Feel absolutely screwed for Physics

[deleted862527]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Taking Physics now. My prof isn't the best and I'm freaking out. We get absolutely no homework assigned, and he walks in with a wing-it attitude teaching what he feels like and teaching what he doesn't feel like. (ex he'll say: "Well, because I am tired, I am only going to teach [x]" Barely learned anything so far. This is very frustrating to me. I have an exam soon and idk what to do with it or how to prepare for it. We don't use the book whatsoever. Absolutely NO homework assignments and any notes we take in class he takes them and he grades them and I'm still waiting to get my notes back so in the meantime I have to take a photo of them. Any advice?? When I study, I usually try to understand how everything relates with one another so I can feel confident in my answer, but he gives us a situation and tells us to find out the answer to just 'plug in the formula' without telling us what the formula means. Wtf? I feel like this is High School where I didn't learn anything at all and I don't know how to approach these problems whatsoever. I never had a class like this so laid back and that's what is worrying me.

The notes in class are just examples. Nothing direct, sophisticated, or conceptual.

 

[mdhopeful77]

I'm a very visual learner, so that would be very frustrating to me as well. While I have not had any professors that have gone to quite the extreme that yours is, I find that I am able to fill in the gaps in my learning very well by watching educational YouTube videos. Luckily, physics is a pretty mainstream course, so I would suggest looking at YouTube and finding a channel on there that teaches in a style that works best for you. Personally, I really like CrashCourse and Professor Dave as I feel they do a great job at explaining concepts in a simple manner and providing helpful visuals to go along with the lesson. Best of luck!!

Sent from my SM-G950U using SDN mobile

 

[deleted862527]

I'm a very visual learner, so that would be very frustrating to me as well. While I have not had any professors that have gone to quite the extreme that yours is, I find that I am able to fill in the gaps in my learning very well by watching educational YouTube videos. Luckily, physics is a pretty mainstream course, so I would suggest looking at YouTube and finding a channel on there that teaches in a style that works best for you. Personally, I really like CrashCourse and Professor Dave as I feel they do a great job at explaining concepts in a simple manner and providing helpful visuals to go along with the lesson. Best of luck!!

Sent from my SM-G950U using SDN mobile

Thanks. I'll try. I do feel as though I will get an F on this upcoming test. Maybe he scales or something.

 

[ciestar]

He takes your notes? What in the world...

Try Khan Academy. Use the practice questions in your book. Hell, get an MCAT physics books and see if that helps.

I hated physics. I had a hard time with it conceptually.

 

[mk536]

Your strategy here has to be self-teaching, whether via YouTube lectures or reading a textbook (or using a free online course- coursera/edx should have something) and doing practice problems (from textbooks, online sources, etc.). That last bit is key. Whatever method you use, you need to be doing a ton of practice problems. Going over your notes from class a bunch likely won't help much (though your teacher sounds lazy enough that those examples you did in class may very well be recycled as test questions, so it might be worthwhile learning to regurgitate some of those...).

I'd also recommend going to office hours, ideally with a TA to avoid your professor (but even to your professor if there's no TA). If you've been doing practice problems on your own, you can get help or feedback on where you've gotten stuck, or get him to teach you any concepts you've failed to understand after self-study.

If you're short on time to study for this test, I'd prioritize 1) be able to recreate examples from class and 2) practice problems for the topics you've covered, only reviewing concepts if you're getting all the problems for a topic wrong.

 

[deleted862527]

Thanks everyone for the advice! Really appreciate it.

 

[deleted862527]

A few thoughts and things that need to be accepted
1) You will be getting nothing out of this professor, accept it now
2) get the text and solutions manual and work thru every problem in chapters on syllabus or not.
3) Do each problem twice and understand HOW to do them. In other words develop a method
4) Get a few other resources, like Khan or an Open Course, and a review guide
5) work with a friend or partner

Thank you for your advice. In all honesty, I do feel very anxious regardless. It's almost like a pathetic guessing game to find out what is relevant and that what I study outside of class will hopefully appear on the exam.

 

[Wiesal]

Grading notes? wtf

 

[deleted905755]

I totally feel you on this man. I'm taking physics now as well (sophomore year) and my professor is the worst. Good news for me is that she gets all exam questions from the textbook so I'm able to self-teach using that. Hopefully, you can find a strategy to succeed in the course like me. We'll get through this, my man! Hang tight!