Tricks to doing well in physics?

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bfg1997

bfg1997

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I have to take physics soon and it's giving me serious anxiety. I've commonly heard that it's the most challenging pre-req for medicine. Anyone have any recommendations or tips for how to excel in it? I'll be taking algebra-based physics.

I plan on putting aside 6 hours a week or so for reviewing material and studying. Hopefully I can knock the concepts into my head with enough time.

Unrelated question, but I noticed that calc is not listed as a pre-req for most schools, only a recommended course. Will only taking statistics put me at a disadvantage? I'm not really a math person.
 
Here is what worked for me:
  • Try to apply concepts to real life; it helps to understand and "memorize"
  • practice problems
  • pay attention to UNITS, you can often recall formulas if you just remember units
  • understand unit cancellation
I would say physics is basically just converting words into basic math...when you read through a problem, write out what is given, and then go from there.

Hope this helps, good luck
 
DelayedGratification said:
Here is what worked for me:
  • Try to apply concepts to real life; it helps to understand and "memorize"
  • practice problems
  • pay attention to UNITS, you can often recall formulas if you just remember units
  • understand unit cancellation
I would say physics is basically just converting words into basic math...when you read through a problem, write out what is given, and then go from there.

Hope this helps, good luck
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Thank you! Were you expected to memorize formulas? I guess it depends on the teacher.
 
Hi! I watched a ton of Khan Academy and reviewed the summary section at the end of each chapter.
 
WhyNeedAName said:
Hi! I watched a ton of Khan Academy and reviewed the summary section at the end of each chapter.
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Thank you! I plan on putting in enough time reviewing each concept and learning to apply it correctly. I just always worry that the formulas and their applications won't *click* for me like they should if I want to do well.
 
bfg1997 said:
Thank you! Were you expected to memorize formulas? I guess it depends on the teacher.
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Yeah we needed to memorize the formulas. However, if you can get a solid understanding of these formulas now, it will help on the mcat
 
bfg1997 said:
Thank you! I plan on putting in enough time reviewing each concept and learning to apply it correctly. I just always worry that the formulas and their applications won't *click* for me like they should if I want to do well.
Click to expand...
If you stumble on any topic, I would suggest watching a related video as you study.

Two more things to add:
  • be confident
  • I can't stress this enough, but try to find some level of interest in what you learn. Physics does describe a lot of why things are the way they are
 
Mad Jack said:
We were allowed one 3x5 card for formulas

I studied by doing practice problems for two hours a day, every day.
Click to expand...
I figured I'd need to put in a solid amount of work on a regular basis. I assume it takes lots of practice to really grasp it. Was it one of the harder pre-reqs for you?
 
DelayedGratification said:
If you stumble on any topic, I would suggest watching a related video as you study.

Two more things to add:
  • be confident
  • I can't stress this enough, but try to find some level of interest in what you learn. Physics does describe a lot of why things are the way they are
Click to expand...
Yeah, confidence definitely decides your grade to an extent. I figure if I review enough on a regular basis it has to make sense eventually. Would you say it was one of the harder pre-reqs you had to take?
 
bfg1997 said:
I figured I'd need to put in a solid amount of work on a regular basis. I assume it takes lots of practice to really grasp it. Was it one of the harder pre-reqs for you?
Click to expand...
It and Orgo were the most difficult, but I hear these days you don't need the 'ol two semesters of orgo anymore
 
Okay I'm sort of really dumb. The only way that I got through physics was trying to really understand the formula/concept. That means slow reading your textbook. Once I thought I had a good grasp on the concept, I did all of the practice problems in that chapter/book. And then I did them again until I could do them without any help. After a while, you do see a pattern in the question. That's key. Practice problems. Do them over again if you have to.

Michel van Biezen <--- This guy was a LIFE SAVER during my time in UG. He explains it very simply. (I took advanced physics on accident too, and was stuck with the course).
 
bfg1997 said:
Yeah, confidence definitely decides your grade to an extent. I figure if I review enough on a regular basis it has to make sense eventually. Would you say it was one of the harder pre-reqs you had to take?
Click to expand...
I can't really describe it as being difficult, but ochem and physics do require the most time spent out of class to do well. Whether that is 2 additional hours a week or 2 hours a day really depends on how you learn/study
 
Learn the concepts. Find concrete examples of each concept and why they work. Then do practice problems. If you do tons of problems without grasping the concepts, you will learn how to solve those problems, but will continue to stumble on new ones.

I tutor a number of people in physics, and that is by far the biggest stumbling block for most people. Second to that is trouble with math, which you just need to practice.
 
Watch YouTube videos when you don’t understand a concept. I actually taught myself physics through YouTube when I took the course.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Understand where the equations come from. In this sense, calc-based physics makes understanding easier because you get to understand where equations come from. That helps in remembering. Hell, Newton invented calculus so that he could do physics. If you can start from first principles and get to an equation, then when push comes to shove, you can solve a problem if you only know the first principles.
 
Be able to manipulate units. Understand the units, everything else follows.
 
HomeSkool said:
F = ma got me through a lot of hard times.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using SDN mobile
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I actually prefer Lagrangian mechanics, but it helps to learn Newton’s method first so that you can quickly double check to make sure you’re on the right path when you have nonconservative forces.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I actually prefer Lagrangian mechanics, but it helps to learn Newton’s method first so that you can quickly double check to make sure you’re on the right path when you have nonconservative forces.
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81b813d1deb70ac452e2d08faf9a6239--physics-jokes-math-jokes.jpg

Words to live by.
 
HomeSkool said:
81b813d1deb70ac452e2d08faf9a6239--physics-jokes-math-jokes.jpg

Words to live by.
Click to expand...

Although, coincidentally, I did use Newtonian mechanics to comfort my sister and mom after my nephew killed himself. They weren’t sleeping because they kept imagining him falling for like 10-20 seconds regretting it all the way down, but a quick calculation showed he fell for about 2 s. About long enough to say, “Oh ****.” Might sound morbid, but it actually made them feel better.
 
Mad Jack said:
You can do well in physics with this one simple trick!





























STUDY!
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Def not true lol. I study about 3x more for physics than organic and anatomy combined and pulling 96-99 in those. I do practice problems, watch videos, all the good stuff and still working my butt of trying to raise to an A in physics. Some people just don’t get it i.e. me. Although, maybe I’m just dumb and no one has told me yet 😀
 
bioboy23 said:
Def not true lol. I study about 3x more for physics than organic and anatomy combined and pulling 96-99 in those. I do practice problems, watch videos, all the good stuff and still working my butt of trying to raise to an A in physics. Some people just don’t get it i.e. me. Although, maybe I’m just dumb and no one has told me yet 😀
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It may take more work- for me it was a part-time job because I can't into math
 
Practice as many problems as possible. Do all of the problems in the back of your textbook assigned by your professor.
 
Mad Jack said:
It may take more work- for me it was a part-time job because I can't into math
Click to expand...
I’m the same way man. Bio and chem come naturally (as naturally as they can come, I guess) but math is just insane. I have a huge respect for people who can do math.

I’m not sure if the problem is needing to put in more work.. I do a TON of physics. I was always a firm believer that if you try hard enough in a class, you can get an A. I’m slowly starting to change my beliefs lol
 
bioboy23 said:
I’m the same way man. Bio and chem come naturally (as naturally as they can come, I guess) but math is just insane. I have a huge respect for people who can do math.

I’m not sure if the problem is needing to put in more work.. I do a TON of physics. I was always a firm believer that if you try hard enough in a class, you can get an A. I’m slowly starting to change my beliefs lol
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Eventually it started to make more sense, and I could conceptualize a bit. But it was like trying to eat spaghetti using only a spoon in regard to the effort level
 
bioboy23 said:
I’m the same way man. Bio and chem come naturally (as naturally as they can come, I guess) but math is just insane. I have a huge respect for people who can do math.

I’m not sure if the problem is needing to put in more work.. I do a TON of physics. I was always a firm believer that if you try hard enough in a class, you can get an A. I’m slowly starting to change my beliefs lol
Click to expand...

When you start thinking of the equations and stuff as a language instead of just something you do, it gets much easier. We discover mathematical structures and properties, but we describe it using the language of mathematics. All that stuff is just a label for a more foundational thing.

When you can translate English to math and vice versa, it gets a lot easier. Then doing advanced math becomes more about understanding how to explore things and applying the language to those things.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
When you start thinking of the equations and stuff as a language instead of just something you do, it gets much easier. We discover mathematical structures and properties, but we describe it using the language of mathematics. All that stuff is just a label for a more foundational thing.

When you can translate English to math and vice versa, it gets a lot easier. Then doing advanced math becomes more about understanding how to explore things and applying the language to those things.
Click to expand...
How would students encorporate this into their study techniques? Or is it just something that happens after a while?
 
bioboy23 said:
How would students encorporate this into their study techniques? Or is it just something that happens after a while?
Click to expand...

It’s something that will happen after a while if you keep doing math and physics, though without any effort it will probably stay at a basic level.

However, it is something you can actively do. For example, two phrases that are common in physics are “directly proportional” and “inversely proportional.” So if you apply those to flow rate of a viscous fluid, for example, we say that the flow rate is directly proportional to the fourth power of the radius of the tube and inversely proportional to the viscosity of the fluid. So whether you can memorize the equation or not, you already can say at least that Q = r^4/v, where v is the viscosity (that’s usually represented by a different symbol, usually a Greek letter).

So looking at this, you can see that as the radius of the tube increases, the flow rate is going to dramatically increase and overpower all but huge changes in viscosity. So the relationships between the properties of this fluid are what’s being described by this equation, not just some arbitrary numbers.

To extend it a little, flow rate is also directly proportional to the cross-sectional area of the tube multiplied by the velocity of the fluid at that section. So you can now also say that the velocity of the fluid is inversely proportional to its viscosity, which makes sense if you think about it.

And so math is really about describing relationships and properties of different objects (fluids, masses, etc).
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
It’s something that will happen after a while if you keep doing math and physics, though without any effort it will probably stay at a basic level.

However, it is something you can actively do. For example, two phrases that are common in physics are “directly proportional” and “inversely proportional.” So if you apply those to flow rate of a viscous fluid, for example, we say that the flow rate is directly proportional to the fourth power of the radius of the tube and inversely proportional to the viscosity of the fluid. So whether you can memorize the equation or not, you already can say at least that Q = r^4/v, where v is the viscosity (that’s usually represented by a different symbol, usually a Greek letter).

So looking at this, you can see that as the radius of the tube increases, the flow rate is going to dramatically increase and overpower all but huge changes in viscosity. So the relationships between the properties of this fluid are what’s being described by this equation, not just some arbitrary numbers.

To extend it a little, flow rate is also directly proportional to the cross-sectional area of the tube multiplied by the velocity of the fluid at that section. So you can now also say that the velocity of the fluid is inversely proportional to its viscosity, which makes sense if you think about it.

And so math is really about describing relationships and properties of different objects (fluids, masses, etc).
Click to expand...
Wow, thanks for the great answer! I’ll give it a better read-through tomorrow when I have a little less Pinot in my system.

Edit: happy thanksgiving!
 
Physics is made out to be this mystical science only few can master. It's not. Undergrad physics is patterns. Do thousands of questions. Schaums outlines and Khan Academy. There are only so many ways to push a box up an incline or bend light through a lens.
 
Anti-PD1 said:
Physics is made out to be this mystical science only few can master. It's not. Undergrad physics is patterns. Do thousands of questions. Schaums outlines and Khan Academy. There are only so many ways to push a box up an incline or bend light through a lens.
Click to expand...
I liked your post, until I saw your avatar.
 
Practice problems until you puke. I did so-so on my first exam in physics 1 and then just did every book problem (sometimes multiple times) for subsequent exams. If I didn't understand something I went to office hours... so I was there twice a week, haha. I had the highest grades on my remaining exams in physics 1 & all of physics 2. I really think problems and more problems is key. By the time you get to an exam you won't feel so thrown off when you sees things presented in a new way because you've tackled so many different problems.
 
Mad Jack said:
It and Orgo were the most difficult, but I hear these days you don't need the 'ol two semesters of orgo anymore
Click to expand...
still do if you want to take biochem, and most people recommend it now.
 
No tricks to physics. Just work hard and do a bunch of practice problems. Physics gave me my worst grade so far-still passing by medical school standards though and I cranked in that class as if my life depended on it.

On the plus side everything in physics 2 relates back to physics 1 so if you trash physics 1 there's still hope for physics 2.
 
There is NO shortcut in physics. You gotta pit the time in.
 
My lectures are recorded so I watch the lectures for 1 chapter in 1 day, work through the problems with the professor's lectures, read the chapter in the book, followed with the problems during the chapter, and then resolve old homework. Repeat for each chapter and I'd have 3 chapters done in 3/4 days.
 
As with most things in life, there is no alternative to hard work. I've mainly utilized Khan Academy and even looked up other powerpoints aside from the ones provided in my lecture on google. They have lots of great concept and math questions out there that explain answers. In addition, you could always go to office hours and use other on-campus resources your institution may have. Don't be anxious about something that's not occurring right now. Who knows, you could walk into Physics and just be really damn good at it with minimal effort. Finish this current semester strong and enjoy winter break and come back next year ready to WIN!
 
None of the concepts in any undergraduate class are particularly hard. The only hard part is translating the material into familiar terms.

I'm a mechanical engineering senior. Even though it's regarded as a really tough major in pre-med circles, I'm doing quite well in it. Here's how. When you learn a topic, ask yourself these questions: What does it mean for my day to day life? What are it's implications? What is the physical significance? Can I make an analogy for it? What does the equation tell you? Can you dumb down the concept into everyday words? Can you teach someone else (Try to do so)?

Trying to speak aloud to teach someone (even yourself) is very useful because you can see your own train of though and very quickly pinpoint the exact part that is confusing you. Trying to teach someone the material is especially useful once you think you've learned the material because it lets you find those weaknesses and further reinforce your own knowledge.

Also do LOTS of practice problems. BUT, be careful that you aren't just blindly memorizing the procedure without truly understanding it. Again, trying to teach someone comes in handy here because you will be forced to explaining the reasoning behind every step.
 
__AVI8R__ said:
Also do LOTS of practice problems. BUT, be careful that you aren't just blindly memorizing the procedure without truly understanding it. Again, trying to teach someone comes in handy here because you will be forced to explaining the reasoning behind every step.
Click to expand...

This is key. Just doing tons of practice problems without learning the concepts will simply teach you how to do those problems. I’ve seen people be able to teach others how to do a simple problem, but when you change the numbers and add a little extra information (or even make it simpler), they suddenly are lost because they didn’t actually get the concept.
 
I only skimmed this thread so this advice might have been mentioned elsewhere but: If your professor makes you memorize formulas, its a lot easier to do if you can figure out the relationships between the formulas, rather than trying to memorize every single formula as a separate entity.

For example, if you try to memorize the big 4 kinematic equations completely separately and then just plug in numbers as needed, you won't actually learn them very well. They're not independent of each other, and learning how the connections work will be more helpful than straight up memorizing the equations themselves. This is then helpful if you forget one of the equations you need on an exam - if you know other related equations, you can often derive the equation you actually need.

Your professor should show you these derivations when they introduce the equations, so pay attention to that, and practice it! It will help you understand the material, and it can really save your butt when you have a brain fart during a test.
 
bioboy23 said:
Bio and chem come naturally (as naturally as they can come, I guess) but math is just insane. I have a huge respect for people who can do math.
Click to expand...
Such a trip, I'm totally the opposite. Give me logical reasoning any day of the week over - well, just about any thing else!
For OP: I loved physics. As many others have said, do lots of practice problems. Also be well-rested before any exam. I mostly did well in physics but bombed one test after a weekend of no sleep.
EDIT: also when you're writing up a problem, always always include the units. Like, make sure you write out "m/s" or whatever; don't just assume you'll remember what the units should be because you're talking about speed. You can get really far with careful unit analysis.
 
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