When you are garbage at physics....

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

Hey All,

Im in my second semester physics (taking EM) and am struggling immensely. During 410 The highest grade I got on a test was a 92% while I got a D on two others and failed my final. I did all the homework, examples in the book, did study groups and went to office hours, none of which helped at all. I even got great scores in my labs and on any assignments I had.

This semester I decided to read ahead so I can be more prepared. Still getting perfect scores in discussion and mostly in Lab. I do all the homework and ask him a lot of questions. I felt really ready for the first exam (which covered Coloumbs Law, Gauss' Law, Potential Difference, and Capacitors) and even left the test feeling like I probably got a B. Well when I got my exam back today I got a 66%. He did curve it and I got 71% after that but, being a physics major, this is an unacceptable score for me. His exams are definitely hard but it didn't help that my friends in the class all got B's and A's (none of them are physics majors).

I'm just at a loss because everything I have tried hasn't worked for me. Maybe I just need to stop trying. I'm considering changing my major to applied math since I am far better at mathematics. I like the subject but my physics experience is feeling ruined.

Does anyone know how much it will affect your career outcome as a physicist to have such terrible scores?

 

[symbolipoint]

How was LAST semester, guessing that it was the fundamental mechanics Physics course. Did you LEARN, regardless of difficulty? Did you pass at least with grade C? In case Physics as major field is not for you, there are other choices. Develop some/other technical or technology skills according to your interests. You may still need to earn course credit in the E&M course which you're struggling in currently.

 

[Drakkith]

I'm just at a loss because everything I have tried hasn't worked for me. Maybe I just need to stop trying. I'm considering changing my major to applied math since I am far better at mathematics. I like the subject but my physics experience is feeling ruined.

First and foremost, you need to figure out if you genuinely aren't learning the material or if you're just having difficulty on the tests. Can you do the questions on the exams by yourself outside of an exam setting without having to look things up? Do you have difficulty with exams in other classes? You say you do all of the homework questions, but do you feel you actually understand the material?

Also, where exactly are you having trouble on your exams? Are you just forgetting equations? Making math errors? Or are you forgetting major concepts?

 

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

How was LAST semester, guessing that it was the fundamental mechanics Physics course. Did you LEARN, regardless of difficulty? Did you pass at least with grade C? In case Physics as major field is not for you, there are other choices. Develop some/other technical or technology skills according to your interests. You may still need to earn course credit in the E&M course which you're struggling in currently.

Last semester I went into the final with an even 80% and got an F on the final. He must have curved pretty heavy because I ended up with a B in the class. I also only got one B on an exam and two D's and an F on the others. I feel like I learned the basic concepts but if someone asked me to do a kinematic problem I would need to look up the concepts again to make sure I have it down correctly. My understanding of rotational dynamics was pretty poor as well. It's really hard for me to gauge how much I retained and didnt retain.

 

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

First and foremost, you need to figure out if you genuinely aren't learning the material or if you're just having difficulty on the tests. Can you do the questions on the exams by yourself outside of an exam setting without having to look things up? Do you have difficulty with exams in other classes? You say you do all of the homework questions, but do you feel you actually understand the material?

Also, where exactly are you having trouble on your exams? Are you just forgetting equations? Making math errors? Or are you forgetting major concepts?

I think it is a mixture of things. One problem on the exam looked like it was showing a vertical line charge with a point charge x distance away. We needed to find force on the point charge due to the line charge. So I thought I would need to use Coulomb's law and make a symmetry argument to cancel out the force in the y direction and solve for Fx, but I didnt read the problem right and we were given charge density and it was a uniform infinite plate, so I really needed to use Gauss' Law. It seemed so obvious after the fact put I just couldn't even get there in my mind. Another one I swapped to radius values accidentally and lost 40% on that question. Anything past that first question described I have no idea how I did it wrong. I have not had a chance to review the exam yet but will be tomorrow after class. I feel like if I am that stumped on why I did so bad then I don't have a clear understanding of the concepts or the equations.

I do really well in my other classes on exams. I tend to be an A student with the exception of a couple classes in which I got B's. I know this instructor is known to have hard exams but I feel like I am going crazy after putting in the time and then dropping the ball.

 

[Drakkith]

Go over your exam once you get it back. If most of your mistakes are simply minor math errors or are due to misreading the problem, then I wouldn't say that you don't know how to do physics, because you apparently do. You just need to focus on understanding the questions and avoiding math mistakes. But like I said, go over your test once you get it back and let us know. There are suggestions and resources we can offer that may help you.

 

[ZapperZ]

Hey All,

Im in my second semester physics (taking EM) and am struggling immensely. During 410 The highest grade I got on a test was a 92% while I got a D on two others and failed my final. I did all the homework, examples in the book, did study groups and went to office hours, none of which helped at all. I even got great scores in my labs and on any assignments I had.

This semester I decided to read ahead so I can be more prepared. Still getting perfect scores in discussion and mostly in Lab. I do all the homework and ask him a lot of questions. I felt really ready for the first exam (which covered Coloumbs Law, Gauss' Law, Potential Difference, and Capacitors) and even left the test feeling like I probably got a B. Well when I got my exam back today I got a 66%. He did curve it and I got 71% after that but, being a physics major, this is an unacceptable score for me. His exams are definitely hard but it didn't help that my friends in the class all got B's and A's (none of them are physics majors).

I'm just at a loss because everything I have tried hasn't worked for me. Maybe I just need to stop trying. I'm considering changing my major to applied math since I am far better at mathematics. I like the subject but my physics experience is feeling ruined.

Does anyone know how much it will affect your career outcome as a physicist to have such terrible scores?

I think it is a mixture of things. One problem on the exam looked like it was showing a vertical line charge with a point charge x distance away. We needed to find force on the point charge due to the line charge. So I thought I would need to use Coulomb's law and make a symmetry argument to cancel out the force in the y direction and solve for Fx, but I didnt read the problem right and we were given charge density and it was a uniform infinite plate, so I really needed to use Gauss' Law. It seemed so obvious after the fact put I just couldn't even get there in my mind. Another one I swapped to radius values accidentally and lost 40% on that question. Anything past that first question described I have no idea how I did it wrong. I have not had a chance to review the exam yet but will be tomorrow after class. I feel like if I am that stumped on why I did so bad then I don't have a clear understanding of the concepts or the equations.

I do really well in my other classes on exams. I tend to be an A student with the exception of a couple classes in which I got B's. I know this instructor is known to have hard exams but I feel like I am going crazy after putting in the time and then dropping the ball.

There is a bunch of confusing and contradictory statements here.

1. This professor's exam is hard. Well, no, it appears that it isn't. If your friends, who are not even physics majors, are getting B's and A's, then I'd say that it sounds as if there are students getting good grades.

2. This professor's exam is hard, Part 2. Well, no. The example of the question you described is almost standard question that one asks in a class at this level, and something you should have gotten correct. The problem isn't the question (or even the professor). The problem is the wrong approach you took to solve it. When I give a student a line charge, and he/she doesn't realize that one should use Gauss's law to solve it, that's a MAJOR oversight! Using Coulomb's law is possible, but you will be "penalized" in doing that via time management, i.e. it will take a lot more effort and a lot more time to solve it using Coulomb's law.

The whole question here is, have you learned anything from the mistakes you made during such exams? You never once mentioned if you've looked through those exams that you didn't do so well in, and diagnosed the problem. Did you simply read a question too quickly and rushed into it without taking a deep breath and thinking it through first before diving into it? Or are you prone to make silly mistakes? After all, it appears that you're repeating this mistake from one course to the next.

Until you sit down and figure out for yourself what you are doing wrong, you will keep making the same mistakes. If you have figured it out but you continue to repeat those mistakes, then there's nothing anyone here can say to change that.

Zz.

 

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

There is a bunch of confusing and contradictory statements here.

1. This professor's exam is hard. Well, no, it appears that it isn't. If your friends, who are not even physics majors, are getting B's and A's, then I'd say that it sounds as if there are students getting good grades.

2. This professor's exam is hard, Part 2. Well, no. The example of the question you described is almost standard question that one asks in a class at this level, and something you should have gotten correct. The problem isn't the question (or even the professor). The problem is the wrong approach you took to solve it. When I give a student a line charge, and he/she doesn't realize that one should use Gauss's law to solve it, that's a MAJOR oversight! Using Coulomb's law is possible, but you will be "penalized" in doing that via time management, i.e. it will take a lot more effort and a lot more time to solve it using Coulomb's law.

The whole question here is, have you learned anything from the mistakes you made during such exams? You never once mentioned if you've looked through those exams that you didn't do so well in, and diagnosed the problem. Did you simply read a question too quickly and rushed into it without taking a deep breath and thinking it through first before diving into it? Or are you prone to make silly mistakes? After all, it appears that you're repeating this mistake from one course to the next.

Until you sit down and figure out for yourself what you are doing wrong, you will keep making the same mistakes. If you have figured it out but you continue to repeat those mistakes, then there's nothing anyone here can say to change that.

Zz.

Thanks for your helpful insight.

 

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

Go over your exam once you get it back. If most of your mistakes are simply minor math errors or are due to misreading the problem, then I wouldn't say that you don't know how to do physics, because you apparently do. You just need to focus on understanding the questions and avoiding math mistakes. But like I said, go over your test once you get it back and let us know. There are suggestions and resources we can offer that may help you.

I went over the exam and I think I am not understanding the material on a deeper level. I have seen the concepts in specific scenarios and know how to solve them that way but given a new scenario where there are mixed concepts I am getting confused. Things like what values to plug in for E given the information I have. If my mind is stuck on Coulomb's Law, my brain is even looking at Gauss' Law. If it's not unethical for me to do, I can upload my exam so you can see the specific exam questions.

 

[berkeman]

If it's not unethical for me to do, I can upload my exam so you can see the specific exam questions.

Just upload the 1-2 hardest questions please. Uploading a whole exam would be a bit much...

 

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

Just upload the 1-2 hardest questions please. Uploading a whole exam would be a bit much...

Here they are. The full exam was an hour long with 4 questions with 3 parts each. Each problem was worth 25 points. I understand why I did the first one wrong. I forgot to use Gauss' law instead of coulomb's law. This problem is where the bulk of the points were lost. Assuming I remembered the correct method and didn't make any mistakes those 19 points would have bumped me up to an A.

In the question I didn't state a symmetry argument (E=E(r)r^) and I think I am mixed up on which radius to use in what spot on part a (this was not just a small mistake made, I legitimately don't remember which is which.) The last part on that one, I just couldn't come to an equation that wouldn't give me an undefined value so I threw out a statement that I figured was wrong (it's better to write something than nothing right?) but just didn't know where to go.

I appreciate the time all of you have taken to respond to me thus far and any amount of help is appreciated. Even just getting to talk through it helps.

 

[MeIsAPhysicsGuy]

Glad I took the time to post this and no one ever replied.

 

[berkeman]

Glad I took the time to post this and no one ever replied.

Sarcasm noted. But in fairness, posting so many problems without typing your work into the forum makes it hard to deal with. The images are not very clear, so we would need to zoom in and try to figure out what the problem is with each.

I'll go ahead and close this thread. Please post one question at a time in the Homework Help forums and post the question and your work into the forum using the template. That will make it a lot easier for us to give you help with these questions. Thanks.