My hardships with math and Physics I (where we didn't do much) comes full circle to kick me in the ass. I haven't understood more than a few words and concepts since the summer semester started.
Wooooo!
Wooooo!
Alright, time to fail Physics II!
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I have yet to take the Physics sequence, but what kind of math should I expect to have to use? Well, I know it is going to be algebra and trig based but what concepts from those are going to be visited the most? (i.e. using Law of Sines to find the speed of a car with a cop sitting off the side of the road and blah blah blah)
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Isn't physics 2 electricity, magnetism, optics/lenses? The hardest part for me was the different right hand rules until I devised my own f***** up versions of them, which, by the way, turns out to be completely impossible to teach to another human being. Have fun
I didn't understand Physics I and Physics II is building up from Physics I. I just don't understand any stinking thing.
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The never read a book until college. I struggled with Algebra when I started college, but managed to get an A in Physics. I'm uncertain of your situation, but what got me through was constantly studying, constantly asking questions, and keeping a positive attitude. If you study happily, your grades will reflect that. Don't give up!!
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Math is not the hard part about physics (even calculus based), the concepts are. If you need help with physics, do as many problems as you can. Students from my school used to do every problem in the back of the book. These students would clearly know their physics come test time and would kill the curve. Start with odd problems that you have answers for and then work on the even problems. Yes, this takes time. There are also websites out there like cramster.com that have all of the problems worked out for you to look at. These sites are especially useful if your school uses some crap program like webassign. Get tutoring, even if you are generally a good student. It's probably free at your school through some campus program. And if you are lucky enough to have some sort of physics resource center at your school, live there.
Yep, I put on the comments section that I'd be thrilled with a B to an A-. I'll AIM for the A, but he stated specifically no curve. For Physics I my average was an 84 which rounded up to an A. Here, if I get an 84 (B?) I'd **** my pants with joy!
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Keep studying. Keep working problems until your eyes bleed. It will definitely pay off on your transcript and when you study for the MCAT.
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EM starts out easy...and it gets really hard. Charges, Coulomb's Law, circuits, Kirchoff's etc. are probably the easiest parts, but it gets really confusing and analytic when you get to Law of Biot Savart, Gauss's Law, Ampere's Law, flux, and pretty much everything else towards the end of the course. I took it with calculus...I'm not sure how it is without calculus. But I imagine it's still pretty hard, because EM can be conceptually hard to grasp.
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And OP, if you are willing to spend the time, MIT has outstanding lectures of their entire EM course on their youtube page. I imagine most of it will correlate with what your university teaches. Well worth your time.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3omwHv3Cmog[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3omwHv3Cmog[/YOUTUBE]
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I'm taking physics II as well. No one can understand the professor because his asian accent is pretty thick. I teach my self everything... you can do it.
I'm struggling. I should be a chapter ahead and a good amount through my homework.
Instead I'm doubling back and getting them right because I remembered the answers! I will be floored and raped when I do the numerical problems. My teacher is really good, but **** everything about physics. I hate it with every fiber in my being. I cannot wait to be done with this.
Instead I'm doubling back and getting them right because I remembered the answers! I will be floored and raped when I do the numerical problems. My teacher is really good, but **** everything about physics. I hate it with every fiber in my being. I cannot wait to be done with this.
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I've yet to taken Physics II. I took Physics I and got an A but that was certainly no easy feat for me. As of now I'm taking Calculus 1...I'm putting everything I have into it and will probably end up with a C or C+ I HATE CALC wayyyy more than physics. Calc really isnt too hard conceptually but its just hardcore algebra on crack. One slip on a derivative then your plots on the graph are all wrong and forget about your second derivative and then absolutely everything is wrong and you have no idea. Whereas in Physics if you mess up occasionally with some logic you can see whether you're answer makes sense. Anyway, good luck man! Use youtube! Thats what ive been doing, its helped quite a bit. Way better lessons than the ones my prof gives.
On my calculus final I drew a cross eyed penguin with a lollipop for an answer. Another one? A cowboy with a ******ed horse grazing on a cactus.
I got an A-.
Math being my kryptonite is an understatement. Add it to a useless subject and blammo!
I got an A-.
Math being my kryptonite is an understatement. Add it to a useless subject and blammo!
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If this were a facebook status I would click "like" Our answers will probably parallel each other when I take my final. But unlike you I wont get an A-
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God damnit I hate physics. More power to you my friend. Took calc-physics II this semester, still in it, almost failed, now I have an A... wtf is going on? I sure as hell have no idea.
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Pfaction,
I have problems with math and even have a nonverbal learning disability but I did well in physics. I found it very helpful to pay special attention to the example problems in the text. Work through them and make sure you understand them before even starting the end of chapter problems. Always "draw a picture" for each and every problem.
Before each test I would re-work all the example problems and assigned problems at least 4-5 times. I found when I did this I started to recognize patterns in what equations to use for different problem types and how the equations were used. It was time consuming but worked for me.
I have problems with math and even have a nonverbal learning disability but I did well in physics. I found it very helpful to pay special attention to the example problems in the text. Work through them and make sure you understand them before even starting the end of chapter problems. Always "draw a picture" for each and every problem.
Before each test I would re-work all the example problems and assigned problems at least 4-5 times. I found when I did this I started to recognize patterns in what equations to use for different problem types and how the equations were used. It was time consuming but worked for me.
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This picture is from a friend of mine. I read your post and thought of this - I took it off his facebook.
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OP, if you are like me (which it sounds like you are) then Physics 2 is not gonna be easy, so don't take it lightly. I got all As in my pre-req courses except Physics 2 in which I received a C. The only reason I got an A in Physics 1 was because I knew how to study for the professor's tests. I didnt really understand much that semester. Physics 2 was even worse. I say all this to say that I honestly did not put in the effort. It was my senior year, my last semester before graduating, and I hated Physics more than anything so I didn't even try to learn it which resulted in me getting a C. I honestly felt lucky to even get the C. Like some people above said, those who did well in my class worked tons and tons of problems so be sure to do that. Good luck and dont make the same mistake I did (not even attempting to learn the material), because although I made it out of Physics 2 and my C is kinda overlooked because of my other pre-req grades, when it came time to study for the MCAT, I realized I should've payed attention in Physics.
I feel like crying. We're only four topics in and I'm hopelessly lost. I have 40's on homework, low grades in lab...I'm going to ask the teacher tomorrow about the test and whether HE thinks I can pass or not. I study at least 2-3 hours per day going over chapters and problems, and try to study ahead. Answer in class (usually wrong, but on the right track?)
Crying...but I'm gonna buck up and study the f out of this weekend. Straight.
Crying...but I'm gonna buck up and study the f out of this weekend. Straight.
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Yeah, I'm pretty scared of taking Physics. Is is comparable to Chemistry? I thought Gen Cem was kind of easy.
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I took calculus based physics I/II. Physics I is pretty easy as most of the concepts are straight forward. Physics II concepts are tougher because most students don't have any intuition for electricity and magnetism. A good example is the leading/lagging of current/voltage in AC circuits. Also, some of the math and mathematical techniques I used in physics II were difficult because I'd never seen them before (eg, surface integrals with Gauss's law.) Bu,t overall I really enjoyed physics. I found it to be slightly harder than general chemistry but much easier than organic chemistry.
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I'm a concept guy, so hopefully I'll get the hang of it.
Formula sheets are for whimps, and my prof never let us use one in Gen Chem.
Formula sheets are for whimps, and my prof never let us use one in Gen Chem.
Where in the balls does a B get rounded up to a freakin A??????
The pre-req physics is literally understanding 1 scenario, play with a bunch of variables, understand it some more, and talk about it.
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physics 2 is way easier than physics 1. and both were easier than gen chem IMO. hate gen chem.
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Don't like physics II topics? That is a shame. The MCAT really really likes them. 🙁
Do you want my honest opinion? Get the Examcrackers Physics book, they use these great analogies to compare certain phenomena with other studies. I did well in physics but I probably could have done better.
Do you want my honest opinion? Get the Examcrackers Physics book, they use these great analogies to compare certain phenomena with other studies. I did well in physics but I probably could have done better.
D
deleted393595
The best way for me was to sit down in a quiet room with my physics textbook and work out the formula derivations for EM (Gauss, Law of Biot Savart, etc.) until I could figure out what they intrinsically meant. Once I understood the formula, I got the concept and felt more comfortable on tests.
Although the math can be intimidating, it's easier to break it down into simpler parts. Like the surface integral sign in Gauss' Law can be scary, but if you realize that you're just finding the area over a simple surface like a sphere, you can simplify it down.
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This picture is from a friend of mine. I read your post and thought of this - I took it off his facebook.
Hahahaha!!!!
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This picture is from a friend of mine. I read your post and thought of this - I took it off his facebook.
Oh, I would totally do something like that.
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Now that is the kind of creative minds we have...
I'm also taking physics 2 this summer semester and the whole "chapter a day or two" is killing me...I've invested in cramster.com for the first time to get me through the homework (they explain it step by step AND it helps boost your grade if homework counts heavily like it does in my class). I also do every problem I can and check it against cramster.
I agree with you that the math is the hardest part for me. I haven't taken algebra since high school (think 10 years ago) and have no recollection on how to do some of this stuff.
I second the examkrackers suggestion (it's what's helping me) along with youtube videos to explain the concepts (if you have a prof like me who you can't understand and treats you like you're stupid when you ask a question).
good luck!
I agree with you that the math is the hardest part for me. I haven't taken algebra since high school (think 10 years ago) and have no recollection on how to do some of this stuff.
I second the examkrackers suggestion (it's what's helping me) along with youtube videos to explain the concepts (if you have a prof like me who you can't understand and treats you like you're stupid when you ask a question).
good luck!
I couldn't wait for physics II to be over! For me, optics was the easiest. I struggled with the part of E & M relating to gauss's law, lenz's law, etc. Physics II is significantly different from physics I in the sense that you can visualize concepts in physics 1 (a ball dropping from the sky, a box sliding down a ramp, a rope between two boxes, etc). This is not the case with physics ii. It's not exactly easy to visualize which way electrons will flow. So the key is to do a lot of practice problems to become familiar with the material. Physics II is also not as intuitive. Just do every problem you can find, eventually you will see the pattern.
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wow, I thought gen chem was waaaaay easier than physics. I hate physics with a passion. But I did think 2 was easier than 1.... although conceptually harder, I just never GOT kinematics. I guessed my way through an awesome amount of the mcat physics section. to each their own, though. no reason to get down on the poor kid 'cause he finds physics hard.
Well, my test is Tuesday. I'm honestly not feeling good at all. I read the textbook and did the problems, struggled but with the solutions manual I see where I went wrong. Doing OK...but the practice test my professor sent us...I did not do well at ALL.
at the title of this thread, I feel the same way!The further we get into this class the worse I feel. 2 weeks, (5 more labs?) 2 exams and 1 final left. The end cannot come fast enough.
Hang in there I'm sure you will do great in the end 🙂
