Physics Help

[PB2464]

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Well, I just had my first physics I today and, well, I think I did okay. I'm spending alot of time on the material, but I could not complete the last problem on the exam.
Does anyone have any good suggestions on studying physics?
I read the book, looked over the conceptual questions in the back, did assigned problems (over 20) as well as additional problems out of a Schaum's Outline (I think that's how it's spelled).
Anyway, has anyone successfully used a tutor in the past. Any on-line sites that have helped?
I can't afford less that a B+ in this class.
Please help.

 

[cheezer]

you seem to be doing everything im doing. id say the only suggestion i can make is to not overthink it. generally speaking, when i do physics problems:
i read it carefully, circle all the pertinent information and list the knowns. (this is automatic)

then i identify what concept i need to know that is related to the problem, this helps me isolate the equations i need and in which order.

if i stumble across a problem i don't know, i just tell myself that everything i need to know is in the problem. overthinking makes it complicated. focus on simplicity.

which physics is this by the way? i think you said part 1??

 

[PB2464]

Yes, it's physics I.
I really planned on acing this test as I've spent so much time on the material. It came down to one final problem that I couldn't complete. I was able to list all of the knowns/unknowns. I was stumped from there. I just spent too much time studying the wrong concepts (you know how that goes).

 

[cheezer]

i think the two things that helped me most when i took it (on physics 2 right now) was

1. really understanding vectors (an x and y component to everything and how to attain them)
2. drawing a clear coordinate system w/my free body diagrams

aside from this, its pounding problems

and yeah i know how it is sometimes.

 

[PB2464]

I'm starting forces this week and I'm just searching for anything additional that I can do to succeed.
Anyone ever used a tutor?

 

[DrMidlife]

1. Wait and see what grade you got on the exam. Maybe nobody got that last problem.

2. I can't work with tutors. I do better when I have to teach somebody.

3. If you want to work harder, do EVERY problem in the textbook. Twice. Do the really, really hard ones. Go see the professor and discuss the interesting ones.

Best of luck to you.

 

[BlueCow]

Well, I just had my first physics I today and, well, I think I did okay. I'm spending alot of time on the material, but I could not complete the last problem on the exam.
Does anyone have any good suggestions on studying physics?
I read the book, looked over the conceptual questions in the back, did assigned problems (over 20) as well as additional problems out of a Schaum's Outline (I think that's how it's spelled).
Anyway, has anyone successfully used a tutor in the past. Any on-line sites that have helped?
I can't afford less that a B+ in this class.
Please help.

Here are the steps to learn physics.

1) Do as many problems as you can in the back of each chapter. The more you the easier it gets.

2) After each problem, just sits back and look at the result. Does the answer make sense? How is this relate to real life situation? This is where you grasp the conceptual aspect of physics. Just getting the correct answer does not guarantee that you understand the physics. Many of the MCAT physics questions are coneptual questions. If you have a good understanding of the physics concepts you will be able to answer many of these problems correctly.

3) When you are taking a physics test and you are stuck at a problem, start writing something down on the paper... like the equation that you may use. This is to get your mind flowing and tune into the problem.

4) One tricky concept of physics is that you have to learn how to equate equations of many concepts together. For example a charged particle in an electric field and in a magnetic field. If the force acting on the particle is equal and in opposite direction then you can set the 2 equations to be equal.. like

F= qE (electric force)
F=qvB (magnetic force)

qE = qvB ----> E/B =v

Some of the harder physics problems convolute many ideas together. If you can learn how to do 4) you will be able to solve them quickly.

 

[zed350]

Just remeber that Physics is just a mathematical expression of real life situations. Dont let math get to you and make you loose focus on the problem at hand.
Best of Luck

 

[montessori2md]

Not finishing that last problem may not be that big of a deal -when I was in Physics I, a lot of my classmates struggled to complete the first exam, and the prof ended up cutting down the # of questions on the rest of the exams. He also gave partial credit to students who worked out some of the problem, but couldn't remember one of the necessary eqns, or "plugged and chugged" wrong (I felt sorry for the graders, it must have taken forever to try to figure out if we had a clue or not, there were 3 sections of 100 students, and several exam versions).

Do problems! Don't look up the solution until after you've finished the problem.

I think a tutor is useful if you are stuck on something specific and you need someone to explain it to you. I think a tutor will not work if it's just that you couldn't remember what you were supposed to do when you were sitting for the exam. The only fix for that is more time and more problems.

I hated physics, now I'm in biochem and I miss physics I, I'm not even sure where to start in biochem -it's got all the memorization of bio, and all the calculating of chem....grrr....

 

[budhak0n]

you seem to be doing everything im doing. id say the only suggestion i can make is to not overthink it. generally speaking, when i do physics problems:
i read it carefully, circle all the pertinent information and list the knowns. (this is automatic)

then i identify what concept i need to know that is related to the problem, this helps me isolate the equations i need and in which order.

if i stumble across a problem i don't know, i just tell myself that everything i need to know is in the problem. overthinking makes it complicated. focus on simplicity.

which physics is this by the way? i think you said part 1??

Ok as far as the Physics, I don't know... get pictures of Einstein and think Exponentially... but that's not the purpose of my response.

CHEEZER you are like seriously creeping me out with that Icon dude ranch.

What are you going straight pathology or what ? lol

 

[cheezer]

Ok as far as the Physics, I don't know... get pictures of Einstein and think Exponentially... but that's not the purpose of my response.

CHEEZER you are like seriously creeping me out with that Icon dude ranch.

What are you going straight pathology or what ? lol

Do I make you horny baby?

 

[sean1984]

Somone said something about freebody diagrams and understand them well, and that is very true. If you are in physics 1, you are just going to be focusing on newtonian mechanics, and free body diagrams can pretty much get you through this. It seems like you are putting in a lot of time, so you should be okay, but when you do all the problems in the back of the back, make sure to understand the underlying principles, and not just the pattern to solve a problem. Also, try working in groups for a few hours and try to work with people around your same level of comprehension. If you are forced to explain a concept or problem to someone, this can sometimes be the best way to learn.

 

[lzbthcox]

I haven't take physics, but as far as tutoring.. maybe see if your school has a free tutoring time. We have the academic assistance center. The teachers have to take time there each week, so there is always someone in there who teaches whichever subject you are having trouble with.

 

[PB2464]

Well, I actually did better than I thought. I dropped the idea of a tutor and just worked even harder. Just had my second Physics exam last week and it was no problem.
I actually find myself devoting more time to other subjects.
I'm guessing that physics just takes more time than other subjects at the beginning.