Starting my physics undergrad this year

[starstruck_]

Hey! So I posted something similar back when I was deciding what to apply to at university and whether or not I should go for physics or not. I'll be starting my concurrent program with a BEd. & astrophysics this fall.

Kind of worried about it now. I'm commuting 3 -4 hours a day and have: linear algebra, calc 1, calc 2, cs for the physical sciences, physics, and astronomy.

So,the work load is definitely something I'm a little scared of, combine that with the fact that if I'm not able to keep my marks for physics I get kicked out of teaching too :'(

I did horribly in grade 12, not just in physics, in general. Always sleepy in classes (except for calculus, my calculus teacher used to let us figure things out on our own instead of "teaching" us so it kept me awake, I had fun, and did well- loved calculus!)

Despite the fact I did horribly in physics, I chose it because it's the only subject other than calculus that I can study for hours non stop, without getting bored or sleepy.

(Didn't do that last year bc I spent all that time on English so I barely studied for physics but when I studied over breaks and what not, I loved it).

I'm trying not to repeat that again,and actually do well.
I've already visited the doctor about my tiredness and she's completed a blood test last Friday. I've been changing how much sleep I get and also my work load for uni- I was supposed to take two more chemistry courses but dropped them to the summer.Is there anything that I can do about it academically, besides taking care of myself?

A way to handle commuting, and studying and not be overly exhausted?

Is there a way I can stop being so nervous during tests too?

If I can't get something right off the bat, I start freaking out, or if I make a mistake or do poorly once, I start getting scared of future mistakes and mess up even more.

Sorry for the redundant post, school's starting soon and I just want any new advice I can get.

 

[Dr.D]

Sounds like you need to find a way to get rid of the long commute. That is taking up a chunk of your time. Alternatively, is there a way that you can use the commute time productively (like studying on a train or bus)?

Based on what you said in your post, this does not sound promising to me. I think you really need to revise the plan.

 

[gleem]

How many days/wk will you commute and how many credit hours are you taking?

 

[starstruck_]

Sounds like you need to find a way to get rid of the long commute. That is taking up a chunk of your time. Alternatively, is there a way that you can use the commute time productively (like studying on a train or bus)?

Based on what you said in your post, this does not sound promising to me. I think you really need to revise the plan.

I'm commuting 3-4 hours altogether - around 1.5 one way and 1.5 back, but I'm not planning on commuting home right after classes end, I'm going to stay to finish work and once it's done, I'll commute home so I haven't tired myself out before getting anything done. I can sleep on the way home/on the way there, or read up/ review on the way there. I'll be bussing to school, much cheaper than residence- 4 dollars a day for both ways altogether.

 

[starstruck_]

How many days/wk will you commute and how many credit hours are you taking?

I'll be commuting 3-4 days a week in the fall and 5 in the winter, I'm taking the bare minimum for a full time student which is 24/30 credits for the year. I have 3 lecture hours a week/ course - looking at how my courses are split over the semesters, I have 12-13lecture hours + tutorial hours/ week and 3 lab hours every other week.

 

[Dr.D]

If I had tried your approach, there would have been many days when I never got home at all. As a freshman, I was often up until at least 4 am working on physics problems and labs. I'm sure the commuting option is cheaper in dollars, but is it really a better value? Only you can decide, but the commute is definitely going to work against you.

There is also the question of where will you go to work on school before commuting home? The student union? A great place to drink coffee and talk, but not a great place to study. The library? Well, maybe, but I never could get much done in the library.

I think you have a really difficult situation here.

 

[starstruck_]

If I had tried your approach, there would have been many days when I never got home at all. As a freshman, I was often up until at least 4 am working on physics problems and labs. I'm sure the commuting option is cheaper in dollars, but is it really a better value? Only you can decide, but the commute is definitely going to work against you.

There is also the question of where will you go to work on school before commuting home? The student union? A great place to drink coffee and talk, but not a great place to study. The library? Well, maybe, but I never could get much done in the library.

I think you have a really difficult situation here.

Oh no :( I can't apply for residency now and it's super expensive to find a place in toronto, the area is pretty bad too, so there's not much I can do :/ I've already told my mom I won't be helping around the house next year nor running errands, and she understands what's up to. I'm not sure what other way there is to work around this except get a place a little farther down but uh Toronto is definitely out of my budget :( I didn't really have a justifiable reason to live on residence anyways because everyone from my city commutes to my university :/ that's what my guidance counsellor mentioned , he didn't really like the commuting idea either. Gahhh I'm definitely stuck [emoji27]

 

[starstruck_]

Also wanted to add, if I were to live on campus, the only way I could afford it is by working part time and I'd have to work 10-15 hours a week, I'm just putting that time into commuting now

 

[gleem]

You need to assure that you get 7-8 hours of good sleep each night. When to commute to home may need some experimentation. If you take a late bus and doze off, when you get home you may not be tired to sleep. Try to establish a reasonable schedule with which you can adhere. You course load will be a bit challenging I expect first because this is a new experience and second the bar will probably have been raised with regard to the effort that will be required of you. Do not fall behind in any course expecting that you will catch up. Your fellow students may not all be freshmen and competition might be more challenging. In other words be prepared to work hard.

 

[Dr.D]

I recall being a top student in high school only to get to college and discover that all my classmates had been top students. It was a revelation! The competition for grades took a step change!

That said, my physics class started with 25, but by mid-semester, we were down to 5. The other guys dropped like flies! I'd never seen anything like that. But, it was an excellent class with real content and great labs.

 

[Choppy]

I think you're letting yourself get intimidated by something that hasn't happened yet.

At first glance that seemed like a heavy course load because it seemed like six STEM classes that would occur over one semester. But now that you've explained, I think it's over the course of a full year. That's totally fine. In fact, it actually seems rather light. Most students at your school will be taking five classes per semester.

That commute is going to be tough, but it seems like it is what it is for now, and its important to keep in mind that a lot of people manage to do it successfully every day. You might want to re-evaluate your decision for next year if it's really not working, but base this on evidence, rather than conjecture and anxiety. I really hope your plan is to take advantage of public transportation (GO Train and the TTC if I recall). One thing that might help is to try to plan your commute to avoid rush hour as much as possible. Go in super early or late in the morning if you can so that the commute will be a little more comfortable. And take advantage of that time to do some reading, or planning.

Things that can help with feeling tired are the usual suspects. Get adequate sleep. Avoid caffeine. Get adequate exercise. Avoid junk food. Eat healthy. On top of that you can look at things to help reduce your stress levels too. Before going to bed, plan out your next day - write out a list of things that you need to do so you don't have to keep them all jumbled up in your brain all night. Make sure to socialize with positive people. Avoid too much screen time. In class, make sure you're actively engaged. Ask questions. Take notes. Sit as close to the front as possible. Read ahead so that you're coming into each lecture with an idea of what the professor will be talking about.

You're going to have an awesome time at university. You're going to get a great education in a subject that you love (or at least find extremely interesting).

 

[starstruck_]

I recall being a top student in high school only to get to college and discover that all my classmates had been top students. It was a revelation! The competition for grades took a step change!

That said, my physics class started with 25, but by mid-semester, we were down to 5. The other guys dropped like flies! I'd never seen anything like that. But, it was an excellent class with real content and great labs.

Yikesss a little worried now [emoji28]
My physics class went from 20 something to 9 people in grade 12 alone D: and the registrar said there's only 10 people in my program at my university (it didn't make sense until the university pages opened up on fb and I realized no one else was doing physics)

 

[starstruck_]

I think you're letting yourself get intimidated by something that hasn't happened yet.

At first glance that seemed like a heavy course load because it seemed like six STEM classes that would occur over one semester. But now that you've explained, I think it's over the course of a full year. That's totally fine. In fact, it actually seems rather light. Most students at your school will be taking five classes per semester.

That commute is going to be tough, but it seems like it is what it is for now, and its important to keep in mind that a lot of people manage to do it successfully every day. You might want to re-evaluate your decision for next year if it's really not working, but base this on evidence, rather than conjecture and anxiety. I really hope your plan is to take advantage of public transportation (GO Train and the TTC if I recall). One thing that might help is to try to plan your commute to avoid rush hour as much as possible. Go in super early or late in the morning if you can so that the commute will be a little more comfortable. And take advantage of that time to do some reading, or planning.

Things that can help with feeling tired are the usual suspects. Get adequate sleep. Avoid caffeine. Get adequate exercise. Avoid junk food. Eat healthy. On top of that you can look at things to help reduce your stress levels too. Before going to bed, plan out your next day - write out a list of things that you need to do so you don't have to keep them all jumbled up in your brain all night. Make sure to socialize with positive people. Avoid too much screen time. In class, make sure you're actively engaged. Ask questions. Take notes. Sit as close to the front as possible. Read ahead so that you're coming into each lecture with an idea of what the professor will be talking about.

You're going to have an awesome time at university. You're going to get a great education in a subject that you love (or at least find extremely interesting).

Yeup! It's over the year -4 each den (physics is full year)

 

[MidgetDwarf]

I commute about 2.5 hours a day. I have been doing it for my whole life, and still do. If you read on train/bus, you can think of this as study time. I usually read my non mathematical textbooks on the train, general education requirements, write down Theorems and their proofs, things I need to remember, things that I do not understand.
Give this a shot. Also, do you exercise and eat well? I only need about 4 hours of sleep to function at 100%. I know someone who needs a full eight. I exercise everyday for at least 30 min, I am pushing 1 hour now. I am not sure, but I heard that people who exercise have more energy. I do not feel tired at all! I do sleep in for 10 hours on Sunday tho.

 

[starstruck_]

Yeup! It's over the year -4 each den (physics is full year)

*sem

 

[starstruck_]

I commute about 2.5 hours a day. I have been doing it for my whole life, and still do. If you read on train/bus, you can think of this as study time. I usually read my non mathematical textbooks on the train, general education requirements, write down Theorems and their proofs, things I need to remember, things that I do not understand.
Give this a shot. Also, do you exercise and eat well? I only need about 4 hours of sleep to function at 100%. I know someone who needs a full eight. I exercise everyday for at least 30 min, I am pushing 1 hour now. I am not sure, but I heard that people who exercise have more energy. I do not feel tired at all! I do sleep in for 10 hours on Sunday tho.

Yikes I don't exercise :/ was planning on starting though. I get to use the gym at the university for a good price, and I have nothing but a physics tutorial on Thursdays so I can go then.

 

[SunThief]

Hi starstruck_. I can offer what did and did not work for me. You want to assess what I write in the context of your own styles, strengths, and weaknesses:

1.) One conversation I'd had with a professor (when I was struggling) regarded the difference between deductive and inductive learning. We talked about how in primary and secondary schools—when we were mostly presented with structured material—we learned stuff, took tests on it, etc. Don’t expect Physics, engineering, etc. to work like that. The process isn’t as straightforward. The material is difficult, and there’s more of it. So you have to be kind to yourself by recognizing that the understanding often (usually??) comes after the "learning"!

2.) Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just reading material will suffice. One needs to try to make the material part of oneself. As kids we used to argue against memorizing stuff, but memory is crucial. Your mind needs to let things gel, process, error-correct, etc. It’s tough for it to do that if it’s struggling to find the material.

3.) One mistake I made was to stop taking notes (and in some cases stop attending classes), because I didn’t understand what I was hearing. Handwritten notes (I don’t know if typing works) reinforces what you are hearing, and helps with #2—even if you have no idea what it is.

4.) Course selection: as you go along, you may be offered more course electives, and may be allowed several weeks of drop/add before you decide what to take. Don’t do this. It is extremely difficult to catch up in a 3 or 4 month course if you start out 6 weeks behind.

5.) For me, class size was a disaster. We had core junior/senior level courses with 750 people in them. Figure out if this would be an issue for you.

6.) Others have mentioned being aware of the effects of things like: caffeine, sugar, alcohol. They effect you both during and after consumption. And I have never done well if I wasn't also exercising.

I can tell you that my best college test experience was one test freshman year in Physics (the mechanics part). I had a great professor, was caught up with the material, worked extra problems in the text alone and with a group.* The day of the test—a couple of hours before the exam—I went out for a relaxing run. I was comfortable I had prepared as well as I could.

Overall, I think, the biggest challenge is that now you need to learn to teach yourself. I had unbelievably wonderful teachers in the years before college, but the overall curriculum was not set up for students to teach themselves.................
* Be careful with this, it can be a waste of time too.

 

[MidgetDwarf]

Yikes I don't exercise :/ was planning on starting though. I get to use the gym at the university for a good price, and I have nothing but a physics tutorial on Thursdays so I can go then.

You don't need any fancy equipment to exercise! Start doing a few sit ups, push ups, squats. Always remember to stretch! If you are not used to exercising, doing these 3 basic activities in order, will help strengthen your key muscles. This will allow you to preform other types of exercises after a while of consistent training. I started only being able to do 20 sit ups, 20 push ups and 80 squats. Now I can do 400 pushups.

 

[Dishsoap]

Among others here - that commute worries me. I could've saved a lot of money by living with my parents and commuting 1 hour each day, but looking back I have no doubt that my grades, social life, and mental health would have suffered had I done this. You'll be missing out on late-night study sessions with your peers as well as a lot of social activities. I urge you to reconsider, but I have a feeling that after a year of commuting 3 hours each day, you won't need to be urged.

 

[StatGuy2000]

I know this post is a little late, but to the OP:

If you don't mind my asking, whereabouts do you live? From the posts above, it appears that you live somewhere in the GTA -- that stands for the Greater Toronto Area (the geographic area surrounding Toronto) for those not from Canada -- but you weren't very specific. Where do you study -- U of T? York U?

 

[starstruck_]

I know this post is a little late, but to the OP:

If you don't mind my asking, whereabouts do you live? From the posts above, it appears that you live somewhere in the GTA -- that stands for the Greater Toronto Area (the geographic area surrounding Toronto) for those not from Canada -- but you weren't very specific. Where do you study -- U of T? York U?

I am from the GTA! I go to YorkU (transferring to U of T- I don’t like york)

 

[StatGuy2000]

I am from the GTA! I go to YorkU (transferring to U of T- I don’t like york)

Yes, I can see how commuting could be an issue, given where York U is located (although there is now a direct subway link that can take you to the campus).

 

[starstruck_]

Yes, I can see how commuting could be an issue, given where York U is located (although there is now a direct subway link that can take you to the campus).

The subway doesn’t do anything for me cause I’m not from a city that the TTC services. I’ve heard from students that it has actually made it harder for them to get to school

 

[member 587159]

Just adding my two cents.

I also commute 3-4 hours at the days that I am going to my university.

The first semester, I had 7h of computer science, 8 hours of analysis/calculus, 8 hours of linear algebra, 4 hours of logic, 4 hours of discrete mathematics and sometimes additional hours of these courses. I.e., I had around 35h course each week, which means that I had to go from 8h am till 5h pm to class, so I had to leave bed early.

The key to succes is really to work hard, and not give up. I spent all of my weekends at studying, had to work on the metro (yes, I did calculus problems like solving line integrals, surface integrals, ... on crowded metros), and worked on any opportunity I could. I basically had no social life.

But in the end, the hard work pays off. I had high grades.

At the end of the semester, you learned how to work. And if you have the basics down under your belt, the other semesters will be easier.

At least, this is my vision on the subject.

 

[starstruck_]

The key to succes is really to work hard, and not give up. I spent all of my weekends at studying, had to work on the metro (yes, I did calculus problems like solving line integrals, surface integrals, ... on crowded metros), and worked on any opportunity I could. I basically had no social life.

But in the end, the hard work pays off. I had high grades.

At the end of the semester, you learned how to work. And if you have the basics down under your belt, the other semesters will be easier.

I’ve just started to stay at school longer to study now. That’s the solution I found. We have our own little building for the physics kids where I study. You get to know people in your program (extremely helpful) as well as the professors (one of them always brings their dog so that’s another plus XD)

I’ve become friends with some third years who’ve basically saved me from failing calc 2.With the basics the stuff I struggle with is E&M (made a detailed post about this) because I cannot for some reason, picture it in my head. Gauss’s law, ampere’s law- they’re great and all but don’t know how I’m supposed to look at something and suddenly say, hey I’ll make an imaginary surface around this and integrate. Stuff like that.

We were told that probability is a wave and everyone else seemed to understand it, but for me I was like okay, so I guess it’s a function, and that’s about it. Some other guys in class were like “oh yeah the most probability is at bright fringes not dark fringes” and I was confused until a third year friend explained.

I think I’m a little screwed.

 

[member 587159]

I’ve just started to stay at school longer to study now. That’s the solution I found. We have our own little building for the physics kids where I study. You get to know people in your program (extremely helpful) as well as the professors (one of them always brings their dog so that’s another plus XD)

I’ve become friends with some third years who’ve basically saved me from failing calc 2.With the basics the stuff I struggle with is E&M (made a detailed post about this) because I cannot for some reason, picture it in my head. Gauss’s law, ampere’s law- they’re great and all but don’t know how I’m supposed to look at something and suddenly say, hey I’ll make an imaginary surface around this and integrate. Stuff like that.

We were told that probability is a wave and everyone else seemed to understand it, but for me I was like okay, so I guess it’s a function, and that’s about it. Some other guys in class were like “oh yeah the most probability is at bright fringes not dark fringes” and I was confused until a third year friend explained.

I think I’m a little screwed.

I think you are not. It happens more often than not that I don't understand anything in a lecture. I think this is absolutely normal (note that I do not prepare for these lectures,since the notitions that the professors supply helps understanding). When you look at it home, things become clearer.

As what EM and gauss law and stuff says, what do you mean with imaginary surface? Most of the times, there is asked to calculate a flux or something like that, and is clear what surface one must use. Also, the integrals very often use some form of symmetry so that it is very easy to evaluate them.