How to Do Well in Physics?

baktrax
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 16:21:36 +0000

There’s surefire answer or right and wrong way to do things. You just have to figure out something that works for you.

Your professors are right. If you JUST read the material but don’t do any problems, you probably won’t know how to apply the information you read to a new problem. Since the tests are likely problem-based, then you probably won’t do well on the tests. However, if you JUST do problems and don’t understand any of the concepts, then you won’t know how to do the problems. You can look up the solution and think you understand it, but when it comes to do the problem by yourself on the test, you still don’t understand how to do it. So the answer is you have to do both, and you have to keep doing both until you get it. For some people, that might only take a couple of hours a week, and for others, that might take twenty. There’s no right answer. You just have to figure out a system that works for you.

What I would recommend is to try to get an understanding of the concepts (through lecture, through the reading, whatever works for you; if you’re pressed for time, I’d recommend focusing on the concepts presented in lecture–perhaps, read those specific sections if you have to), and then practice doing the problems for that concept. Try to do a range of problems (don’t just do the easy ones, don’t just do one kind of problem, etc), and you’ll likely find that with different concepts there are common types of problems that keep appearing. They might have different variations or different numbers, but if you get the reasoning behind the problem, you should be able to figure it out.

Also, don’t just try the problem, look at the solution, and then move on with your life. If you get the problem wrong, look at the solution but figure out what you did wrong and then try again. Don’t just memorize the steps to solve the problem. Think about WHY you’re using the equations that you’re using, or why you’re doing the step that your doing. That way if you have a different problem on the test or if they present you with the same concept in a different way, you’re in a better position to figure out what you should do.

So the advice isn’t conflicting because you really, you have to do both: learn the concept AND how to apply it to a problem. It might take you forever to figure out how to do that but if you want to do well in these classes, you just have to do what it takes.