How to tackle Physics

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LikeDaniel

LikeDaniel

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Hello all,

I have never taken Physics of any sort (not even in High School). I'm signed up for it next semester and have been told by a couple friends and a mentor/professor that Physics is a different kind of beast. I would like to come out of the gate running. 🙂

How do you tackle Physics? Any differently from Chem or Bio? Anything I should pay special attention to in the beginning to save a lot of pain in the end? (Like stoichiometry in Chemistry)

Thanks!
-LD

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using SDN mobile
 
- Don't be afraid to use online resources such as YouTube, Khan Academy, and good 'ol Dr. Google.
- Also do tons of practice problems - from the textbook, from online question banks (google old exams and hw for whatever topic).
- Work smart, set reasonable weekly goals and stay on top of them
 
Physics is different, but don't worry. If you have basic critical thinking skills and can think logically, you'll be able to follow and learn from even a half-rate teacher. First semester Physics for non-physics majors is designed for a very broad range of students.

As a non-trad, knowing your resources ahead of time is more important than it is for people who have more flexible schedules and more time on their hands. This semester, I made a chart that listed all the office hours, study groups, tutorials, etc, for each class and put it right in my planner. Definitely doing that again next semester.
 
Moose A Moose said:
Practice problems about throwing rocks off of hills, seesaws, rockets, race cars and objects rolling downhill.
Click to expand...

A classmate and I used to try to concoct the most bizarre physics prompts we could. They all seemed so ridiculous.

An ant is traveling clockwise at 3 cm/s along the surface of a donut, which is rotating anticlockwise with an angular velocity of 2.54 cm/s, while sitting upon a serving tray that rotates clockwise at 1 cm/s during even hours and anticlockwise 1 cm/s during odd hours. Ignoring wind speed, how long will it take the ant to realize he's going in circles?
 
LikeDaniel said:
Hello all,

I have never taken Physics of any sort (not even in High School). I'm signed up for it next semester and have been told by a couple friends and a mentor/professor that Physics is a different kind of beast. I would like to come out of the gate running. 🙂

How do you tackle Physics? Any differently from Chem or Bio? Anything I should pay special attention to in the beginning to save a lot of pain in the end? (Like stoichiometry in Chemistry)

Thanks!
-LD

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

Physics is similar to gen chem in that both are largely about problem solving and many who struggle are struggling with the math and not the science. If gen chem was no problem for you, physics shouldn't be either. Just do lots of practice problems. If there is something to get comfortable with, it's vectors and the very basic trigonometry necessary for dealing with them.
 
Like others have said: khan academy, sometimes your textbook, but mostly your professor's notes. Its (probably) your professor that's gonna write the problems, so learn to think like the enemy. The enemy is trying to take your A away, and you mustn't let them.

How could the enemy try and trick you? If you were the enemy, what kind of twist would you put in the problem? What's the toughest, most ridiculous thing the enemy could concoct?

Always be 3 moves ahead of the enemy.

Result: A's for days
 
EODguy said:
Like others have said: khan academy, sometimes your textbook, but mostly your professor's notes. Its (probably) your professor that's gonna write the problems, so learn to think like the enemy. The enemy is trying to take your A away, and you mustn't let them.

How could the enemy try and trick you? If you were the enemy, what kind of twist would you put in the problem? What's the toughest, most ridiculous thing the enemy could concoct?

Always be 3 moves ahead of the enemy.

Result: A's for days
Click to expand...

And then ask that enemy for a LOR once you flank him/her and takeover the fort.
 
Amazon search for "Physics as a second language". Used that and the textbook for class only and did pretty well (tried going to class but professor was incompetent). As a second language is also available for OChem and was pretty descent. As other have mentioned, Khan for concepts is great, but practice questions are key to doing well.

Good luck


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
If you have decent calculus physics is a joke compared to any other premed course.

Failing that Khan Academy is a great resource. Honestly I get more out of his 15 minute videos that I do weeks on end with some professors.

backside_attack said:
How to tackle physics?

N = mg - F sin θ
Click to expand...

lolyes the hardest part of physics 1 right there.
 
I'd never taken physics before either, and I basically did practice problems until I puked. I went home from class every day, re-read my notes and the relevant book section if I needed clarification, and then did all the problems at the end of the chapter. I went to office hours every week as well. I would re-do all of the problems before exams too that way when my professor presented things in a new way I wasn't as thrown off. I ended up finishing physics 1 with a high A, and I'm awaiting my grade in physics 2 right now but I should finish around a 95% barring a catastrophe on the final. I really think doing tons of problems to get used to how formulas can be manipulated and concepts can be presented in different ways is key. Good luck!!
 
willow84 said:
I'd never taken physics before either, and I basically did practice problems until I puked. I went home from class every day, re-read my notes and the relevant book section if I needed clarification, and then did all the problems at the end of the chapter. I went to office hours every week as well. I would re-do all of the problems before exams too that way when my professor presented things in a new way I wasn't as thrown off. I ended up finishing physics 1 with a high A, and I'm awaiting my grade in physics 2 right now but I should finish around a 95% barring a catastrophe on the final. I really think doing tons of problems to get used to how formulas can be manipulated and concepts can be presented in different ways is key. Good luck!!
Click to expand...

There are like 5 equations for each test.

You just need to know what variables go where and do basic algebra.

If its really hard draw a picture.

Compared to biochem's endless memorization and "well...in this case"
 
Oh man, my formula sheet for each exam was a page. I wish we only had five!
 
Formula sheet is god. Tons of practice problems is the key from my experience. A good tip is to get any mcat prep book for physics and follow along to get the bigger picture
 
willow84 said:
Oh man, my formula sheet for each exam was a page. I wish we only had five!
Click to expand...

Yeah seriously... our exams were only 12 questions but no cakewalk and definitely took a full 90 minutes.. first 4, "basic algebra plug and chug," second 5, medium difficulty.. last 3. Super super ugly. If you think physics is all basic algebra/plug and chug, your teacher isn't doing it right.. I've seen some nasty physics problems
 
Same here, DarklingThrush. My professor takes great pride in that nothing is "plug and chug" about his exams.
 
None of my exams were plug and chug either. Its just that most of the concepts in Physics 1 are completely intuitive and most of the concepts in physics 2 only have a handful of rules.

MCAT physics is easier.
 
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DarklingThrush said:
Yeah seriously... our exams were only 12 questions but no cakewalk and definitely took a full 90 minutes.. first 4, "basic algebra plug and chug," second 5, medium difficulty.. last 3. Super super ugly. If you think physics is all basic algebra/plug and chug, your teacher isn't doing it right.. I've seen some nasty physics problems
Click to expand...

This is why algebra based physics does a disservice to students.
 
Do yourself a favor and take the algebra based physic courses. As for study tools, I used the 2,000-3,000 physics problems book on amazon. I literally spent like a 2 weeks going through the book. The class itself was a vacation.
 
Miami_Postbac said:
I tend to agree. Learning to take a derivative and an integral before physics allows you to focus exclusively on concepts. The concepts are not hard.

Memorizing the endless pages of equations that are easy inferences from calculus...why?
Click to expand...

Exactly. First, without calculus you have to fudge things to get the concepts, meaning you aren't getting a real deep understanding of the physics, which makes questions that require critical thinking hard to do. Second, the basic concepts from calculus required for intro physics are NOT hard. Learning some differential and integral calculus would make physics so much less about rote memorization and so much more about critical problem solving.
 
Miami_Postbac said:
I tend to agree. Learning to take a derivative and an integral before physics allows you to focus exclusively on concepts. The concepts are not hard.

Memorizing the endless pages of equations that are easy inferences from calculus...why?
Click to expand...

Well that all depends on the course and professor. I had the same prof for algebra based physics 1 and 2. It was a ton of equations, but we had our 6x8 cards so we didn't have to memorize endless pages of anything. Still had to understand and apply the concepts, use the correct formula, rearrange it to get the math right, sig figs, correct units, all that happy horsepile. Not exactly a cakewalk by any means. Several of the kids in class that did really well in calculus and chemistry had a rough time with physics.

Derivatives and integrals are just one way to get to a place. It's not that impressive at the end of the day. What's more important is the student understanding what's happening during and after that inelastic collision and why, or why the voltage drops a certain amount if the resistors are in parallel and another way if they are in series. If they can demonstrate that knowledge, then the course did its job. The math is just a tool.

I came from the flying world, so physics was fun for me. I was lucky to have had a lot of practical exposure to physics.
 
trev5150 said:
Well that all depends on the course and professor. I had the same prof for algebra based physics 1 and 2. It was a ton of equations, but we had our 6x8 cards so we didn't have to memorize endless pages of anything. Still had to understand and apply the concepts, use the correct formula, rearrange it to get the math right, sig figs, correct units, all that happy horsepile. Not exactly a cakewalk by any means. Several of the kids in class that did really well in calculus and chemistry had a rough time with physics.

Derivatives and integrals are just one way to get to a place. It's not that impressive at the end of the day. What's more important is the student understanding what's happening during and after that inelastic collision and why, or why the voltage drops a certain amount if the resistors are in parallel and another way if they are in series. If they can demonstrate that knowledge, then the course did its job. The math is just a tool.

I came from the flying world, so physics was fun for me. I was lucky to have had a lot of practical exposure to physics.
Click to expand...

That's not the same. If you understand the calculus, you don't need index cards. You also don't have to figure out when to use what formula, etc. Knowing the calculus gives a deeper understanding of what's going on and gives you the toolbox to be able to get what you need to solve the problems without memorizing formulae (or carrying an index card, which is the same thing).

And the point isn't that knowing calculus is impressive, it's that without it you are missing out. You can only get a superficial understanding without calculus, and you will be just doing algebra to get things to where you can plug and chug into a formula. That's not really understanding it, that's just knowing how to get to a place when you can solve the problem in a formulaic manner.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
This is why algebra based physics does a disservice to students.
Click to expand...

I've never understood this. What's the point of learning calc based physics? It's not relevant to the MCAT, med school, being a physician. Algebra physics seems more than enough for your typical pre-med undergrad student.

I took algebra based physics, memorized formulas, and moved on with my life. No advanced thinking needed.
 
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loved physics >>>>> any chem class. took the full year algebra-based sequence without any other classes while working 2 full time jobs. As x all 3 courses.
 
yanks26dmb said:
I've never understood this. What's the point of learning calc based physics? It's not relevant to the MCAT, med school, being a physician. Algebra physics seems more than enough for your typical pre-med undergrad student.

I took algebra based physics, memorized formulas, and moved on with my life. No advanced thinking needed.
Click to expand...

I didn't say calc based physics was relevant to being a physician, I said that having a superficial understanding of physics requires you to just memorize a bunch of formulae. That's not really understanding it and requires a bunch of extra work. But, since you bring it up, the kind of advanced thinking you use in calc and calc based physics is definitely applicable to being a physician. It's called critical thinking. I'm glad you did well, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't have benefited from it.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I didn't say calc based physics was relevant to being a physician, I said that having a superficial understanding of physics requires you to just memorize a bunch of formulae. That's not really understanding it and requires a bunch of extra work. But, since you bring it up, the kind of advanced thinking you use in calc and calc based physics is definitely applicable to being a physician. It's called critical thinking. I'm glad you did well, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't have benefited from it.
Click to expand...
I was under the assumption calc based physics was much harder. no? figure just make your life easier if med school is the final goal.

And I disagree learning calc based physics is going to make one iota of difference in one's doctoring abilities. pre reqs are simply obstacles to separate the pool, nothing more.
 
yanks26dmb said:
I was under the assumption calc based physics was much harder. no? figure just make your life easier if med school is the final goal.
Click to expand...

Eh. It's harder during the learning part, but if you learn the material, I think the tools you learn mitigate the difference in difficulty a bit.

And I disagree learning calc based physics is going to make one iota of difference in one's doctoring abilities. pre reqs are simply obstacles to separate the pool, nothing more.
Click to expand...

Agree to disagree. I think you might be misunderstanding me though. I'm not saying that physics or calc have anything to do with doctoring. I'm saying that the critical and logical thinking process you use is applicable. I used it all the time.

We had a patient come in with a pretty atypical presentation a couple weeks ago. One of the other providers couldn't get past the fact that it didn't fit the mold and almost presented the opposite of how it should. I was pretty certain about the dx, and we decided to send him to the hospital. The other provider wanted to send him because he didn't know what it was. I wanted to send him because I knew he needed a Doppler, anticoagulants, and IV abx.

Not trying to brag here or anything. And yes, you can totally learn critical thinking in med school and other courses. But (and having a math degree might make me biased), I think math gives a great foundation for that type of learning.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Agree to disagree. I think you might be misunderstanding me though. I'm not saying that physics or calc have anything to do with doctoring. I'm saying that the critical and logical thinking process you use is applicable. I used it all the time.
Click to expand...

I totally see where you are coming from and get it, but I do also think it is very possible to learn the same critical thinking skills in algebra based physics with the right professor and problems. I don't think algebra based physics has to be superficial. I feel like our tests were very heavy in the critical thinking department and it was very rare that I used a formula sheet on the test or homework. The point was to be able to see a problem and know how to derive an equation by yourself to be able to solve it. Plug and chug certainly doesn't allow for this, but there are plenty of algebra based physics problems that can be just as heavy in the critical thinking area as calc based.
 
DarklingThrush said:
I totally see where you are coming from and get it, but I do also think it is very possible to learn the same critical thinking skills in algebra based physics with the right professor and problems. I don't think algebra based physics has to be superficial. I feel like our tests were very heavy in the critical thinking department and it was very rare that I used a formula sheet on the test or homework. The point was to be able to see a problem and know how to derive an equation by yourself to be able to solve it. Plug and chug certainly doesn't allow for this, but there are plenty of algebra based physics problems that can be just as heavy in the critical thinking area as calc based.
Click to expand...

You can learn critical thinking from algebra for sure. But it's necessarily superficial because you are fudging the calculus so that you can do it algebraically. That's just how it is. I'm a math guy though, so of course I'm gonna say you'll get more out of a calc based course (it's true though!).
 
DarklingThrush said:
I totally see where you are coming from and get it, but I do also think it is very possible to learn the same critical thinking skills in algebra based physics with the right professor and problems. I don't think algebra based physics has to be superficial. I feel like our tests were very heavy in the critical thinking department and it was very rare that I used a formula sheet on the test or homework. The point was to be able to see a problem and know how to derive an equation by yourself to be able to solve it. Plug and chug certainly doesn't allow for this, but there are plenty of algebra based physics problems that can be just as heavy in the critical thinking area as calc based.
Click to expand...

You have limited time and mental energy.

Whatever is spent doing algebraic backflips to to the same finish line as taking a derivative is time that could be spent more fruitfully elsewhere, like on concepts
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Eh. It's harder during the learning part, but if you learn the material, I think the tools you learn mitigate the difference in difficulty a bit.



Agree to disagree. I think you might be misunderstanding me though. I'm not saying that physics or calc have anything to do with doctoring. I'm saying that the critical and logical thinking process you use is applicable. I used it all the time.

We had a patient come in with a pretty atypical presentation a couple weeks ago. One of the other providers couldn't get past the fact that it didn't fit the mold and almost presented the opposite of how it should. I was pretty certain about the dx, and we decided to send him to the hospital. The other provider wanted to send him because he didn't know what it was. I wanted to send him because I knew he needed a Doppler, anticoagulants, and IV abx.

Not trying to brag here or anything. And yes, you can totally learn critical thinking in med school and other courses. But (and having a math degree might make me biased), I think math gives a great foundation for that type of learning.
Click to expand...

In theory, I understand what you're saying. Taking harder, more critical thinking focused classes SHOULD mean better performance later on. Although, studies on this do not demonstrate that claim.

Undergraduate major is not correlated with specific levels of success in medical school. If MAJORS aren't correlated, I highly doubt calc based vs. algebra based physics is making a difference in medical school performance. There's a bunch of studies found on pubmed which illustrate this.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
That's not the same. If you understand the calculus, you don't need index cards. You also don't have to figure out when to use what formula, etc. Knowing the calculus gives a deeper understanding of what's going on and gives you the toolbox to be able to get what you need to solve the problems without memorizing formulae (or carrying an index card, which is the same thing).

And the point isn't that knowing calculus is impressive, it's that without it you are missing out. You can only get a superficial understanding without calculus, and you will be just doing algebra to get things to where you can plug and chug into a formula. That's not really understanding it, that's just knowing how to get to a place when you can solve the problem in a formulaic manner.
Click to expand...
Whatever you say bubba. I disagree.
 
yanks26dmb said:
In theory, I understand what you're saying. Taking harder, more critical thinking focused classes SHOULD mean better performance later on. Although, studies on this do not demonstrate that claim.

Undergraduate major is not correlated with specific levels of success in medical school. If MAJORS aren't correlated, I highly doubt calc based vs. algebra based physics is making a difference in medical school performance. There's a bunch of studies found on pubmed which illustrate this.
Click to expand...

Of long term performance I have zero doubt that taking calculus won't help you. Neither will most of the premed coursework.

Of your grade in physics 1 - which impacts your ability to get into medical school - I have little doubt that calculus will help you. I had calc and an A+ in physcs 1 was the easiest grade in my postbac.

Take simple kinematics

There are like 14 different algebra based formulas to memorize for simple kinematics.

Or f, f', and f'', all of which can be calculated from the other using calculus.
 
Miami_Postbac said:
Of long term performance I have zero doubt that taking calculus won't help you. Neither will most of the premed coursework.

Of your grade in physics 1 - which impacts your ability to get into medical school - I have little doubt that calculus will help you. I had calc and an A+ in physcs 1 was the easiest grade in my postbac.

Take simple kinematics

There are like 14 different algebra based formulas to memorize for simple kinematics.

Or f, f', and f'', all of which can be calculated from the other using calculus.
Click to expand...

I guess it comes down to personal preference then. Personally, I suck at math. Calc based anything is out of the question for me.

But putting it the way you just did, I'm even more convinced algebra based physics is the way to go, if for no other reason than building that memory early. So much of the first two years of med school is pure memorization. There are exams with 80+ drugs, another 40 bugs, and each drug/bug has like 4-7 seemingly random, discreet facts associated with it; which drug causes agranulocytosis? which bug is gram neg and also lactase positive but catalase negative? you get the idea.

Throw in 1000+ slides of path, histo, etc. on that same exam and you'll come to realize the first two years is about how much you can memorize, not how well you can critically think. This is why I always tell people medical school isn't hard in the sense that, for me at least, calculus or quantum physics is hard. It's just a ton of work and 60-70% rote memorization.
 
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Miami_Postbac said:
How does memorizing physics equations have anything to do with memorizing bugs/meds? Is there evidence that this is a skill that holds 2-4 years later.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd show up for tests, buff up on f, f', and f'" and take notes while listening to the Dubliners "Sick Note"

Click to expand...



They both involve relative rote memorization. I do believe studies show memory can be improved with repetition. Therefore, I would make the assumption that anything that utilizes rote memorization will help improve rote memorization in the long term.

Physics formulas and bug/drugs have nothing in common. The act of memorizing is the common denominator.
 
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