Studying difficulties with physics

[semaphore]

Well, math hasn't been much of a problem lately, I've studied trigonometry, antiderivative, integrals, that sorta stuff. I feel I know the basics, but somehow I always was on the border of failing on every test despite me actually finding it relatively fun and feeling I actually knew something, which kinda sucks.

Which topic have you been getting wrong? I'm assuming you at least get to find out what you've done wrong in the tests.

At all. In fact, I understand so little that I can't even remember what I've actually been studying this past autumn, now when you're asking.

STEM might just not be your thing from the sounds of it.

[Rukentuts]

STEM might just not be your thing from the sounds of it.

You can graduate in STEM and still not remember a thing / hate physics.

<- Personal experience

[semaphore]

I bet you cheated by taking a STEM degree that doesn't actually use physics

I took physics that one time and got a B. Resigned myself to only reading about cosmology ever since...

[Rukentuts]

I bet you cheated by taking a STEM degree that doesn't actually use physics

We have a wieeeeeeeener.

They made us take two 5 credit Physics courses for SE / CPR E. The labs made me /wrist.

[Deleted]

Which topic have you been getting wrong? I'm assuming you at least get to find out what you've done wrong in the tests.

I always get to know that I do good in lessons but that my test results always turn out borderline-horrible, loads of obvious misses and non-sensical calculations apparently.

STEM might just not be your thing from the sounds of it.

Don't really feel I have much of a choice, STEM subjects are the least boring of all the other alternatives, plus they actually offer jobs.

[Rukentuts]

I always get to know that I do good in lessons but that my test results always turn out borderline-horrible, loads of obvious misses and non-sensical calculations apparently.

You probably have exam anxiety same as I did. We know shit (we'll even mutter correct answers while we walk home after the exam and curse) but when we stare at the exam we blank.

[semaphore]

I always get to know that I do good in lessons but that my test results always turn out borderline-horrible, loads of obvious misses and non-sensical calculations apparently.

Sounds like you need more practice. Like, doing questions without seeing the answer first.

[Deleted]

You probably have exam anxiety same as I did. We know shit (we'll even mutter correct answers while we walk home after the exam and curse) but when we stare at the exam we blank.

I get pretty anxious too, but I never feel I blank completely. A thought process for me would be like worrying about the tests for about 2 weeks, study like crazy, sit with the test shaking, looking at the first page of the test, thinking "eh, this doesn't look hard at all", do everything, feeling that I actually know what I'm doing, turn it in, kinda nervous about the results, then we get the results and I'm really shakey, and then be depressed for 2 additional weeks when I realize I just passed.

Sounds like you need more practice. Like, doing questions without seeing the answer first.

Yeah, I definitely need a better learning tactic as well.

[semaphore]

How do you actually do your studying? Also gives us some examples of the mistakes you've made in tests.

[Reeve]

As others in this thread have suggested, you might find it easier to watch a more pop-culture physics youtube video to give you an overview of the subject so that you have a strong reference frame when you go back to look at the actual material. If you generate an interest in the subject matter that way, then you'll be less likely to be uninterested/sleepy when you're studying the more detailed stuff.

[TacTican]

A few basic questions for you, OP:

Is your physics course calculus-based or non-calculus?

Are you taking a physics course in general physics, mechanics, or electricity and magnetism? (Roughly speaking, general physics would cover mechanics, electricity, circuits, thermodynamics, relativity, and atomic physics as an overview. Mechanics would be kinematics, forces, mechanical energy, machines, dynamics of motion, and a lab course where most of the labs consist of sliding that damn cart down the track repeatedly. Electricity and magnetism would be exactly what the name sounds like.)

EDIT: Also, if you post a sample problem, I can demonstrate my problem-solving process to you.

[Deleted]

How do you actually do your studying? Also gives us some examples of the mistakes you've made in tests.

I read the math problem. Then I try to solve it. Then I check the answer. If I get it wrong I try to come up with where I did wrong. Fix it, try to remember what I did by writing my mistake down, next problem.

As for test results, I can only access them at school, the only mistake I know I've done in the past is that I've forgotten to convert sinus/cosinus when derivating/antiderivating, which is something I never forget to do outside the test, so that one sticks out for me.

Is your physics course calculus-based or non-calculus?

Mostly calculus. My first course I had general physics and mechanics, this course I have electricity and magnetism.

[semaphore]

I read the math problem. Then I try to solve it. Then I check the answer. If I get it wrong I try to come up with where I did wrong. Fix it, try to remember what I did by writing my mistake down, next problem.

Writing mistakes, imho, doesn't help much. Much better to note down the problem you got wrong, and then go back to it in a couple of days. Repeat until you get it right every time. You want to learn the problems, not just memorise stuff.

As for test results, I can only access them at school, the only mistake I know I've done in the past is that I've forgotten to convert sinus/cosinus when derivating/antiderivating, which is something I never forget to do outside the test, so that one sticks out for me.

Right, I've had that before. I think you just need more practice so that when you are nervous/stressed you don't forget something like that (which happens easily).

[Deleted]

Writing mistakes, imho, doesn't help much. Much better to note down the problem you got wrong, and then go back to it in a couple of days. Repeat until you get it right every time. You want to learn the problems, not just memorise stuff.

Just want to clarify, a good way of studying is to do the math problem, check if I got it right, if I don't I skip it, wait 'til the next time I study math and then try again?

[Kujako]

Just want to clarify, a good way of studying is to do the math problem, check if I got it right, if I don't I skip it, wait 'til the next time I study math and then try again?

I find starting with the answer and then trying to determine how it was reached to be more productive.

[semaphore]

Just want to clarify, a good way of studying is to do the math problem, check if I got it right, if I don't I skip it, wait 'til the next time I study math and then try again?

What I usually did was to peruse the theory first. Then I'll go through all the problems one by one, checking the answers after I finished each one. If I got one wrong, I'll try to figure out how to do them, like you, and then I'll note down which ones I got wrong. The difference between us is that when I finished every question, I'll go back to the start and do all the ones I got wrong before (or was unsure/only got right by luck) again.

I repeat this until I get everything right the first try. Then I'll come back to it the next day and go through the whole procedure. Thereafter I'll just focus on the one or two persistently wrong questions, until the day before the test, when I review everything again.

[TacTican]

I read the math problem. Then I try to solve it. Then I check the answer. If I get it wrong I try to come up with where I did wrong. Fix it, try to remember what I did by writing my mistake down, next problem.

As for test results, I can only access them at school, the only mistake I know I've done in the past is that I've forgotten to convert sinus/cosinus when derivating/antiderivating, which is something I never forget to do outside the test, so that one sticks out for me.

Happened to me all the time when I was first learning calculus as well. Familiarity with it helps, so I concur with the semaphore code.

Mostly calculus. My first course I had general physics and mechanics, this course I have electricity and magnetism.

Which textbook are you using? Tipler was the high school standard back when I was in high school, but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

I used to help college students in the entry-level physics courses with their homework and attempting to understand the material, so I'm familiar with a lot of the mistakes people make. IMO one of the biggest offenders is trying to memorize formulas instead of developing problem-solving techniques and truly learning the core concepts - i.e., substituting memorization for understanding. My professors used to remark that A-students would memorize five formulas over the course of the class, B-students would memorize ten, C-students would memorize twenty, D-students would memorize thirty, and F-students would memorize none. (Cue the immediate question "Which five?!" from the students, missing the point completely. ).

[Badpaladin]

Mostly calculus. My first course I had general physics and mechanics, this course I have electricity and magnetism.

How did you do in Mechanics? E&M is more abstract and math-heavy, and since it deals with stuff that's harder to visualize it's hard for some students to come up with an answer that "makes sense". Especially when dealing with stuff that synthesizes other topics, like needing to find the point in 3-Space a charge should be placed relative to a disk of charge such that the Electrostatic Force is at a maximum.

For complicated problems it's a matter of compartmentalizing your work. If you're dealing with some surface whose charge isn't constant, focus only on building an expression for the charge as a function (usually of time). Once you have that, just assign that to some arbitrary variable and play with it until you need to integrate/differentiate, then substitute your expression in and crank out the math. I find that doing that compresses the size of the problem significantly, making it much easier.

[Rukentuts]

Especially when dealing with stuff that synthesizes other topics, like needing to find the point in 3-Space a charge should be placed relative to a disk of charge such that the Electrostatic Force is at a maximum.

Thanks for reminding me of why I fucking hated PHYS 222.

[Deleted]

What I usually did was to peruse the theory first. Then I'll go through all the problems one by one, checking the answers after I finished each one. If I got one wrong, I'll try to figure out how to do them, like you, and then I'll note down which ones I got wrong. The difference between us is that when I finished every question, I'll go back to the start and do all the ones I got wrong before (or was unsure/only got right by luck) again.

I repeat this until I get everything right the first try. Then I'll come back to it the next day and go through the whole procedure. Thereafter I'll just focus on the one or two persistently wrong questions, until the day before the test, when I review everything again.

But isn't that just going to make you memorize the problems, not the actual theory? But if it works for you, I guess it should work for me.

Additionally, how long should I really study? Before I studied like 4-5 hours, but apparently 2 hours is what I should study at max, which is somewhat problematic since I've got about 5 other subjects to think of, and we have to progress with new math problems every week. This isn't normally a problem, but then you have those bloody weeks at the end of a term or just before a free week and every teacher pumps you on with all the shit that they apparently didn't make to plan in.