Phys Tips. Tryna get an A.

BU Medical Sciences
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Know the process. It always helped me to draw out a diagram of the events that occur in a particular process. Add detail around the edges
 
Do every practice problem you can. Don't read the examples during the chapter but work through them instead. Understand what's happening and how that's represented by the mathematics. DO every practice problem you can. There's no substitute for practice problems. You want to reach a point where any new problem you see can either be compared to a problem you've seen before or use the litany of methods you've learned from your practice problems.
 
QuantumJ said:
Do every practice problem you can. Don't read the examples during the chapter but work through them instead. Understand what's happening and how that's represented by the mathematics. DO every practice problem you can. There's no substitute for practice problems. You want to reach a point where any new problem you see can either be compared to a problem you've seen before or use the litany of methods you've learned from your practice problems.
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I'm also taking physics. Also trying to get an A. Have an A- right now. Doing practice problems are important, I'm setting aside 2 hours tonight to do physics problems only. Have an exam later this week.
 
Dreamstoo said:
I'm also taking physics. Also trying to get an A. Have an A- right now. Doing practice problems are important, I'm setting aside 2 hours tonight to do physics problems only. Have an exam later this week.
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Good there really is no substitute. Make sure you know what you're doing when you apply principles. It's easy for students to pick an equation and it works for them so they move one. It's important to understand why this equation works (well X is conserved in this case so I can apply it. I have these 2 variables given and need to solve for this and then I can substitute it into another equation).
 
Tons of practice problems were the only way I got through. I tried to see every possible way I could use every formula I could find. Did all of the practice my professor provided, would re-do quizzes, and found tons of physics practice websites with problems I could try out.
 
QuantumJ said:
Good there really is no substitute. Make sure you know what you're doing when you apply principles. It's easy for students to pick an equation and it works for them so they move one. It's important to understand why this equation works (well X is conserved in this case so I can apply it. I have these 2 variables given and need to solve for this and then I can substitute it into another equation).
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For me also it depends on how good the teacher is. This term I have a fantastic teacher, quantum mechanics and relativity is just confusing and the averages for the midterms tend to be low. Great, fantastic guy. I despise my E&M teacher A LOT, was not that helpful and encouraged me to drop the class. I ended up getting in the B range due to killing the final.
 
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After doing practice problems, I recommend going back and looking at problems (especially longer ones) and solving the general case. Sometimes general case solutions are on physics exams and, depending on your professor, some concept questions might get thrown your way. This is really an analogue of doing lots of practice problems but I think working through the general math and plugging in at the very end is a much better way of doing things than always just using numbers and bootstrapping. This semester I have a physics class were the tests are only conceptual and there's zero actual calculation involved. This method really helped me do relatively well on the first exam where the average was a 30.
 
The biggest hurdle is in setting up the equations. Unfortunately, practice is the only way to gain clarity so you can do this correctly. The math part is relatively easy and predictable.
 
Also pay attention to what the teacher is telling you about the test. I think most of the people who did poorly in my Physics classes did so simply because they weren't reading the teacher correctly. Most Physics professors won't expect you to critically solve some problem you've literally never seen before, on a test. I guarantee most of the problems you'll have seen in homework, practice problems, and/or lecture. Learn how the teacher tests and study from that.
 
Guess I misread. So you're asking about phys...ics, not phys...iology? Still best to know how things work. Practice problems certainly help. Having an idea of how things are derived will certainly help your understanding.
 
Definitely do as many practice problems you can, go to office hours, and really spend a lot of time really learning the concepts, breaking them down into the simplest of subunits, go back and apply them to the problems. Rinse,

Repeat.
 
Why is this even posted in the pre-osteopathic thread?

Subscribe to crAmster
 
Practice Problems, Practice problems, practice problems. I had a notebook just for them. Organization helps. Don't wait until it's too late, see your professor early for help-that will also help you when it comes time for a recommendation letter. I also had a cramster subscription for the ones I got stuck on. Mine was an algebra based class- It helped me to set up the problems for the variable I was looking for, THEN plug in the numbers and do the arithmetic.
 
CajunMedic said:
Practice Problems, Practice problems, practice problems. I had a notebook just for them. Organization helps. Don't wait until it's too late, see your professor early for help-that will also help you when it comes time for a recommendation letter. I also had a cramster subscription for the ones I got stuck on. Mine was an algebra based class- It helped me to set up the problems for the variable I was looking for, THEN plug in the numbers and do the arithmetic.
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Yep I have about 30 pages of practice problems this term in physics. I went from having a B+ after the first midterm to a mid A/borderline A+ after the second midterm 🙂 (absolutely rocked it, I remember walking out smiling). Class average is like a mid B. Doing the same for the final. going to probably do 10-15 pages of 40-50 problems.
 
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If you get stuck on a problem, obviously first try and go to office hours/tutoring. You can also search Yahoo Answers for similar problems and find the equations all typed out. Understand the process of an answer to a question forwards and backwards, similar to Ochem.
 
CaptK7 said:
If you get stuck on a problem, obviously first try and go to office hours/tutoring. You can also search Yahoo Answers for similar problems and find the equations all typed out. Understand the process of an answer to a question forwards and backwards, similar to Ochem.
Click to expand...

Depends on the TA honestly. I had an amazing set of TAs for mechanics, all the grad students used to stay till 8pm in the designated physics tutoring center. This was over a year ago. With my TA in my next class one on one tutoring me and helping me in E & M, I went from failing the first midterm by being 20% + higher than the class average on the last midterm and the final. This term, my recitation TA is probably one of the laziest teachers I have ever had. There's a reason why when we get our grades back in recitation the grades vary from like a 50 to a 100 (then again our class average on midterms have been like 64). Class isn't curved but tons of extra credit is offered. I have a mid B midterm average yet a A/A+
 
Practice problems are important but also make sure you try to connect all the topics together.

When I took Physics the difference between getting an A and a B was being able to do that difficult problems that required you to connect 2 or 3 topics.
 
Don't miss any questions on tests or quizzes, you are guaranteed to get an A like I did.
 
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