Advice for self-studying physics?

[DimReg]

thanks. I already learned physics C last year and used halliday/resnick for mechanics and EM. Should I read the rest of the book for the other topics or just use topic-specific undergraduate texts? And I should use a bunch of texts to see which topics each textbook is missing right?

Also, should I take some time off to read other books to gain some more conceptual understanding of physics first? Or continue with self studying like continuing to use griffiths for advanced EM right now? I took multi/diff eqn too.

Do contests necessarily determine how well you would do as a professor in the future? I'm not that good with contests like usapho and usamo. And math contests too like arml I didn't have that much practice before junior year with math team type problems. Do these play a big role in the future if I intend on majoring in math and physics?

btw, I thought separation of variables was more for advanced undergraduate physics. If you mean separation of variables in partial differential equations like solving Laplace's equation.

I wouldn't worry too much about contest results. Research is nothing like a test, and admissions programs know that. Of course, you should try your best to do well on them, because it shows potential and dedication, which will help you get into a better school, but in the long run it will mean absolutely nothing. (You can imagine that success in physics is "forgetful": grad school won't care about high school, your first post doc position won't care about undergrad, etc.)

The best conceptual understanding you can get in physics is from applying your knowledge in a technical way. I'm not sure where else you are looking for conceptual understanding, but I assure you advanced undergraduate books are the best place to look. (Graduate texts often assume you already know what's going on, and focus on refining that knowledge, so they are unsuitable for your purposes). If you know the math already, you should be using it.

As for separation of variables, it's not too advanced, I started using it at the start of my second year of college (we had an intro to QM course, where you use separation of variable to split the Schrödinger equation into the time part and the space part).

 

[Ishida52134]

thanks.

I'm going to Cornell next year. And from what I heard about the placement test, it goes up to multi/diff/linear algebra. So I was planning on self studying linear algebra over the summer so I could start with analysis freshman year. And I can also skip mechanics/EM to waves and optics first year too.

Should I brush up on basic mechanics/EM with kleppner and Purcell since I don't think fundamentals of physics covers introductory mechanics/EM thoroughly enough? How do I test if I have a solid conceptual understanding of the subject though? Like I can do most of the problems in the textbook with all the integration and differential equations, but I don't feel like I understand the conceptual physics that well. Like, applying it to the real world and explaining how things work. I can explain the theory and I understand the things in the textbook completely well.

The reason I asked about contests was is it a measure of your natural talent in mathematics and physics or is it mostly based off of practice and hard work? Like, I can do those problems, but I don't have enough practice to be able to do it well enough for higher contests like usamo.

As for looking at kleppner and purcell, do I have to read everything, or should I just look at the problems and if I can do them I just go to the next chapter and just read whatever was left out of the fundamentals of physics textbook?

So I'm better off using undergrad physics textbooks on specific topics rather than reading the entire fundamentals of physics textbook first?

thanks a lot.

 

[Ishida52134]

Any ideas?

 

[ZombieFeynman]

I think you are overthinking things far too much. You are going to a good program next year. For now just open an introductiry book and learn something that looks fun. Then do some problems related to it that look interesting. You will have four years of undergrad with people telling you what to learn. Use this time to enjoy learning about what you want. Find what things particularly interest you.

 

[henpen]

I second the undead physicist.

 

[Ishida52134]

yeah thanks for all the help.
Just one more thing I was wondering about.
When you're learning a new topic, obviously you should use a textbook. But when you're reviewing something, should you skim through a textbook and work out problems, or look at lecture notes online?

thanks.

 

[ZombieFeynman]

Different learning and reviewing strategies work for different people.

I suggest you try each and determine which works best for you.

 

[henpen]

Again, I second Zombie Feynman (most likely this will be the case for any further questions).