How To Get An "a" In Physics And Understand It???

[Miss155]

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Hi

I am not quite understanding physics that well and my teacher doesn't explain the material well nor gives us example problems. What can I do to understand it more and get an "A" in the class. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. Why aren't there forums for certain pre-med courses?

 

[Squat n Squeeze]

Just give up already. You'll get weeded out anyway by the end of the semester.

 

[quideam]

Read the book. Love the book. Sleep with your goddamn book. Oh, and do the practice problems.... 😛

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by Miss155
Hi

I am not quite understanding physics that well and my teacher doesn't explain the material well nor gives us example problems. What can I do to understand it more and get an "A" in the class. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. Why aren't there forums for certain pre-med courses?

Dont listen to Squat, he's a *****.

I find the best way to understand physics is to read the text and work through the problem sets from the book. If you get something wrong, don't just mark it wrong and move on, go back and look at the problem. Depending on the text, you might have a helpful solution manual.

And its always useful to study in groups. Not only do others often know how to solve problems you may not, but in teaching others what you know you reinforce your knowledge. Definitely helpful.

Yeah, most schools have cruddy physics teaching, the only thing to do is work through extra problems and work with classmates to try and understand the material. Good luck!

 

[superdevil]

And its always useful to study in groups.

i'm sorry, but i just can't agree with this. although it is sometimes true, often you will end up with at least one strong-willed, loudmouth buffoon who influences the direction of the entire study group. if you need input from others, i tend to recommend the more traditional approach of getting a tutor.

Yeah, most schools have cruddy physics teaching

now, i can ceratinly agree with THIS!!! at my univ., every single physics prof is approximately 750 million years old (most of them probably pre-date multicellular life) and have some deep-rooted, eternal hate for anyone youthful enough to chew with their original teeth. they're about as helpful as herpes.

definately read the book. also, find the walk-through example problems in the book and make love to them. enjoy! 😀

 

[Nutmeg]

My physics teacher used to give us the solutions to ~4 really hard problems per chapter, and just had us do them 4 times each until we understood the problem and the approach. A highly effective technique.

I also would second the skip the study group sentiment. Study groups are best for thing with a lot of memorization, because you can quiz eachother. Math and study groups don't mix.

 

[XCanadianRagwee]

Physics is PHUN...by far the easiest science classes I took...maybe cuz I'm so darn gifted in mathematics.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by Nutmeg
My physics teacher used to give us the solutions to ~4 really hard problems per chapter, and just had us do them 4 times each until we understood the problem and the approach. A highly effective technique.

I also would second the skip the study group sentiment. Study groups are best for thing with a lot of memorization, because you can quiz eachother. Math and study groups don't mix.

I guess it depends on the members of your study group then...

 

[Samus Aran]

Originally posted by superdevil
at my univ., every single physics prof is approximately 750 million years old (most of them probably pre-date multicellular life) and have some deep-rooted, eternal hate for anyone youthful enough to chew with their original teeth. they're about as helpful as herpes.

 

[Cerberus]

lots of practice problems and luck (some physics professors can make your life hell).

 

[JonnieQuest]

Originally posted by Miss155
Hi

I am not quite understanding physics that well and my teacher doesn't explain the material well nor gives us example problems. What can I do to understand it more and get an "A" in the class. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. Why aren't there forums for certain pre-med courses?

There are a few reasons for not understanding physics. i made these mistakes my first quarter in physics.

1. Premeds go into physics thinking it is biology and they can just memorize. wrong! you need to CONCEPTUALLY understand the material.

2. Ask questions--even dumb ones...because there are probably other premeds not understanding it. and sometimes what is confusing is just how they integrated or differentiated--so math based problems--rather than the physics itself.

3. Don't wait until the night before to do practice problems.

Physics is not a sprint...it's a marathon. so take the time to train yourself how to study for it. i took hard-core physics in college which kicked my butt first quarter but after I realized that I had to invest time into really grasping it, i ended up doing awesome. but it takes A LOT of effort. Good luck.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Do the homework and practice exams multiple times, and make use of your professor's office hours (or your TA's). These two things have helped me to do well in physics.

 

[vegangirl]

I'm kinda lucky cuz my fathers a physicist, so it was in the genes for me to get an A. But I recommend :

1. doing the problems until you are sick and can close your eyes
and see the equations.

2. Go to a Tutoriting Center at your school (if available)

3. Talk to a TA or grad student (just walk around the physics building and look for someone.)


Hope that helps.

Bona Fortuna🙂

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

I definitely agree with the poster above who said that most physics professors are ancient fossils who really have no clue how to teach. We have plenty of physics professors here who probably joshed around with Socrates, had a few beers with Plato, and were roomies with Sophocles in college. These professors are mostly emeritus though and don't really teach. The professors who teach our lower division physics courses are primarily researchers. I did pretty well in the Physics I course here because I used this study guide called The Portable TA: A Physics Problem Solving Guide (Volume I is for Physics I...Volume II is for Physics II). It's written by an author named Andrew Elby, he used to be a graduate student at UC Berkeley and the his problem solving guide is absolutely fantastic because he gives you great practice problems and then works them out for you, step-by-step (and doesn't leave anything out). You can find this book on Amazon.com. It basically taught me physics I and I stopped going to lecture after I purchased the book. I also recommend doing as many of the practice problems as you can and just go to office hours to check over your answers if your book doesn't have a good solutions manual. Best of luck to you!

 

[Amy B]

I wish I could help you. I NEVER understood anything in Physics ever. Even after $20 per hour tutor sessions. Don't assume you need an A and maybe that will help take some of the pressure off.

I got a B in part 1 and a gulp, C in part 2. Nothings has been said about it during my interviews.

The part that may hurt you if you don't understand it, is on the MCAT. Try reading the Kaplan and Princeton review parts about Physics. That did help me some what.

Good luck. I feel for you.

 

[yearningone]

I don't know if you've finished class yet or not, but if you haven't, hope is not lost.

I'd recommend forming a small study group. If you don't understand something have someone who figured it out explain it to you. If you still don't understand something, have someone else try again. Then work through the problems similar to it until you can confidently answer how and why you reach an answer.

Physics is fun. I know I'm crazy for saying so, but it is. Good luck with it!

yearningone

 

[ATPase]

I suggested this to someone in a post the other day - get an MCAT review book like Kaplan or Princeton Review. This is a really useful addition to your textbook because it breaks everything down to the essential concepts and provides extra practice problems. The more sources you can learn from, the better.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Step 1. Make sure you're taking algebra-based physics and not calculus-based physics. Unless your degree requires it, calc-based isn't required for the MCAT or medical school.

Step 2. If you're screwing up in the algebra, repeat 9th grade.

Step 3. Understand the material and how stuff interacts.

Step 4. Don't memorize 100 different formulas. Memorize the roots. Combined with conceptual understanding, you can combine or derive any formula for any problem from just the root formulas.

Example:

m1v1+m2v2=(m1+m2)v

Is just:

p1+p1=p', where p=mv

That's one of the easier ones.

 

[BananaSplit]

I loved physics too!

One of my friends kicked my butt during every chem test, but bombed our first physics test, so she ended up doing every problem in the text (whether it was assigned or not) and voila! Her scores went up dramatically. Sometimes, you just have dig in and hope for the best.

With that said, there is also the Portable TA by Elby which is helpful for some people. Good luck!

In terms of study sessions, I think they work pretty well. My physics class had a designated classroom to let tstudents meet and discuss physics problems together. Every day, for a couple of hours, there was a GSI there to help out if there was something we couldn't figure out ourselves.

 

[bella_dottoressa]

My physics prof was terrible...I went to HALF of a lecture the entire quarter...but got an A- in the class...book and practice problems was how i worked it...not a single lecture note...although maybe they would've helped me get a regular A instead of an A- 😉

 

[dankev]

Yes, most physics profs are horrible, but that's why you have lab. Spend lab time and office hours with your lab TA. TAs are usually much better at explaining this stuff because they actually remember learning it. They are also usually much more willing to spend time with you. Good luck!

 

[Ragzpie]

Hey,

I find the best way to learn physics is to think about what you have learned and apply to situations that you observe. For example, when driving, you can think about why trucks take longer to accelerate or why it is such a pain in the butt to merge when the a**hole in front of you stops on an exit ramp to look for an opening in traffic.

Happy daydreaming!

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

As weird as it may sound, mythili's strategy would actually help you conceptually understand physics. For instance, if you walk down a street and see a skater using a ramp...why is it that the skateboard stops for a split second once it reaches the top of the ramp (before sliding back down again)? If you go to the park (or maybe even a grassy part of your campus), you might see some people chucking around a football. This can easily be thought of in terms of projectile motion (assume the football behaves like any perfectly round ball...in reality, this isn't the case..but it simplifies everything).

 

[Miss155]

Hi

Thanks, all your advice has been really helpful. I will do loads of practice problems plus buy the portable TA. Thanks.