Guided Engineering Academic Review Sessions (GEARS)

 

Are you looking to maintain your grades or improve them? Whatever your goal, GEARS is for you!

Starting university is a busy time for everyone. It can be tough to carve out dedicated time to review specific course material while you are adjusting to a new schedule. GEARS are weekly drop-in sessions that help you to fit in that important review time.

The benefits of attending GEARS:

  • Successful upper-year students provide guidance on reviewing materials and studying for tests.
  • Dedicated, regular study time.
  • Optimize study habits and time management skills.
  • Get to know your classmates and meet upper-year students.
  • All sessions are drop-in, no registration required. Unable to attend an entire session? Join GEARS for part of one.
  • Judgement-free zone. No marks are issued and your attendance is not reported to your instructors.
  • Helps you integrate how to learn with what you need to learn.

Engineering Science GEARS session info can be found here.

2024 Winter Term GEARS schedule (for Core 8 & TrackOne, through April 12):

DayTimeLocationMentors
Monday6 – 7 p.m.Engineering Library Classroom, SF 2402Andrew & Joe
Tuesday6 – 7 p.m.Engineering Library Classroom, SF 2402Kassie & Laura
Tuesday7 – 8 p.m.Chestnut Residence (the Hearth, first floor; for students residing at Chestnut residence)Kenneth & Ruoxuan
Wednesday6 – 7 p.m.Engineering Library Classroom, SF 2402Diego & Bhanu
Thursday12 – 1 p.m.Engineering Library Group Study Room C, SF 2402Helen & Justin

GEARS Mentor Bios

Andrew

My name is Andrew and I’m a 3rd-year electrical engineering student (although I’ll always be a TrackOne at heart). My favorite subject in my first year has to be calculus. In fact, I loved it so much that I chose ECE as my discipline just to do calc 3 in second year! (well not actually…but you get the idea). My best first-year memory is eating out with my friends after finishing my last exam of the fall semester of first year. :)  In my spare time, I play flute and piano and I find nothing more relaxing than playing a classical piece on the piano. I love watching shows and movies on Netflix - if you have any suggestions feel free to stop by for a GEARS session and let me know!  As a GEARS mentor, I'm excited to share the techniques I've developed over the last couple of years that have helped me with studying. I’m excited to pass on my knowledge to frosh to help them crush first year!  

Fun fact: I love playing sports, especially soccer. 

 

Helen

Hi, I'm Helen, and I'm in 3rd year ECE! My favourite subject right now is ECE314 (go Area 2!), but my favourite first-year memory is going out to sing karaoke with my friends after studying CIV100 together. I love staying active, so I'm on the U of T Women's flag football team as well! When it comes to GEARS, I'm excited to revisit first year concepts and to make first year a little less daunting.

Fun fact: I am a pro at whack-a-mole! 

 

 

 

Joe

I'm Joe, an ECE 2T6 student. My favourite subject is ECE241 Digital Systems. My best first-year memory: Participating in MakeUofT, where we built a remote patient monitoring system to prevent bed sores in hospital settings. It was my first hackathon, so fighting with many code/hardware issues (and trying to film a coherent video) while being severely sleep deprived was so hard, but being able to build a project in 24 hours with friends was an amazing experience.  In my spare time, I'm building a self-driving car @ aUToronto design team, building a remote control plane with friends, and hiking in the forest, and rock climbing. As a GEARS mentor, I hope to help make first year a little easier, one GEARS session at a time!

Fun fact: Join a design team! You learn so much. For example: UTAT if you like rockets/satellites/drones, aUToronto/UTFR/Blue Sky if you want to build a car, SPARK for cool builds, etc.

 

Kassie

Hello, hello! I’m Kassie, a third-year electrical engineering student. This is my second year as a GEARS mentor and I’m excited to continue meeting new faces and discussing new problems! My favourite subject has always been math, so I really enjoyed the first-year math courses (but I’m also happy to discuss any other first-year courses)! Starting your first year of university is difficult, no matter the program of study you choose, so I hope that as a GEARS mentor, I can provide academic and moral support for you!

Fun fact: I like to read, I paddle for the engineering dragon boat team, and my favourite plant-based milk is oat milk.

 

 

Laura

Hi, I'm Laura and I'm an ECE 2T6 student. My favourite subject is either linear algebra or coding. One memorable moment from my first year was exploring Chinatown with my friends. Something I like to do in my spare time is sewing and embroidery. As a GEARS mentor I'm excited to meet first-year students and help them with my favourite courses from first year.

Fun fact: I pour my milk before my cereal.  

 

 

 

(Short link to this page: http://uoft.me/gears)