As students, you are required to study mathematics, science, and engi- neering with the purpose of being able to apply that knowledge to the solution of engineering problems. The skill here is the ability to apply the fundamentals of these areas in the solution of a problem. So how do you develop and enhance this skill? The best approach is to work as many problems as possible in all of your courses. However, if you are really going to be successful with this, you must spend time analyzing where and when and why you have dif- ficulty in easily arriving at successful solutions. You may be surprised to learn that most of your problem-solving problems are with mathematics rather than your understanding of theory. You may also learn that you start working the problem too soon. Taking time to think about the prob- lem and how you should solve it will always save you time and frustra- tion in the end. What I have found that works best for me is to apply our six- step problem-solving technique. Then I carefully identify the areas where I have difficulty solving the problem. Many times, my actual deficiencies are in my understanding and ability to use correctly certain mathematical principles. I then return to my fundamental math texts and carefully re- view the appropriate sections, and in some cases, work some example problems in that text. This brings me to another important thing you should always do: Keep nearby all your basic mathematics, science, and engineering textbooks.