How to do calculations fast?

[DocPanda]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Anyone have good tips to share about doing calculations fast? Are there specific things you look for in the passage to give you some hints or do you rely mainly on plug and chug? How do you prepare for calc heavy tests?

Thanks!

 

[theonlytycrane]

Keep getting comfortable with C/P formulas, such as:

V = IR
v = lambda * f
Work = F * d * cos(theta)

Then when you see a question stem talking about one of these things, you can grab relevant values from the passage quickly.

 

[DocPanda]

Keep getting comfortable with C/P formulas, such as:

V = IR
v = lambda * f
Work = F * d * cos(theta)

Then when you see a question stem talking about one of these things, you can grab relevant values from the passage quickly.

Are the calculation based questions on the real thing mainly plug and chug using multiple formulas? I guess my question is knowing the formulas well and knowing which ones can find certain values to be used in another formula sufficient to do the calculations in the P/C section on time.

 

[theonlytycrane]

A lot of the seemingly complex systems or passages can be simplified to a formula- so I would spend time knowing high-yield C/P concepts and also practice data interpretation.

If you're finished with content review, do the chem / phys q-packs and make sure you know all the relevant formulas used from those questions. Then do the C/P section bank.

 

[DocPanda]

A lot of the seemingly complex systems or passages can be simplified to a formula- so I would spend time knowing high-yield C/P concepts and also practice data interpretation.

If you're finished with content review, do the chem / phys q-packs and make sure you know all the relevant formulas used from those questions. Then do the C/P section bank.

I've done both already and I usually don't have too much issue figuring out which formulas to use. I'm just wondering if the calculations on the real thing can get more complicated than that.

 

[theonlytycrane]

You should be in good shape. Most of the systems can be simplified to a formula that we know. Or have questions that just rely on interpretation / critical thinking.

 

[DocPanda]

You should be in good shape. Most of the systems can be simplified to a formula that we know. Or have questions that just rely on interpretation / critical thinking.

Awesome! Thanks! I'll focus on really getting down the high yield formulas/concepts. Would you say buoyant force is one of those? I have not run into many questions on those..I think Bernoulli's was used for some artery passage.

 

[theonlytycrane]

Yes- buoyant force and bernoulli's should both be instant recall. Get a list together and drill daily until they are second nature.

Also, for things like buoyant force, make sure you conceptually understand what it is. It is the weight of the water that is displaced by some object.

For something like bernoulli's that is less "tangible", just memorize the equation and understand what it represents. It's conservation of energy for a fluid.

 

[sleepyhead22]

I put everything into scientific notation and that helped me a lot! It seems like it is harder at first, but it made doing complex division and multiplication easier. Might not work for you, but it made a huge difference for me.