Recent content by Ethan Klein

I just emailed the professors and he said... “Looks like you’re all set. 137a should suffice. It would be good if you took some stat mech too as we’ll be covering some of those concepts.” Where 137A is the first one quantum course. He specified that I may want to review “degrees of freedom,”...

I am going to send an email today to the professor in regards to this question. For now, here is the syllabus used by a different professor, and it is likely to very similar if not the same as the course I will take. https://tbp.berkeley.edu/syllabi/765/download/ Also slight correction, it...

I would have to ask about topics beyond the Druid model, but I know the course follows Kittel and Fermi Surfaces are covered. In most of my classes so far, if a proof requires Stat Mech knowledge it is usually taken for granted and simple used as an axiom (of sorts) Besides those few select...

It does not have Stat Mech as a prereq. One of my buddies asked the solid state prof about prereq knowledge and he only indicated that basic quantum was necessary. To be fair though, my school is loose on prereqs. I was a tad worried considering that solid state uses some statistical methods...

This is key. When you are first learning physics, your foundation is very minimal, so struggling through tons and tons of problems is a requirement for improvement. This will help you develop your physical intuition, something which is not necessarily required for math class. My profs said the...

I'm curious if anyone has either shared a similar experience or has input regarding this. I was planning to take Stat Mech my second semester junior year, but heard the prof is AWFUL and unorganized, so I signed up for solid state instead (upon hearing that the solid state prof is awesome). My...

I love the Heaviside Cover-up method! The math class I'm taking right now is all about applied math and using shortcuts to do problems quickly. While I do not claim to be good at applying any of the techniques I've learned in that class, it absolutely has made computation easier and I will...

Yes this is very good advice, and is the system I use and have used since high school. Unfortunately I've been getting a bit lazy with the last step, which would've saved me from some of my careless errors on my midterm. All I can do now is, live and learn from that mistake and make sure I check...

See, while this has my usual approach in years past, I feel that I have gotten away from this mindset. This was refreshing to hear, so thank you. I will say though, the University that I am at is synonymous with very difficult exams. Luckily, I have only encountered a few tricky questions and...

Yes, that's exactly what I do. After reading all the questions, whichever one "speaks to me" first, I go for. If I get stuck halfway through, I either go onto other questions or try to use the latter parts of the problem/given constants as hints. Sometimes, I will admit, it takes me too long...

Those techniques are awesome. I actually use a good number of them (especially writing out which functions are dependent on which variables and using grouping notions like brackets, parenthesis, etc) and will continue to do so. Ironically, on the midterm I just took, when I went to integrate a...

I am currently taking upper division physics, math, and materials science courses at a difficult US university. I never feel lost during lecture, read and comprehend the text, go above and beyond on problem sets, and can nearly do any problem in the book. Yet, when it comes time for the exam, I...

Just from my experience (also a college student who sometimes struggles with reading effectively), it helps to do the following. 1.) Start with a "fly by" read. This is simply to prepare for lecture, which hopefully will clear up anything you are confused about in the text. 2.) Reread the text...

Hi Everyone, I am transferring to Cal in the fall for Engineering Physics and am currently deciding which math track to take. The first option is to enroll in math 121A/121B, which are mathematical methods courses for scientists and engineers (covers series, complex numbers/integration, PDE's...

Romsofia, thank you for your reply and kind words. In response to your post... 1.) I agree that I should've possibly gone to University (or tried to transfer after one year instead of two) because there would've been more opportunities there. At the time (end of HS) I was too fixated on the...