NYeagle

read the text before class, i am going to do that. But with 20 credits, it becomes ridiculously hard. Especially the night before tues and thursday. From 9 - 6 STRAIGHT. But i have done significantly better on the first quiz after my post. I got a 9/10. two long problems that i couldnt have done without being the dumb guy and asking the question from the instructor.

BoelterHall

Same situation as your NYeagle. I took about the same load, and still did it, but also have no life outside of academics.

It gets tough when each lecture covers one chapter a day (~25-50 pages per lecture per subject). I learned that you don't have to know every detail in advance, but the major ones while previewing.

It definitely feels a lot comfortable to know the material beforehand, and you feel a bit accomplished once the professor lectures on what you have skimmed through.

My biggest advice is to study everything you have learned within 36 hours. That is because you'll forget what you didn't know later. I have found that this is a good practice; consistent studying and keeping up with material allowed me to have a very relaxing finals week. I was only spending 10 hours doing practice problems and quickly reviewing the cumulative material, rather than for some people, spending 70+ hours straight cramming and probably not doing as well on the final exam.

echan621

As others have mentioned I think this is extremely effective.

An additional tip regarding this: write all over your text book. As you are reading, use the margins to re-summarize concepts (in your own words), make notes, or circle important pieces of information. It's not so much that you're trying to make a "cliff-notes" study guide in your textbook as it is that you have to be thinking in order to restate concepts in different words. The true goal is in being attentive and focussed while you're reading.

Regarding homework, I suggest that you create your own solution's manual, as if you were trying to guide someone else through each problem, one step at a time. See if you can't do a better job than the one that came with the book.


Finally, there are many free online resources.

MIT's Walter Lewin is a very good communicator and video lectures of his physics classes are available for free.
MIT OpenCourseWare | Physics | 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999 | Video Lectures
MIT OpenCourseWare | Physics | 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002 | Video Lectures
MIT OpenCourseWare | Physics | 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves, Fall 2004 | Video Lectures
These lectures are especially helpful if you've done some book reading prior to viewing.

There are many helpful websites too.
HyperPhysics Concepts
Physics concepts may be difficult to understand and sometimes it's helpful to hear the same concepts explained in different words. If you don't understand a section of your textbook, you can try to see how others explain it.

NYeagle

very good references