Physics

[raven_queen]

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Hi everyone!
So basically I just took a midterm for my Physics 1 class and I got a 60 and so basically im so screwed right now. We have 3 midterms in the class and i got a 80 on the first one a 60 on the second one. For my grade in the class to be an A, I need to get a 90 or above on the next exam and a 95 or above on the final exam. And I honestly am so stressed, because my GPA will be fried if I get a B but it isn't just about the GPA. I feel like I am so unprepared for physics and idk what happened between the 1st and 2nd exam for my grade to drop 20 points.
Do any of you have any ideas on how I should study or what I should do to get a 95 on my next two tests? I'm literally willing to do anything because right now, physics is the only class that I will end with a B in (potentially) and I feel like I can do something to avoid that, I just don't know what to do.

Please Help!!!!!

 

[Goro]

Do you go to office hours?
Can you go to your school's Learning Center for help with your learning style and time management?

 

[raven_queen]

Do you go to office hours?
Can you go to your school's Learning Center for help with your learning style and time management?

all of my professors' office hours conflict with my schedule but i can plan meetings with them individually at different times. but i feel like that will only get me so far so are there any youtube channels or like websites that helped you study for physics.

 

[Goro]

all of my professors' office hours conflict with my schedule but i can plan meetings with them individually at different times. but i feel like that will only get me so far so are there any youtube channels or like websites that helped you study for physics.

Well, I studied physics probably before your parents were born!

You can always try Khan Academy, or just go to YouTube and type in a prompt that asks about the specific subject you're studying, for example angular momentum, or terminal velocity.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

How many people are part of your study group for physics?

 

[polymerization]

College/general physics 1 is the first course in the series; it is introductory. It is brand new information to pretty much everyone taking the course, unless you took something like physical science or AP Physics in high school.

It is just difficult information. Things are still fine while everything is just drawing vectors and getting through the basic kinematics (which is pretty much all basic Algebra 1-level computation), and gets a whole lot harder once you're actually applying those concepts to more complicated problems and using more convoluted representations of the basic equations.

Remember cognitive psychology: think about encoding specificity and transfer-appropriate processing. If you are going to be tested with questions, you should learn the content using questions as a backdrop. More theories and explanations without putting pen to paper can feel like a waste of time because your exam will probably be mostly quantitative.

Don't sit there and read endlessly or expect that watching 3 more lectures will help you understand torque. Get what you need in order to set up the problem and actually work it out. Over, and over, and over again... at least until some of it becomes second nature.

Doing so reduces your cognitive load and you'll be able to take on more complex problems without feeling more overwhelmed than you already do. Learning happens in layers, it is cemented in passes.

Related, do not expect that just going to tutoring or office hours will magically enlighten you. It is most helpful for you (and for your tutors and professors to help you) to figure out what specifically is causing you to get questions wrong and then solidifying those points. This should be easier to do these days; you can take a photo of your work for a problem and upload it to your favorite AI and ask it directly. It's possible that it could be wrong, but that's why you have your own common sense/prior knowledge and the help of your tutors and professors to guide you.

If you are really not sure where you are going wrong at all, that is a separate problem... you may need to play catch-up, which I admit is challenging and not a quick fix.

If it were me, I would not put pressure on myself to get an A. You want the best grade you can get, which may or may not be an A. If you hold yourself to getting the A at all costs, you may find yourself too overwhelmed by the prospect of practicing and performing perfectly, that you cannot actually learn anything long-term.

Medical school is going to feel like one long held breath. You'll regularly approach information you imagine you could not possibly learn in whatever amount of time is allotted... and then you do it. And then it happens again, and you're stressed, but you survive; and then it happens again, and again, and again.

And next thing you know... you realize... information can be difficult to parse, challenging to retain, and seemingly impossible to apply... but you've surprised yourself before and you can do it again.

Good luck! You can do this.