technical, human and organisational causes of failure, and explore why our decision-making is not nearly as rational as we’d like to think.
  • Engineering IRL: The Engineering IRL podcast is here to help improve problem solving skills for all people by breaking down engineering design concepts and applying them to real life. Engineers are the professional problem solvers and they solve both simple and complex problems. Use this engineering podcast to learn passively and gain some insights to problem solving ideas and techniques you can use in real life.
  • Her STEM Story:  Listen to know more about the amazing work women across the globe have been doing in the different STEM and STEM-related fields. Learn about what motivates them, what struggles they overcame, and how we can close the gender gap in male-dominated fields.
  • Welcome to Diverse, a podcast by the Society of Women Engineers. SWE gives women engineers a unique place and voice within the engineering community. On Diverse, we highlight incredible thought leaders and personalities in the STEM community and discover who they are at home, at work, and in between. Stream episodes online or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
  • Cool Parts Show: Additive Manufacturing Media reports on industrial applications of 3D printing. Our editors travel the world to explore how additive manufacturing is transforming production, and how real manufacturers are using 3D printing to make end-use parts and tooling. The Cool Parts Show, our ongoing series, highlights innovative components and products made possible only through 3D printing. (Have an example? Email coolparts@additivemanufacturing.media)
  • Stereo Chemistry (C&EN): Covers a wide range of stories from the world of chemistry and chemical engineering.
  • Chemical Engineering Guy(s): Features interviews with professionals, discussions on, and trends in the industry.
  • 50 more suggestions here.
  • 20 BEST chemical Engineering podcasts

 

Read:

 

Watch

Documentaries

Watch top technology documentaries.

Richard Hammond’s Engineering Connections | S02E04 – Guggenheim Bilbao | DocumentaryHub

 

  • Seethe whole Engineering Connections playlist here.

Failure Is Not An Option A Flight Control History of NASA

 

Dream Big Engineering Our World

Ted Talks:

 

Youtube Channel

  • YouTube has plenty of videos about psychology. Here’s a selection:
    • Real Engineering: Looks at the underlying principles of modern technologies with beautifully informative animations.
    • EngineerGuy: Practical demonstrations showing how everyday items work.
    • The Efficient Engineer: Computer-animated primers on mechanical and civil engineering concepts.
    • Interesting Engineering: Future-oriented primers on recent innovation.
    • The Action Lab: Quirky experiments in physics and engineering to answer ‘what would happen if?’

 

Join Clubs

  • Engineering club
  • 3d club

Build stuff

 

Enter Competitions

Take courses

UK Admission tests

  • University of Oxford: TAMU: Past papers, solutions and examiner feedback for the last 17 years (!) are available here.
  • The Engineering and Science Admissions Test (ESAT) is used by Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick, Durham and UCL. Practice tests and past papers are available here.
  • Isaac Physics is a free platform for practising Physics problems, funded by Cambridge University.
  • Brilliant hosts interactive problem-solving games in maths, data, computing and science.
  • iWantToStudyEngineering hosts problem-solving generators, A-Level question archives and online games to hone your skills.
  • See an example Engineering interview for Cambridge here.

 

ESAT – Engineering and Science Admissions test  

ESAT is used by Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, and UCL for Engineering and Science based subjects.

 

Other help:

 

AI Prompt for creating your own study plan

Copy/Paste this Prompt:

“It is currently March 2026. I am an IB student sitting the ESAT in October 2026 for 2027 entry. I have roughly 7 months to prepare. My IB subjects are: [INSERT YOUR SUBJECTS, e.g., Math AA HL, Physics HL].

Please act as an expert ESAT coach and create a high-intensity, month-by-month study plan. Focus on these three pillars:

  1. Bridging the Gap (March – May): Identify the content required for ESAT Maths 1, Maths 2, and Physics that is not typically covered in the first year of IB HL (e.g., specific Integration rules or Materials science).
  2. The ‘No-GDC’ Transition (June – August): A drill program to move away from my IB calculator. I need techniques for mental estimation, trig values, and simplifying complex fractions by hand.
  3. The Past Paper Sprint (July – October): A schedule for using ENGAA and NSAA Section 1 past papers (the predecessors to ESAT) under timed conditions.

 

Please include:

  • A weekly ‘Review vs. Practice’ ratio.
  • Advice on how to manage this alongside my IB Internal Assessments (IAs) and Extended Essay (EE) over the summer.
  • Specific focus on ‘Maths 2’ (Calculus) and ‘Physics’ modules.”

Critical Considerations for your 2026 Timeline:

  • The “Summer Slump” Risk: Between June and August, most IB students are buried in their Extended Essay (EE) and IAs. You must bake ESAT prep into your weekly routine (aim for 4–6 hours a week) so you don’t enter September having forgotten how to do math without a calculator.
  • The Test Format: Remember, the ESAT is entirely Multiple Choice. This is a huge shift from the IB’s “show your working” style. You need to learn how to “eliminate and guess” effectively—a skill that IB doesn’t usually reward.
  • Topic Delta: IB Physics often skips or skims certain “Classical Mechanics” topics that the ESAT loves (like specific moments of inertia or more granular electricity circuits).

 

Essential ESAT Structure Reference

Module Content Format Requirement for Engineering
Maths 1 Algebra, Functions, Geometry 27 MCQs / 40 Mins Compulsory
Maths 2 Calculus, Matrices, Vectors 27 MCQs / 40 Mins Required for Engineering
Physics Mechanics, Electricity, Waves 27 MCQs / 40 Mins Required for Engineering

 

Note: You can also use AI as follows:

  • Google NotebookLM to use as a personalized tutor to teach specific topics. You train it with course materials.
  • Any AI (Chat GPT, Claude or Gemini) to generate practice questions that imitate specific questions. Simply take a picture or copy and paste and ask the AI to create five more practice question like that one.

Get experience

And the Career?

Test Fit the Career

In your favorite AI, enter the following prompt:

Prompt 1:

  • Based on my VIA Signature Strengths of [insert your VIA Character Signature Strengths] evaluate how well a career as an [TYPE] Engineer aligns with these strengths. In your response, consider how this role might allow me to express or grow these strengths through its typical tasks, work environment, and purpose. Also, note any potential mismatches or challenges I should be aware of.
  • Follow up 1:
    • Suggest one way I could explore or “test-fit” this role (e.g., through a school activity, internship, or project) to see if it genuinely nurtures my strengths.

Prompt 2:

  • You are an expert and funny career counselor. I am interested in Engineering and I am in high school. Ask me a series of five questions, one at a time, that will help you (and me) determine if this is good career choice for me.
    • Follow-up 1:
      • Please provide five Books to read about this career.
      • Suggest some Clubs to join to help me explore this career or develop skills useful to this career.
    • Follow-up 2:
      • Give me 10 reasons why NOT to pursue investment baking.
    • Follow-up 3:
      • How much will AI impact the roll of Engineering?