Intermediate Mechanics Self-Review

[OrangeEater]

Good day,
I performed relatively well(A-) in the first course of my sophomore mechanics class, but I don't feel as if I've sufficiently mastered the material to perform well in the 2nd course in the sequence, and of course, the principles of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, simple harmonic oscillators, etc. are of interest to any physics major with the slightest interest in quantum mechanics. Does anyone have any resources/strong opinions on best practices for self-studying physics?
Thank you for your time.

 

[Dr.D]

At the time of taking the first course, in most cases, students have fairly limited amount of mathematics background. I would suggest that you focus on learning more math, and at the same time, go back over the material of the first course looking for new insights.

 

[OrangeEater]

At the time of taking the first course, in most cases, students have fairly limited amount of mathematics background. I would suggest that you focus on learning more math, and at the same time, go back over the material of the first course looking for new insights.

Awesome, thank you so much. I noticed I was getting confused with some of the complex analysis going into simple harmonic oscillators and some of the more involved differential equations solutions; I will definitely make a note to review that. Thank you again!

 

[Vanadium 50]

If you feel you haven't sufficiently "mastered the material", work more problems. Have you run out?

 

[mpresic3]

Sommerfeld, Mechanics is a stretch but reading the most interesting parts can really turn you on to mechanics. Other than that, I think preparing for more advanced math involved in your second mechanics course is good advice.
If you do go the Sommerfeld route, don't worry about not understanding everything. It is likely that even physics graduate students do not understand everything in Sommerfeld. But Sommerfeld seems to know how to showcase interesting mechanics and physics in general. If you find the textbook to buy or get at the library, you will probably return to that book again and again.

 

[jtbell]

I performed relatively well(A-) in the first course of my sophomore mechanics class, but I don't feel as if I've sufficiently mastered the material to perform well in the 2nd course in the sequence

Which textbook(s) do these courses use? Some people here are probably familiar with them, or at least acquainted.