I’m a CompSci major and I just need one 5-credit hour Physics class. I’ve done well in all other core classes so I don’t want to rule out the major but I’m terrible at physics, I think; I’ve never taken it in high school and so I don’t have experience with even the very basics. I attempted the class in college my first semester but I had to drop out quickly and, well, I don’t have money to take it over the summer so I’m using the textbook, Physics for scientists for Engineering and Sciences, I got for the class and self-studying. That way, I will have some knowledge of it, and I won’t be suffering too much when I actually take it haha. I’m going over the basics, like 1d motion, at the moment and I’m struggling with all the review problems that go along with it. No matter how much time I try figuring it out, I have to end up looking it up online, because I can’t seem to master it. And I’ve identified the main issues as such: either (1) I don’t exactly understand what the problem is asking or (2) I’m having trouble with knowing which variables to replace and whatever. I have a really solid math foundation (good grades in higher math) but I’m bad at Physics and all its word problems. I really don’t want to fail out of this class because it’s freaking five credit hours and that will really kick my gpa in the ass. I’ve looked for advice online and it generally all seems the same; some people even suggested that it’s really not intuitive for some people and that makes me scared that I’ll never get it. What’s the best way to self-study physics for amateurs who are really bad at word problems?
A) Go here and learn:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics
B) When I took Physics in HS, the first thing our teacher taught us was to break down the problem into:
Given:
Find:
Steps.
So if the problem was;
An object has a mass of 13.24 kg and an acceleration of 16.12 m/s/s. What is the force on the object?
Given:
mass=13.24 kg
accel=16.12m/s/s
Find: Force
Steps:
- force=mass x acceleration
- f= 13.24 kg x 16.12 m/s/s
- f=213.42 kg*m/s/s
- f=213.42 N
C) Always make sure the units work out
D)Here is my general advice once you take the class.
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Go to Professor’s office hours and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?” Also talk to them about if they think you have a chance to succeed in the class at this point.
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If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
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Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
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Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
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If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
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If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
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For your tests, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do?
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How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
I found khan academy super useful when i was studying physics. I would try to do some labs at home if you can like Galileo’s law of constant acceleration, projectile motion, stuff like that really connects topics.