Physics Fail

[Cello]

Hey all, anyone else struggle through physics? I'm actually worried I might end up failing this course...

So far I've received A's in all of my chem classes (except gen chem II which was a B+) and mostly A's in my biology classes with 2 B's thrown in. My last two pre-reqs are physics I and II.

I figured that physics would be cake because I took AP physics in high school and did well enough.

Well, I'm at the end of the semester and it's not looking good at all....

First exam: Studied ~3 hours and got a 64 (class average was a 56)
Second exam: Studied ~10 hours got a 37 (class average was a 52)
Third exam: Studied ~20 hours got a 33...... (class average was a 40) *dropped*
Fourth exam: Studied the entire week before the exam. Watched every Khan Academy video on the chapters we covered and some other good physics videos which covered the material, re-did all of the homework (60 problems), did the entire 25 page practice exam (4 years worth of previous exams), was able to answer 80%+ of the questions pretty confidently...

The result of all of this effort? I got a 35. I studied probably 30-40 hours for this damned thing. There is seemingly no correlation between my efforts and my exam scores thus far in the course. Lectures make sense, discussions are somewhat helpful, homework is moderately difficult, exams are kicking my ass.

I'm at a loss. My homework grade is ~94%, so that will pad me a bit, and he does drop our lowest exam score (I've now had three) but I'm assuming that the entire class probably has high marks on HW. The only other class I've struggled with like this was genetics, and I pulled a B thanks to a VERY helpful TA who met with me one-on-one. As it turned out, it wasn't the material that was hard, I just didn't understand the way the tests were written. There are no TA's like this for physics, and there is a help lounge, but it's pretty damned late in the game for that. I'm not even really sure what I need help on... I thought I knew how to answer the questions, I put down the formulas on nearly every damned problem and thought I would get at least a 70 for the last two exams.

Anyone know of any extremely helpful external resources which may be invaluable for a physics I capstone exam? Physics really isn't that hard... I think it's just the way these tests are written. They are written by a TA who does not attend the lectures....

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[Cello]

Maybe there's a psychological component to all of this, but I feel like I am still studying hard and working my ass off....

This semester I've gone through a divorce, lost my second uncle this year (the other one died last semester), my father has been diagnosed with and treated for cancer, and my grandmother had a stroke. Despite all of that, I don't feel I slacked any more than usual...

 

[manifesto]

Maybe there's a psychological component to all of this, but I feel like I am still studying hard and working my ass off....

This semester I've gone through a divorce, lost my second uncle this year (the other one died last semester), my father has been diagnosed with and treated for cancer, and my grandmother had a stroke. Despite all of that, I don't feel I slacked any more than usual...

You sounded like you went through hell.... If a school doesnt give you slack for this, you should not want to go to that school.

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[cacajuate]

Drop the class and take it with a better teacher. F looks way worse than a W.

 

[HookahLungs]

drop the class or ask for curves

 

[Ferneezy]

Maybe there's a psychological component to all of this

perhaps as it applies to you, but your entire class is also dogging it.

the system is broken in that particular course. get the department head involved.

 

[Cello]

Drop the class and take it with a better teacher. F looks way worse than a W.

Drop the class and take it with a better teacher. F looks way worse than a W.

I can't drop at this point, the last day to drop classes at our university is the 2nd week of class. Last day to take a W is halfway through the semester. At this point I'd have to take in incomplete, but professor said he won't give those unless you're hospitalized.

Physics is just awful. It manages to be vague and specific in the most non-intuitive ways and it really comes down to memorizing how to do every specific problem because everything has special exceptions.

If it makes you feel better, I've not enjoyed it either. Just gotta make it out and dilute it with As

Thanks, I wish I had more classes to ace, but I'm at the end now. I had just barely pulled my cGPA over 3.3 and my sGPA was on track for 3.5+ (currently 3.48), without math it was ~3.7. If I do poorly in this class both GPAs will take a hit... :-/

You sounded like you went through hell.... If a school doesnt give you slack for this, you should not want to go to that school.

Yeah, on the one hand I hope that they will take that into account, but on the other hand, I feel like I am already making excuses for my low undergraduate GPA. I don't want to be that guy who keeps making excuses for himself, you know?

perhaps as it applies to you, but your entire class is also dogging it.

the system is broken in that particular course. get the department head involved.

Yeah, my hope is that the class average is super low. The professor has already stated that he will curve to make the median grade a B. I'm not really sure if that will help me much in the end. He is a super nice guy, and I am planning to meet with him this week. The problem is, he's very old, and he lectures with simple examples from the book. The homework does not come from the book, and the tests don't come from the lectures or the homework. It is definitely a broken system, and one they've been trying to fix at this school for years. It's my understanding that they are aware of the problem but don't know how to fix it with the faculty they've already got (a bunch of old guys who are definitely at retirement age).

Apparently the average grade for the final exam last year was a 28%..... I knew this professor would be difficult going in, but there is NO better alternative. Even if I have to retake, I'll probably end up struggling with the same professor or one who is just as bad.

 

[dauntless123]

The system is definitely messed up. However, I have good news. If you take the class again with a better grade, some dental schools do a thing where they replace your failed grade with your new grade after you retake the class. So, your failed grade won't even be calculated in the science GPA. So, if you fail physics, you can retake it again with a different teacher who is more reasonable with tests and a teacher who actually grades fair. If the final exam average is 28%, then the professor is definitely doing something wrong. Also, have you thought of taking the class at another college and then transferring the credits? These are some options I would consider. Good luck!

 

[HookahLungs]

Ask someone from a previous year for the final exam. Let's be honest, anyone would do it in this case. Get like a 50% on it purposely so when the curve comes its in your favor and you'll end up with a high A. And hope that the rest of the exams after the curve will be at around a B average. Then you'll be okay.

 

[swindoll]

I know this advice may not work for everybody, but what has worked great for me so far is visualizing! Yes, it takes more time to look up video on YouTube, or spend an extra half-an-hour starring at that tough problem so that you finally GET IT, but in the end, you'll be much better off! Don't memorize steps on how to do each problem! That's just silly, and you will never be able to get an A with such a strategy. (Unless you have an easier professor who asks "standard" types of questions.) Believe it or not, but most (not all) of the things in physics make perfect intuitive sense. After you realize it and LEARN the material in such a way that you can literally picture that wave moving from your speaker or that car going on a bound curve and the appropriate forces acting on it, or whatever, everything all the sudden becomes so obvious.

Our professor will show us how to do a particulate problem in 5 steps, and I'll be able to solve it in 2 steps because I try to picture everything, which allows me to "see" the shortcuts. Good luck!
PS. This strategy works for phy1. I'll let you know next semester if it works for phy2. Hehe

 

[swindoll]

Ask someone from a previous year for the final exam. Let's be honest, anyone would do it in this case. Get like a 50% on it purposely so when the curve comes its in your favor and you'll end up with a high A. And hope that the rest of the exams after the curve will be at around a B average. Then you'll be okay.

Wow, never heard of a curve that changes your grade from a 50%F to an A..

 

[Cello]

The system is definitely messed up. However, I have good news. If you take the class again with a better grade, some dental schools do a thing where they replace your failed grade with your new grade after you retake the class. So, your failed grade won't even be calculated in the science GPA. So, if you fail physics, you can retake it again with a different teacher who is more reasonable with tests and a teacher who actually grades fair. If the final exam average is 28%, then the professor is definitely doing something wrong. Also, have you thought of taking the class at another college and then transferring the credits? These are some options I would consider. Good luck!

Would I have to actually fail the class though?

I know a guy who thought he was going to fail this same class last semester, with the same professor. He didn't bother taking the final (which is worth a full 1/3 of our final grade) and still got a C+. He also did a little better than me on the midterms though. I don't think I'll actually fail (at least I really hope not), but to me a C is kind of like failing.

Ask someone from a previous year for the final exam. Let's be honest, anyone would do it in this case. Get like a 50% on it purposely so when the curve comes its in your favor and you'll end up with a high A. And hope that the rest of the exams after the curve will be at around a B average. Then you'll be okay.

Yeah, I could try that. We are given several years of previous exams for the practice exams. I did 4 years of practice exams before this last one and was doing decently with them (say in the 75% - 80% range). I still got a 35 :-/ Part of the problem is that we usually have 5 or 6 pages of questions to answer in 50 minutes. The TA who writes the exams is a bit ridiculous...

I know this advice may not work for everybody, but what has worked great for me so far is visualizing! Yes, it takes more time to look up video on YouTube, or spend an extra half-an-hour starring at that tough problem so that you finally GET IT, but in the end, you'll be much better off! Don't memorize steps on how to do each problem! That's just silly, and you will never be able to get an A with such a strategy. (Unless you have an easier professor who asks "standard" types of questions.) Believe it or not, but most (not all) of the things in physics make perfect intuitive sense. After you realize it and LEARN the material in such a way that you can literally picture that wave moving from your speaker or that car going on a bound curve and the appropriate forces acting on it, or whatever, everything all the sudden becomes so obvious.

Our professor will show us how to do a particulate problem in 5 steps, and I'll be able to solve it in 2 steps because I try to picture everything, which allows me to "see" the shortcuts. Good luck!
PS. This strategy works for phy1. I'll let you know next semester if it works for phy2. Hehe

This is exactly how I got through AP physics in high school. I didn't even pay much attention in class back then. Now that I actually care and am studying the way that all the other pre-med / pre-dent students do (studying notes, memorizing formulas, doing lots of practice problems), it's not working for me with physics anymore... I used to just "get" it, and now I feel I've unlearned a lot of what was intuitive thanks to this class, my new and more rigorous study methods, or a combination of the two. Also, the stress factor may come into play a bit, I do wonder if my memory has slipped a bit this semester.

Wow, never heard of a curve that changes your grade from a 50%F to an A..

I am told that a B last semester was a ~60% in the class, haha.

 

[free99]

Can we see the ratemyprofessors page?

 

[asusundevilll]

Seriously? Isn't this normal ?? Every general science class I took. Bio 1/2 , Chem 1/2 , Ochem 1/2, physics 1/2. The class average for every single test was failing. This is normal

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[Cello]

Can we see the ratemyprofessors page?

I don't want to call my professor out, something seems unethical about that. He's a really great guy, just not a very good instructor.

I can tell you that his scores are: 3.6 overall quality, and he gets a 2.5 for easiness. Reading through reviews, a lot of people say not to worry because he curves so drastically at the end. The average grade for reviewers on RMP is a C.

Seriously? Isn't this normal ?? Every general science class I took. Bio 1/2 , Chem 1/2 , Ochem 1/2, physics 1/2. The class average for every single test was failing. This is normal

Well, I've had similar scenarios in other classes, but I'm usually well above the average so I'm not worried about it. With this class I'm below average, so I'm pretty worried.

I just remembered that in my Ochem 2 class, the final exam's average was a 34%. I got a 38% and it was curved to a 78% and I got a B in the class.. Maybe your physics class is like that?

I sure hope so!

I went and spoke to the professor today. We looked at my exam. He said "it's clear that you've studied all that you can! Studying more is not going to help you, because you have all the right formulas. You are having a problem with confidence!"

I think that's pretty much it. My confidence is just shot this semester... Ugh.

 

[HookahLungs]

Wow, never heard of a curve that changes your grade from a 50%F to an A..

If the highest grade is a 50%, the teacher makes that grade the cornerstone in order for the exams to fall in regular distribution (a few A's, several B's, more C's, and then back..) it's a standard distribution curve.. You don't have to hear about it but what's the point of making a curve that will change the highest grade, a 50% and keeping it at an F? Or even a D or C? Then all the other kids still suffer with D's and F's. Makes no sense from the students or instructors perspective to make the class average overall an F

 

[swindoll]

If the highest grade is a 50%, the teacher makes that grade the cornerstone in order for the exams to fall in regular distribution (a few A's, several B's, more C's, and then back..) it's a standard distribution curve.. You don't have to hear about it but what's the point of making a curve that will change the highest grade, a 50% and keeping it at an F? Or even a D or C? Then all the other kids still suffer with D's and F's. Makes no sense from the students or instructors perspective to make the class average overall an F

I see! I didn't realize at first that you meant that such a curve would be applied if 50% was the highest grade. That makes sense!

 

[HookahLungs]

I see! I didn't realize at first that you meant that such a curve would be applied if 50% was the highest grade. That makes sense!

Ok glad I cleared it up. I see where the confusion occurred

 

[Cello]

So, I managed a B after all of this. I was happy just to walk away with a non-failing grade, and one which was better than a C!

 

[Faux]

thats real awesome to hear! I would have teared up ;p