Physics is killing me!!!!

[donnap86]

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Seriously, I have the worst teacher who doesn't explain any thing and I really need help. My class is using Cutnell and Johnson's sixth edition and I don't find it particularly helpful. I was if anyone knew of any REALLY GOOD study guides that breaks things down and explain them really well? (something like "Organic Chemistry: As a Second Language" only for physics.) Thanx for your help.

 

[juiceman311]

Seriously, I have the worst teacher who doesn't explain any thing and I really need help. My class is using Cutnell and Johnson's sixth edition and I don't find it particularly helpful. I was if anyone knew of any REALLY GOOD study guides that breaks things down and explain them really well? (something like "Organic Chemistry: As a Second Language" only for physics.) Thanx for your help.

I got a C in Physics 😡., the GPA for the Physics 1 course at my school was like a 2.25 or something, absolutely ridiculous. Anyways, I place partial blame on the fact that I didn't even own the text book because the professor said we didn't need it...but everything was appearantly from the book? Wish I could do that one over again, because Physics is and has always been one of my stronger points.

 

[mshheaddoc]

I agree my physics prof SUCKS. We have to tell him how to do some problems b/c he can't figure them out. its pathetic. I'm trying to find a study guide. I had someone suggest Physics for the utterly confused or something like that. i'm going to try that.

 

[njbmd]

Seriously, I have the worst teacher who doesn't explain any thing and I really need help. My class is using Cutnell and Johnson's sixth edition and I don't find it particularly helpful. I was if anyone knew of any REALLY GOOD study guides that breaks things down and explain them really well? (something like "Organic Chemistry: As a Second Language" only for physics.) Thanx for your help.

Hi there,
Schaums Physics Problems is pretty good for concepts and problems. Be sure that you are not weak in math though. You really have to be able to use your math as a tool to explore the concepts. If you are weak in math, there is a small workbook called Math for Physics that is pretty good.

njbmd 🙂

 

[donnap86]

Thanks for ur responses, they are greatly appreciated. 🙂

 

[SeventhSon]

Seriously, I have the worst teacher who doesn't explain any thing and I really need help. My class is using Cutnell and Johnson's sixth edition and I don't find it particularly helpful. I was if anyone knew of any REALLY GOOD study guides that breaks things down and explain them really well? (something like "Organic Chemistry: As a Second Language" only for physics.) Thanx for your help.

jesus, i never understood the big problem everybody has with physics. As far as concepts, it has FAR fewer concepts (until quantum) than any other BPCM course with the exception of maybe some math classes. Staring at your book never helps, just do ridiculous amounts of problems until the concepts start to sink in, then go back and read the book again. I agree taht as far as the ability to teach, physics professors at major universities can't even get past the english barrier.

 

[mustangsally65]

When I was studying for MCAT, the Examkrackers Physics review book was great. I think if I'd had it when I was taking Physics I wouldn't have struggled as much as I did. Not the questions book, but the review book.

It may not be as comprehensive as you need, but it really simplified things for me. Try Overstock or Half.com for reduced pricing.

 

[ShyRem]

For those of you who have difficulty figuring out where to start on a problem, I highly recommend a little book called 'How to Solve Anything' (or something like that - my copy is packed away). I think the author is Polya. It teaches you how to approach a problem, figure out what it's asking, and then look for ways to solve.

 

[atrovariousg]

When I was studying for MCAT, the Examkrackers Physics review book was great. I think if I'd had it when I was taking Physics I wouldn't have struggled as much as I did. Not the questions book, but the review book.

It may not be as comprehensive as you need, but it really simplified things for me. Try Overstock or Half.com for reduced pricing.

I agree.
Learn the relationships and how to be intuitive and 2-3 equations per chapter and that's really all there is to it.

 

[fuglydoc]

there were only one physics (calc-based) teacher at my CC when i took it. yea...he sucked balls. i swear his lectures were like music to me and would put me to sleep. i slept nearly everyday in his class. i would put my head up at times and look at the people around me, and they had their heads on the desk too! funny story tho.....come exam times, his format for his exam are 5 worked out problems and about 20-30 multiple choice. we were allowed to use 1 page crib sheet. those 5 problems are from the homework problems (which i never did) and we would copy all our homework problems with the solution on the crib sheet. Anyways i got C's in both physics class. just thought i'd tell this story because i think its funny looking back at it.

 

[45408]

jesus, i never understood the big problem everybody has with physics. As far as concepts, it has FAR fewer concepts (until quantum) than any other BPCM course with the exception of maybe some math classes. Staring at your book never helps, just do ridiculous amounts of problems until the concepts start to sink in, then go back and read the book again. I agree taht as far as the ability to teach, physics professors at major universities can't even get past the english barrier.

different strokes for different folks, man. I'm good at gen chem and physics, but organic was a much bigger struggle.

 

[LabMonster]

We used Cutnell and Johnson 6th last year - aced both classes.

I found the key to that text was working ahead of the lecture (notes on text) and doing problems before they were assigned. There is a solutions manual - but it's not especially helpful due to the small number of problems presented.

I asked my prof for a copy of her teachers manual - with all the solutions worked out - if I felt I wanted to understand something better.

Good luck.

Try not to memorize facts - remember concepts and their relationships with one another...

 

[DrBowtie]

Hi there,
Schaums Physics Problems is pretty good for concepts and problems. Be sure that you are not weak in math though. You really have to be able to use your math as a tool to explore the concepts. If you are weak in math, there is a small workbook called Math for Physics that is pretty good.

njbmd 🙂

I second schaums. They have like 1000 solved and 2000 unsolved problems in one of their outlines for physics I think.

 

[internetwop]

physics was the death of me-my prof wasn't very good either! i ended up with C's in physics & at 5 credit hours each, that hurts the GPA a bit 😡

 

[AxlxA]

I would say my classes at Berkeley with Golightly for Physics 8A and 8B were both pretty good. He explains really well and he uses alot of examples to drill in the info. Often times, I seek my TA for extra help on concepts. Try to make him explain it to me as if i were a 9 year old.

I barely scraped by the electro mag stuff with an A-. (I was gonna be an astrophysicist before medicine)

 

[Khanal007]

An upperclassman gave me this advice for physics, and it I found that it worked really well for me. Just keep doing problem after problem, do more than the assigned problems, and even if you keep getting them wrong, understand why, don't get hung up on it (a personal problem of mine), and keep chugging. Problem after problem, do as many as you can, and don't care if you don't get them right the first way through.

about books -- problems from any book worked for me.

 

[Sicilian]

Lectures & exams (pick your course):

http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/Courses/Physics.html


Video lectures (you need to know calculus, but its very basic calculus):

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/avocw.htm

Don't rely on your prof out of any necessity. His primary interest is research, hence the office hrs (either because of a guilty conscience or to avoid potential litigation). IMO: physicists in general are strange people.

 

[red dot]

take it at a j.c. over the summer if the j.c. is near your home (and your school is further away or inconveniently away from where you live). your excuse could be tuition fees/family responsiblities. but make sure the schools you are applying to will take j.c. credit for the core classes like physics. most schools take j.c. credits, but it'd suck if you all-of-a-sudden realized your top choice school wouldn't take j.c. credits.

 

[Sundarban1]

I second schaums. They have like 1000 solved and 2000 unsolved problems in one of their outlines for physics I think.

I 3rd Shaums!

I've been following thier mathmatics for science and technology as a trig review for physics in the Fall and I've basically taught myself trig in a month but I could not have done it without this book! The key though, is to have enough time to work through the problems, at least it is for me. I find study guides useless if you're actually taking the class at the same time because its too hard to keep up with both supplementory problems in addition to the work assigned to class.

But, good luck!

 

[FrkyBgStok]

my physics teacher is by far the smartest person on the entire campus. absolute genius. he, as a person not a college, gets ungodly nice grants for studies. The good side is he is very smart and can answer any question. The bad side is he hates teaching what he calls BONEHEAD physics so he thinks everyone should get it.

 

[donnap86]

Thanks agains for replies, I appreciate them. 🙂