Is mcat Physics all about remembering formulas?

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Or is it more about applying broad concepts like the laws of thermodynamics? Or will the majority of equations be given in passages?

If not how do you manage to remember all of these formulas?

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[chillaxbro]

From my experience, memorizing formulas isn't all that important
Of course you should know the obvious ones like f=ma, V = IR, the basic motion equations etc

There's probably like 10 in total I think you should memorize but you should probably know them already from taking physics without having to sit down and memorize them

 

[TheShaker]

I think you're going to have to memorize more than 10. I found myself memorizing ~20 equations after a while but this came naturally as I kept doing practices. Just remember, they don't have to give you the equation and anything can happen on the real test.

 

[lolcat]

Learning formulas wasn't really a problem for me because I understood the units, which I think is a very important aspect to understand when it comes to physics. Once I understood that, everything was intuitive. So I feel that understanding the fundamentals and concepts is more important, because once you understand that, most of the formulas will be intuitive. I'm a visual learner so Khan Academy videos really helped me in this aspect. Sal really breaks everything down fundamentally, which makes harder concepts easier to grasp. Obviously, there will be a few topics that are much harder to understand, but if you are weak in these areas just practice more so they become easier to you.

 

[illinichief89]

memorizing the formulas is only 1/3 the battle. Really understanding how to use them is another 1/3. You need to know the formulas to answer some conceptual questions too because they will tell you how a variable changes in response to another change in a different variable.

I think remembering all the equations became easier when I practiced with calculation problems. Examkrackers gives you all the equations you need to know and nothing else, which I liked compared to Kaplan books that I used and those provided too many equations. Examkrackers 1001 Physics is really great for quick physics problems to do. i just ripped out the answers in the back and did questions and checked the answers as I went along. It was probably the most helpful practice for me. Once you get down all the equations and understand how to use them then you can move onto AAMC tests and other full length tests and learn how to extract only the necessary information from the passage. That is the last 1/3 of learning the physics.

Bernoulli's equation is long and people hate to memorize it, but I understood it as a "conservation of pressure." That really helped me remember the equation. Also Bernoulli's looks like it has a "kinetic pressure" term and "potential pressure" term, (1/2pv^2) and pgz respectively. I think those terms look alot like Kinetic energy and potential energy terms, so thats one way I remember those to terms. Then there is the constant pressure, P, which is easy to remember.
So,
P + (1/2pv^2) + pgz = Constant. The entire right side of the equation is the same thing just remember that its a different a different point in a pipe, so each term will have different values, but they add together to equal the left side of the equation because "pressure is conserved."

 

[gtbROX]

Instead of focusing on memorizing formulas, I recommend going through the PR physics book reading the chapters with a pen in hand and a notebook under it. Actively read through it, and do all the example problems. Whenever you get a physics problem wrong on the practice tests, go to the physics book and do the section relating to that problem over again.

I find that doing this helps me remember formulas and remember important concepts.

 

[Cinclus]

It's mainly about really, really understanding some basic physics concepts. That's why I found Nova's The MCAT Physics Book so helpful.

 

[Juxxtaposition]

I feel like if you really understand the concepts, the formulas kind of go naturally and there is less memorization needed. For example, you will notice that about like 5 equations are really variations/derivatives of/etc. F=ma or some other fundamental formula.

 

[imbackasd]

I think its more about manipulating formulas. Knowing what a change in one variable does to another etc.

 

[BABSstudent]

For me, memorizing the formulas was step 1 of my process. Then I learned how to apply the formulas and then finally how to use them. I made sure I memorized every formula presented in TPR physics section and I am happy I did. I had one of the very calculation based PS sections. If I hadn't memorized and worked with those formulas so much, I don't think I would have scored as well as I did/will. I get my scores back in like two days.