One small step for D712...

[doctor712]

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I've never come on SDN to give myself kudos, ever, but I have to say how thrilled I was, after waiting one week for my Physics prof to post grades, to see a 98 staring back at me! 😀

I'm thrilled because it's Physics, and on day one of committing to this pre-med/med/PGY-1 to PGY X thing we call "the path", Physics has been my concern. Not chemistry (until I got to Gen Chem II 🙂) or Bio surely, or Genetics. Physics, physics, physics.

I'm not sure why, I've always really enjoyed math. Being a non-trad though, those breaks in studying math can really harm you, you can quickly forget whether you add or multiply exponents when multiplying X to the x. And this is why you take your pre-reqs in order. Still though, not very friendly to the way I think. You can't see the car traveling X in this direction. Sure, you can draw a diagram, but it's not the same as when you see the heart and say, "oh, structure a is there." And when things get more complicated than cars shooting off in 2D planes, well, I know I'll have to try even harder.

Anyway, this year has been really tough for me, on many fronts, so I needed this boost, this confidence maker, and I'm really excited. June 1, 2010 is really close now, MCAT studying needs to start in earnest soon, time is going to fly by, eye on the ball, aye?

For anyone who is struggling with Physics, not that I'm an expert by any stretch of the imagination, my advice would be to a) attend your school's SI/discussion section b) practice problems until you feel ill and know them like the back of your hand c) cut back on any NON-critical ECs, especially if they are impinging on your study time d) seriously, when you feel like going out to the movie the Sunday before the exam, practice problems all day. Believe me, I have two boys who want to swim at the beach during the weekend, it's not easy. I wanted to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with them last weekend, my non-trad parents understand. But I had to study. So, we'll see the movie Friday night...

My prof isn't using a book, lectures only, so, when all those students in class were struggling with doing questions, and complaining about "not having a book", I had checked out a Physics I book from the library and had tons of problems and answers!

Now, the Organic I exam in a week, let's see how that goes.

Any other Physics success stories out there?

D712

p.s. please have a peak at my MDapps as I'm curious to get more folks' opinions...

 

[physicsguy]

Heh, I'm actually a victim of my own success in physics. I went all the way and started making a career out of it before I recognized it wasn't the right choice.

But actually, it often surprises me that most people have trouble in physics. I, on the other hand, tend to struggle more with biology and chemistry, because they require memorization to a far greater extent than in physics. I almost never have to memorize anything in physics because I can just derive it. But nomenclature, reaction mechanisms, the parts of a cell, etc., are things that I have to study especially hard to understand.

Perhaps we could trade advice on how to study for these vastly different subjects.

 

[doctor712]

That's interesting. I don't necessarily enjoy rote memorization, but I find it easier than deriving equations and plugging and chugging. If you drop an exponent without thinking, the entire equation can be wrong; when, odds are, you're not going to misspell Meiosis, if you get my drift. 😀 And even if you do..!

But anyway, I think people tend to avoid, ironically, reviewing and studying materials that they are fearful of. Myself included. It took me a long time to try and break that habit. In other words, I'd sit there and review Mitosis when I knew it front and back, feeling as if I were reinforcing it and now I know it REALLY well. When all the while, I should have really been spending my time on Krebs Cycle, which I didn't know well, for example. We get into a
circle of protection, when in fact, it's poor studying.

But yeah! Let's get some study tips flowing. 👍

As for making career decisions and finding ourselves pre-med, well, have a look at my MD apps; I'm 36, let's not go there. 😉


D712

 

[physicsguy]

That's interesting. I don't necessarily enjoy rote memorization, but I find it easier than deriving equations and plugging and chugging. If you drop an exponent without thinking, the entire equation can be wrong; when, odds are, you're not going to misspell Meiosis, if you get my drift. 😀 And even if you do..!

That's true, I guess there is a bit more room for error. I just hope I don't have any multiple choice exams in ochem I this Spring. 🙂

But anyway, I think people tend to avoid, ironically, reviewing and studying materials that they are fearful of. Myself included. It took me a long time to try and break that habit. In other words, I'd sit there and review Mitosis when I knew it front and back, feeling as if I were reinforcing it and now I know it REALLY well. When all the while, I should have really been spending my time on Krebs Cycle, which I didn't know well, for example. We get into a
circle of protection, when in fact, it's poor studying.

I think I have been guilty of this in the past. Thanks for pointing this out.

As for making career decisions and finding ourselves pre-med, well, have a look at my MD apps; I'm 36, let's not go there. 😉

Heh, fair enough.

Anyway, my best suggestion for physics is to do as many problems as possible, even if this means skimping on reading the book. As an undergrad I don't think I ever read a complete chapter in my physics books, rather I used the books as references when doing the problems. Another thing I did was solve the problems in symbolic form before plugging in numbers. This is actually hugely beneficial in terms of providing intuitive understanding into the physics principles. Back when I was TA I used to write my quizzes with no numbers...I think it made my students hate me, but they did better, and I noticed that even when they got something wrong it was easier to elucidate what their lack of understanding was.

 

[BennieBlanco]

Hey you two. This is why they created PMs.

 

[doctor712]

Bennie,

The advice included in my post is meant for SDNers and non-trads at large, it's in the proper forum. Same with any study advice, if/any we ultimately post within this thread.

D712

 

[clausewitz2]

While not a physicist, I have basically been going through physics this past while doing what physicsguy recommends; using the textbook to look up the equations I'll need to solve the problems I slog through systematically. Once you've done enough of them (at least for the non-calc baby physics that is required for med school), it becomes difficult for your instructor to throw anything at you that you don't recognize as an old friend.

Except when they do the numbers wrong on a final exam, and you're convinced that you don't understand anything because the force due to static friction is causing the box to fly into the air, and the TA doesn't immediately believe that they messed up.

However, I did have to read the chapter on ray optics several times before it began to make sense, largely because it's so dependent on trig. My triangle-fu is weak.

 

[doctor712]

This week keeps getting better! I just found out "my" paper was accepted in a MAJOR medical journal - and I'm first author. Now that's just amazing! 🙂🙂🙂🙂

D712

 

[PunkmedGirl]

I'm taking physics too and so far its not going that well (C- on the first exam). Is there any specific book I should get to do practice problems in?? My professor is really all over the place (really nice guy though), lectures are not really lectures and he really doesn't teach out of the book either. I really want an A in this class (he drops the lowest test grade) so I need some help in succeeding. And all of the tutors at my school are chemistry oriented and are not very helpful with physics😕 LOL. Any advice??

 

[physicsguy]

I'm taking physics too and so far its not going that well (C- on the first exam). Is there any specific book I should get to do practice problems in?? My professor is really all over the place (really nice guy though), lectures are not really lectures and he really doesn't teach out of the book either. I really want an A in this class (he drops the lowest test grade) so I need some help in succeeding. And all of the tutors at my school are chemistry oriented and are not very helpful with physics😕 LOL. Any advice??

Yes, actually. There's a book series called Schaum's Outlines, and if you just look at this section in the bookstore there will be one on physics, written appropriate to the level of physics that you're in (i.e. algebra or calculus based). This book will contain problems and (more importantly) fully worked out solutions. As I said earlier, physics problems are very formulaic in that there is really only a small set of fundamental problems that they could possibly throw at you, and all the variety you see is really just permuations on this basic foundation. So no matter what your professor's personal test-writing preferences are, these books ought to be pretty helpful. Also, if you run into homework problems that you can't solve, you can find a similar problem in Schaum's, and see how it's done. But I don't recommend simply copying this into your homework assignments to get the points. Physics homework is usually only a very small portion of the grade, and most professors use it to force you to study for exams. So it's in one's best interest to use the homework for its intended purpose, because this results in higher exam scores.

A random thought I had is that perhaps it might be helpful to look to MCAT problems as a source of practice problems for physics and chemistry, especially seeing as how we're all going to be taking the MCAT anyway. I'll be taking ochem I in the Spring; anyone know if this is a good way to study for ochem tests?

 

[doctor712]

Yes, actually. There's a book series called Schaum's Outlines, and if you just look at this section in the bookstore there will be one on physics, written appropriate to the level of physics that you're in (i.e. algebra or calculus based). This book will contain problems and (more importantly) fully worked out solutions. As I said earlier, physics problems are very formulaic in that there is really only a small set of fundamental problems that they could possibly throw at you, and all the variety you see is really just permuations on this basic foundation. So no matter what your professor's personal test-writing preferences are, these books ought to be pretty helpful. Also, if you run into homework problems that you can't solve, you can find a similar problem in Schaum's, and see how it's done. But I don't recommend simply copying this into your homework assignments to get the points. Physics homework is usually only a very small portion of the grade, and most professors use it to force you to study for exams. So it's in one's best interest to use the homework for its intended purpose, because this results in higher exam scores.

A random thought I had is that perhaps it might be helpful to look to MCAT problems as a source of practice problems for physics and chemistry, especially seeing as how we're all going to be taking the MCAT anyway. I'll be taking ochem I in the Spring; anyone know if this is a good way to study for ochem tests?

hey PG,
to answer your question, im not certain that studying from MCAT books is a good way to study for Orgo I lectures and exams. Things seem to build so quickly that if you don't review the basics, i cannot imagine how looking at MCAT-like Orgo questions would help to much. i still go back to the practice problems from end of book, and school websites being GREAT for Orgo. I have bookmarked on my browser, the UCLA orgo website (which posts old exams and old exam keys), and UIChicago Website, along with Columbia U website. You can print and take tests from some of these, it's a great way to study and get into exam mode.

D712

 

[PunkmedGirl]

Yes, actually. There's a book series called Schaum's Outlines, and if you just look at this section in the bookstore there will be one on physics, written appropriate to the level of physics that you're in (i.e. algebra or calculus based). This book will contain problems and (more importantly) fully worked out solutions. As I said earlier, physics problems are very formulaic in that there is really only a small set of fundamental problems that they could possibly throw at you, and all the variety you see is really just permuations on this basic foundation. So no matter what your professor's personal test-writing preferences are, these books ought to be pretty helpful. Also, if you run into homework problems that you can't solve, you can find a similar problem in Schaum's, and see how it's done. But I don't recommend simply copying this into your homework assignments to get the points. Physics homework is usually only a very small portion of the grade, and most professors use it to force you to study for exams. So it's in one's best interest to use the homework for its intended purpose, because this results in higher exam scores.

A random thought I had is that perhaps it might be helpful to look to MCAT problems as a source of practice problems for physics and chemistry, especially seeing as how we're all going to be taking the MCAT anyway. I'll be taking ochem I in the Spring; anyone know if this is a good way to study for ochem tests?

Thanks for your help Physics. I was thinking the same thinking the same thing about using MCAT prep books for help with physics. I ordered Berkeley review because I heard they have a really in-depth ontent review for the sciences.

 

[dudechiefboss]

I did not take trig, calc or college algebra before taking physics (I took physics at another university during the summer). There was no homework, quizzes or extra credit. You had two exams w/5 questions each and the final was cummalative with 7 questions each. The key is to see the connection of concepts and forumulas: f = ma, f = gmm/r^2, and the kinematic equations.

Physics is like a sport, it requires constant practice. Like the verbal section on the MCAT, you need to do problems everyday - especially questions in weak areas. Working with a group of people can help foster ideas about how to approach and recognize what "tricks" you need to use when given a certain type of problem.

If you have a text book which only provides the numerical solutions go to - cramsters.com - for the "worked out" solutions (odd problems are free). Some problems in physics can be worked out through several different ways, and it helps seeing different approaches to make you go "aha!".

Sorry for the rant, i have no classes or work today, and i have to bum around while someone is installing a washer and dryer in my apt - trying to work on secondaries 😴

 

[doctor712]

So, switching topics a bit, reviewing for Orgo exam this afternoon.

thought: when naming the cis-1-tert-butyl-4-chlorocyclohexane is the stuff that's pretty easy to understand while reviewing, I am going to HATE to see what the difficult-level questions will be on this afternoon's exam. 😱

yikers, now I know what everyone was going on and on about with orgo! i need an extra week, and i've already been studying a week! blasted conformations and steric strain! 😡

D712

 

[doctor712]

Ahhhh, the addendum to my semester!!!!

So, it's 1130pm last night, and I have my ACS Orgo Final in 2 days. Now tomorrow, afternoon. I have an insane headache, like 10/10. I've been known to have a sinus headache last for 12 hours only for it to turn into something I imagine "migraine like." Teeth and eyes hurt kinda stuff.

As I'm throwing my brains up, I wonder to myself: could this not be viral, bacterial, yet...Organic Chemistry related!!!!?????? Psychophysiologic.

Whatever it was, the only thing that's ever helped, when plain old sudafed fails (a rarity) is...sleep! After I threw up my ambien, that wasn't likely. And I wasn't taking two. Well, I woke up this morning, and, as I knew, I was fine. This, sans the vomiting, has happened a couple times in recent years.

I am absolutely READY for Organic to be Over.

This better not be the way things go every time I have an important exam!!!!

On a lighter note, my course grades this term so far are: A, A, A, A-. Orgo, mathematically, cannot be an A for me. It's just hard for me to wrap my brain around some of the concepts, I find everything "bio" so much easier than flipping a ring and seeing if the cis axial....bla bla bla...

Swinging relentlessly, blindly,
D712

 

[BennieBlanco]

I'm having trouble finding the "main idea" of this thread.

Any help would be appreciated.👍

 

[doctor712]

Bennie, you've had trouble since day one. My suggestion is to find another thread. There are 1000s to occupy yourself with. For a thread you don't like, you sure post enough on it.

D712

 

[QofQuimica]

Come on, guys, please play nice. If you don't want to read someone's posts, you can go into your user CP and put that person on "ignore".

 

[BennieBlanco]

*pressing ignore*

Success!

I do play nice, this is an internet forum.

Besides, no one attempted to answer my earlier question! Whats up with that!?

 

[BennieBlanco]

Bennie, you've had trouble since day one. My suggestion is to find another thread. There are 1000s to occupy yourself with. For a thread you don't like, you sure post enough on it.

D712

I actually only look at the top handful of threads (5-10) in a few forums. This one happened to be on the list! 😉

I've posted 2 times before today in nearly 3 months! wow!

 

[298116]

Ahhhh, the addendum to my semester!!!!

So, it's 1130pm last night, and I have my ACS Orgo Final in 2 days. Now tomorrow, afternoon. I have an insane headache, like 10/10. I've been known to have a sinus headache last for 12 hours only for it to turn into something I imagine "migraine like." Teeth and eyes hurt kinda stuff.

As I'm throwing my brains up, I wonder to myself: could this not be viral, bacterial, yet...Organic Chemistry related!!!!?????? Psychophysiologic.

Whatever it was, the only thing that's ever helped, when plain old sudafed fails (a rarity) is...sleep! After I threw up my ambien, that wasn't likely. And I wasn't taking two. Well, I woke up this morning, and, as I knew, I was fine. This, sans the vomiting, has happened a couple times in recent years.

I am absolutely READY for Organic to be Over.

This better not be the way things go every time I have an important exam!!!!

On a lighter note, my course grades this term so far are: A, A, A, A-. Orgo, mathematically, cannot be an A for me. It's just hard for me to wrap my brain around some of the concepts, I find everything "bio" so much easier than flipping a ring and seeing if the cis axial....bla bla bla...

Swinging relentlessly, blindly,
D712

Not to scare you, but last time I had those symptoms you mentioned it was viral meningitis... followed by the shingles... during midterms... go see a doctor ASAP!!!

 

[doctor712]

Not to scare you, but last time I had those symptoms you mentioned it was viral meningitis... followed by the shingles... during midterms... go see a doctor ASAP!!!

Thanks for the advice TGNT. The whole thing lasted 12 hours. It's gone.
👍

D712