How to Learn Physics
Physics, like all science disciplines is primarily a process rather than
a body of factual knowledge to memorize, although some essential knowledge
is necessary. Here are suggestions for learning physics:
- Reading assignments: Skim chapters and
review homework problems prior to lecture. Do not
read chapters in detail prior to lecture. Detailed
review of lecture notes and detailed reading of the text
is most productive after lecture and when directed towards a specific purpose,
e.g. to answer a specific question. Blanket
detailed reading of the text is not as effective as problem
solving and answering questions to build skill in physics.
- Take advantage of textbook examples: The
textbook examples provide a great study resource.
Use a piece of paper to cover the solution while
reading the problem, then attempt to work the
problem yourself. Check the solution bit-by-bit to
help yourself along only when necessary. Check your
work with the textbook solution when you have
completed the problem. This is helpful for review,
even if you have seen the problems before!
- Engage in the lectures: Attending the
lectures and seeing demonstrations is an important
step, but the lecture cannot be passively received -
you need to active engage it! Bring paper to make
scratch notes when working example problems, ask
questions when it isn't making sense. If you find
your attention wandering over the course of the
lecture, trying sitting towards the front of the
room, to better connect to your professor.
- Homework: Attempt homework problems well
before they are due. Give yourself time to revisit problems
that you find challenging. Complete the homework ahead of
time. Attempt problems yourself first, to avoid
reliance on others. But then DO study with other
students: explaining and discussiong concepts and
problems will boost your ability to retain and
utilize the concepts.
- Utilize office hours: Bring specific
questions, or stubborn problems to work through, to
TA or professor office hours.
- Other Resources: Extra homework problems and tutorials
are also assigned on Mastering Physics. They are not graded but
give you extra problems to do with answers to do. The tutorials are also helpful.
If you need more examples,
the student solution manuals may be helpful. Many
more solutions are available on various websites,
some of which appear to be quite good in terms of
presentation (some solutions revealed step-by-step,
for example, to allow you to opportunity to complete
the problem yourself). These would seem to be
potentially a useful resource if used correctly
(be careful because the quality of
solutions at some popular sites may not be so good). Note that finding
homework solutions somewhere isn't very valuable:
you can work these problems out yourself, with
multiple attempts through Mastering Physics. The value in
these other resources would be as a study aid to
improve exam prepartion.
- Work more problems: To build problem-solving skills,
work as many problems as time will permit. There are a large
number of additional problems at the end of each
chapter. Working a large fraction of these will help
reinforce concepts and prepare you for the
challenging exams! These solutions will also be made available on Collab after the
homework is due.
- Focus on problems that are not catagorized by
textbook section, since these don't give you the
head start of knowing which concept you need to
use.
- Odd-numbered end-of-chapter problems have the
answers (though not the solutions) in the back
of the book.
- Focus on completing the problems. Don't ignore
"small" mistakes that give you a wrong numerical
answer even when you have the concept down.
Remember that the exams are all multiple-choice,
so little mistakes can cost you time and/or
points on an exam. Train yourself to focus on
completing the problem, and to check for common
errors.
- Can't figure a problem out? Maybe its not the
end of the world, but if you think there is a
concept you aren't getting (or you just don't
like "losing" to a problem), feel free to bring
the question to TA or your professor's office
hours.
|