For all those who have taken physics....

Canez81 · Jun 14, 2005

im taking physics w/calc and have totally bombed the 1st test, its kicking my ass. i understand the concepts well and the formulas, but when it comes to solving problems and setting them up, i totally blank out and feel really stupid. Personally this is the toughest class ive taken yet. Did anyone out there start off finding it difficult? For those of you who did well, how did you go about being successful in the class?

shiraz84 · Jun 14, 2005

Get a study group going. Do practice problems together so that you know exactly how to apply those concepts and formulas to different kinds of problems. A week before the test, do more problems (on your own this time) and give yourself a time limit so you know how to manage time well when taking a test. Good luck.

DoctaJay · Jun 14, 2005

I recommend you don't take physics with calculus. Thats class is geared for engineering majors. Once you are done with Physics, you won't see it again. If you just like Physics and math like that, then I guess you should keep taking it. But some of my friends who I knew to be math whizzes had difficulty on the tests. Just make sure you are taking it because you really like it, not because it might look good. A 14 on your PS section on your MCAT and an A in Physics looks alot better.

liverotcod · Jun 14, 2005

Despite reasonably good math skills, I also found calc-based physics hard. Especially second semester. First semester was all about getting the trig down enough that it came naturally. If you can't look at a ramp-and-weight problem and immediately see where the forces are acting, and where to apply your sines and cosines, then you need more practice.

Electromagnetism was harder.

Iwy Em Hotep · Jun 14, 2005

Physics is all about doing lots of problems.

ShyRem · Jun 14, 2005

I actually never took a single note throughout calc-based physics and sat in class knitting. Yes, knitting. And got solid A's in both semesters. I was ahead in my math tho (being a math major)... Most people in class had a hard time. Do a search - there is quite a bit of advice about how to tackle physics problems. To summarize:

1. Think like an idiot. Physics isn't there to create new laws of nature - it's there to explain what you already know happens.
2. Draw a picture.
3. Write a list of EVERYTHING the problem gives you.
4. Write a list of what you need to solve for (there might be more than one thing).
5. Write a list of equations that relate #3 and #4.
6. Plug 'n chug.

I say #1 because (and this is true) when given a problem about the trajectory of a ball when thrown horizontally by a person standing on the ground, 75% of all college graduates that have taken physics say the ball will make a straight line down to the ground, forming a perfect triangle pattern from feet to hand to ball landing spot. These people did not remember rule #1.

I recommend you form a study group. Many people in my class had great success when they attended study group sessions.

liverotcod · Jun 14, 2005

Excellent! But knitting gives me approximately the same amount of trouble as physics. What did you knit?

stifler · Jun 14, 2005

i just bombed my first test too in physics. i feel like crap.

Canez81 · Jun 14, 2005

i had the most trouble with projection motion problems when given a height and distance of where a ball landed, and being asked to find the initial velocity, time, and final velocity ::what a headache:: also forces on an angle had me like WTF??? im hating physics! its very discouraging because i studied 8-10 hours for the past 5 days and still failed...im lucky that the test dont count for much of the overall grade

stifler · Jun 14, 2005

wtf that was like my exact same test and that was like the problem i knew how to answer lol. anyways yea cept my counts 30% and i bombed it so i might drop it

Canez81 · Jun 14, 2005

i have 3 test that each count 27% and the rest comes from online HW, so i can bounce back hopefully. its still frustrating to bomb the test after so much studying

Flopotomist · Jun 14, 2005

I am by no means a math person (I was a philospophy major) and yet I managed to get an A in Physics with calc. Here are a few ideas (good luck!)

1. Form a study group - this is a MUST. Like doing crossword puzzles, physics works better when you can bounce ideas off of others. Do 80% of your studying in this group.

2. Work TONS of problems. Repetition is key, soon you will be happy to see the ramp problem or the ball throwingn problem because you have seen it so many times before.

3. Realize that you are NOT Newton. This means, you do NOT have to invent or discover some new way to do a problem, you just have to figure out which simple way you already know can be used to find the solution. In other words, learning when to apply which formula is the challenge, and this ability comes from #2 above.

4. Make sure that you never leave a lecture without understanding what was just lectured on. Meet with the instructor immediately after class if possible to get clarification on concepts that are not clear. Try to ask yourself about every 10 minutes or so DURING lecture "What did I just learn?" If you can not answer the question, make a note that you need to clarify whatever was just covered.

5. ASK QUESTIONS IN CLASS. This is the hardest advice to follow, but believe it or not, if you are not understanding something, it is VERY likely that there are a few others not understanding as well. You paid good money to take the class, so get what you paid for and MAKE THE INSTRUCTOR EARN HIS/HER PAY by answering your question. There are no stupid questions in Physics.

6. Use the lab to help you visualize abstract concepts. So often, labs in the sciences are excercises in following a cookbook like recipe and jotting down some meaningless results to get points for a lab write up that teaches you nothing. RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO JUST WHIP OUT YOUR LAB REPORTS. Use the lab as a means of tying together the lecture with the real physical world. You will then find that during a test, you can use your memory of a lab to help you find a solution to a test question. Work on your lab write up DURING the lab so that all formulas and equations are actually tied to what you are doing.

7. Recognize that there is not THAT much calculus in calc based physics. You can safely just understand the general concept of a differential or an integral without the ability to do super tricky manipulations of them. Most of these manipulations have already been done, and you just need to memorize them (see rule #3)

8. Good Luck, let us know how you are doing!

Canez81 · Jun 15, 2005

thanks alot flopotomist, great advice. its encouraging to get input from others who have taken the class.

KudosLaLa · Jun 15, 2005

Totally agreed.

Arsenic · Jun 15, 2005

go see the prof, maybe he could help you see the way to attack the different types of problems - thats what they are there for.

besides that... practice practice practice....

hb2998 · Jun 15, 2005

Mechanics really sucked for me, and it sounds like your taking mechanics. Wait it gets more interesting, some people say harder, but I found it to be easier.

If you can't do a problem, do 3 more like it. If you still can't do it, do every problem in the chapter. The books are usually set up so that concepts are attacked in order the topics are presented in the chapter. Usually a twist is presented after a few easy problems to get you to think about the concept. Doing every problem in the book will show you 95% of the twists (depends how imaginative your professor is). These books aren't in version 5, 8 or 10 for no reason. They go through what problems to put in, or take out during every revision.

When your taking a test, RELAX. You have enough time to finish the problems, Don't rush any problem. Don't panic and write down formulas randomly . Save yourself time by working out the problems with variables then plug in at the end. (And if you don't have time, just write down, plug-n-chug a=122.22 v=232.21 etc. Lots of partial credit, if not all points!)

I haven't taken non calc based physics so I can't comment, but even in the calc based physics class I've taken there is little use of calc during the exams. They just use calc to derive formulas, and it really does make physics make sense. Don't give up. I used to hate Physics. Do more problems, be confident when going to the test.

americanangel · Jun 15, 2005

I took calc based physics and I found second semester a lot harder then first semester...First semester I was able to practice so many problems until it became routine, but second semester if you don't understand the concept it makes setting up the problem extremely difficult. The math itself isn't that bad, but understanding how to set up the problems make physics difficult. My advice to you: talk with your professor, work lots and lots of problems, i bought the Schwamm (sp?) College Physics and a couple of AP physics books from Barnes and Noble and they helped a lot. The AP books really helped with the concepts.
Good Luck :luck:

zhaf86 · Jun 15, 2005

i started getting better at phys once i stopped reading the textbook too much. instead i turned my attention to
i) doing more and more problems
ii) reading through model solutions for problems
iii) being very, very familiar with formulae

often after doing i) and ii) and subsequently returning to the textbook, i'd comprehend very much more.

ShyRem · Jun 15, 2005

Oh, in physics I did two sweaters. I've got stacks and stacks of blankets of all sizes from baby to supersize king that I've knitted, shawls and lap throws, and right now I'm working on a shrug - kindof a cross between a sweater and a stole/shawl - in dark blue cashmere (got it on sale - $6 for a 4000 yd 1 pound cone!)

Should probably finish the counted cross stitch picture I'm working on, too. Hmm... and make skinny peanut wafer cookies for my vacation.

CanIMakeIt · Jun 15, 2005

The only thing that will keep you floating in Physics is practice! practice! practice! 'nef said..... What I did was I did all the problems at the end of the chapter and the topics I didn't understand well I would find as many additional problems that I could on that particular topic and hammer them .... Hope it helps

Caristra · Jun 15, 2005

I totally feel your pain here. I bombed my first exam in physics because I had not taken physics in high school and had no background at all. However, I am not the kind of person to give up and you shouldn't be either. By the end of the course I got an A+ and the professor is still trying to convince me to become a physics professor. So there is hope!!

Here's what I did:
1) I read ahead. I always read the chapter and tried to do the homework before lecture
2) Problems. I did more than the assigned homework. I did every chapter in the book. I turned it into a fun project by creating an answer key to the entire book. It was worthwhile and my friends were very grateful to have an answer key when they took physics.
3) A group is good, but try and study the work before you get to the group. If you are the one who has to explain you will remember more. I only fully understood a problem once I had defended my solution before vigorous opposition. (try to get intelligent people in the group, you learn tons from their questions) If the group starts to be unproductive because people are more interested in talking etc then leave. Don't waste time.
4) This is something particular to me: I actually made demonstrations of everything I did not understand in the text. One slinky and a couple of spinning wheels later, I understood waves, torque, you name it.
5) LOVE THE SUBJECT! This was the one thing I learned from my professor. I do not think anyone can really teach you physics, its all about doing the problems, but he was just so infectiously in love with physics that I could not help but love physics myself. If it is fun for you it becomes less of a chore.

I tutor physics now and different people need to attack problems differently. Just write out everything you know, draw pictures, write down whatever equations you have and break down what is happening in the problem. Be comfortable not being able to get a solution in one or two steps. Sometimes it takes five steps. And always always always remember your components!

Best of luck.

Hakashi · Jun 15, 2005

Integrals of trig functions are not hard.....

What is the problem?

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