Courses Advice on freshman-level courses

luckwarmplay · Sep 6, 2007

I'm a continuing ed student (in the US), so I don't have to follow the same track as the undergrads; if I wanted, I could jump into a higher-level mechanics or E&M or physics 3 course. My question is, do I need to take the lower-level courses before I get there, or are they a waste of time in that you relearn everything anyway (as is the case in chemistry, for example)?

If I don't need them, then I'll spend the year studying the math i'll need later on.

G01 · Sep 6, 2007

You need these courses to set a base for the more complicated courses you take later on. If you are suggesting not taking these courses because you will take more complicated courses on the same topics later on, I strongly disagree. I am in a 400 level E&M course now, and I am sure glad I did some basic E&M in freshman courses. The higher up courses and books assume you know the freshman stuff, and then go into greater depth so if you don't, you should definitely take the courses.

proton · Sep 6, 2007

I heard some people skip the sophomore level- modern physics. otherwise, its strongly not recommended to skip freshman mechanics and E&M

physics up to grad school will cover the same material - mechanics, E&M, thermo, etc but each more difficult course builds on the lower ones and uses more difficult math

ice109 · Sep 6, 2007

in retrospect i could've skipped freshman physics and modern. don't skip math classes though

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Courses Advice on freshman-level courses

luckwarmplay

G01

proton

ice109