I am currently using BR for physucks and am getting around 7's. I was wondering if you guys thought that NOVA was a good supplement to BR and would it be worth doing?
Any anecdotes?
Thanks!
Any anecdotes?
Thanks!
Suck at physics, how is Nova?
- Thread starter raltima07
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Get Nova. In most of the chapters, Nova is significantly better than BR at explaining physics if you have not had a pleasant experience with the subject. Especially E/M, circular motion, work/energy. It's a single author, and he's quite witty and engaging, and I thought he did a good job of building up my physics intuition. When I finished Nova, I did BR. I still view BR as very valuable because of the MCAT-style practice passages, of which Nova has fewer. You need practice with these to get ready for the test.
Nova does have many, many discrete practice problems, which I think is actually *better* when you are first starting to re-learn the material, because they help you get a solid foundation before you start applying the knowledge in more arcane situations. After finishing Nova, then reading the corresponding chapter in BR, I always scored in the 13-15 range in BR physics.
Nova does have many, many discrete practice problems, which I think is actually *better* when you are first starting to re-learn the material, because they help you get a solid foundation before you start applying the knowledge in more arcane situations. After finishing Nova, then reading the corresponding chapter in BR, I always scored in the 13-15 range in BR physics.
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I did the same thing as the above poster but had a different experience. I like Nova but it didn't necessarily help me as much as I heard it would. What really helped me is using wikipremed videos along with tbr. Good luck!
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I concur, those wikipremed videos are great. Watching those before reading the TBR and doing the passages has brought up my scores into 10-12 range. After watching the videos I can go through the TBR much quicker as well.
I don't have Nova so I can't comment on that.
I don't have Nova so I can't comment on that.
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You guys are chalk full of good info this morning.
I'll definitely hit up wikipremed for the physucks videos for things that I was never taught (or never cared to learn).
I'll definitely hit up wikipremed for the physucks videos for things that I was never taught (or never cared to learn).
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Dude, I tried watching those videos and they are incredibly boring!! 😱 That guy's voice is so monotone and the video's I watched seem veryyyyy slow paced.
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I tried Nova as well, because my Physics was pretty weak, but I didn't think it was all that great. It was good, but didn't do it for me. I then went with BR and everything seemed to make so much more sense. I feel like if someone really dedicated themselves to the BR physics books for a few weeks you can really bring your score up.
I think the BR physics books are only about $25-30 more than Nova anyway, so you could get all the info, plus a ton of practice material for a few dollars more. It just seems like a better investment to me.
I think the BR physics books are only about $25-30 more than Nova anyway, so you could get all the info, plus a ton of practice material for a few dollars more. It just seems like a better investment to me.
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I definitely see where you're coming from, but he builds the concepts from the ground up and makes relations to other concepts across the entire MCAT. That's the type of thing that REALLY puts things together. I definitely skip around on the videos, but it's really worth it to watch all the way through the videos for topics you're not getting. I really like his videos on fluid mechanics, gravitation, and E&M. Maybe the concepts your having trouble with are ones you don't find interesting, which could cause you to be bored, but also could be helped by slowly working through them with the video. I always do all the problems and pretend like I'm sitting in his class. They may be boring to you now, but if you work through the topics with the videos, you'll most likely get a lot out of it.
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I really like TBR for phy but it is definitely hard to understand if you didn't do so well in the actual class in school. For that I rec. TPR. Very precise, clear and less complicated. However, TBR gives very accurate tricks that can shave off a lot of time.
I got good grades in physics, but that doesn't mean I know it. 😀 I've skimmed through some of the various books and have to say I liked the way BR explained things the best. I love the tricks so far (have only been through the first chapter). I really wish I would have known how to do it that way when I was taking the actual class.
It sucks that the course is out of my price range, because I hear the author of the books also teaches and that he is crazy good. It would be nice to learn them first hand, but the books will have to do. 😳
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Todd Bennett. He is a great man. Literally everything he says in class is a mnemonic for remembering the MCAT. He is probably one of the best teachers I've ever met and also the nicest.
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I think NOVA is worth doing. I couldn't remember pretty much ANY physics when I began studying, and it's helped me start to get a grip on things. I need a lot of basic, standalone problems to drill this stuff into my head, and it's good for that. The passages in NOVA seem pretty difficult, sometimes. I'm not sure how their level of difficulty matches up to the real deal, as I have yet to take an AAMC exam. Anyone know?
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i sucked at physics and nova's book was my savior for this section!! it made things make sense. i love that they work out examples and they give you planty of practice problems. i used nova along with ek 1001 questions and i felt like i had a good base for this section.
best wishes
best wishes
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BR is great but it wasn't great for me last year. i was doing poorly in the passages. Nova is good and i think it's great to go through nova before coming to BR if you've been away from physics for a long time. It'll make so much sense. This is based on my personal experience because after doing nova, BR makes sense and i'm actually doing great in the passages. Nova nails some concepts in your head and BR fine tunes them and gives you other stuff to work with.
What I'm planning on doing is using NOVA to get the concepts down, and then using the TPR science workbook for physics passages. NOVA has been great. Has anybody used TPR workbook and BR for passages? How do they compare?
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Yep. That's it.
