How did you manage the self-study of physics and math?

[BlackholeGirl]

Hi, I'm an undergrad student from this fall.
Before starting a term, I'm studying physics and math in advance.
However, no one around me learns such things and I'm getting so nervous to keep my self-study.

If you have had similar experiences, could you give me any advice so that I'm able to proceed with my learning?

Anything is ok; good books, youtube, music or even how to study

Thanks for answering

 

[Phylosopher]

I posted an answer to a question similar to yours. I hope you find it useful. HERE

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I have a long experience in self-study, simply because either I have been rejected by every teacher, or I have rejected them, as they don't want me to learn outside the syllabus.

My support is lecture courses, in addition to good books and literature.

For physics, if you want a complete overview of almost all topics, there cannot be anything better than Ramamurti Shankar's lecture courses Fundamentals of Physics part 1 and part 2 . They are simply great.

For lectures on specific topics, my first and last preference is http://www.nptel.ac.in (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, an initiative by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt of India). The lectures are free and available worldwide. Just go to the http://www.nptel.ac.in/course.php page, search for the lecture, apply filters (if necessary, like video course or web course) and hit enter. If lectures exist, you'll get a list. Start from the list. Take running notes as you go along. Revise the notes time and again. The syllabus page to some lectures have reference to books. You can read those books as well. NPTEL has everything: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering and even Humanities.

Just for newcomers to NPTEL, some reputed Professors are V. Balakrishnan, Manoj Harbola and H. C. Verma. However, you can follow any course without the fear of learning anything wrong. If you have questions, first write an email to the professors (go to the site of the institution where the professor is from, go to faculty list, and search for his name. You'll get the mail id). If you don't get a reply after a long time, ask in PF, but thoroughly mention on what topic you're asking, keeping in mind that the person answering your question has not gone through the lectures.

I've uploaded many NPTEL lectures to PF media gallery as well.

 

[Stephen Tashi]

Before starting a term, I'm studying physics and math in advance.

If you have had similar experiences, could you give me any advice so that I'm able to proceed with my learning?

My experience (in the USA) is that when you self-study, you cover material at a slow, comfortable pace. If you self-study a text for a course, all the material you have self-studied for months will be covered in few weeks of the course. At the very beginning of the course, you understand things well. You get lost as the course progresses.

If the goal is to do well in a course, my advice is to self-study the material in a hasty manner, so you cover the entire course superficially. Of course, people who self-study usually set the main goal as satisfying themselves by learning concepts thoroughly. So it's difficult to follow this advice.

If the goal is to do well in particular courses, try to read the texts and materials used in those particular courses instead of reading books that are highly regarded, but not the particular books used in the course.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

At the very beginning of the course, you understand things well. You get lost as the course progresses.

That is one of the problems I still face if I don't revise lecture notes. Suddenly one day, I find myself in the middle of nowhere. The solution is to go back and revise everything.

 

[BlackholeGirl]

I posted an answer to a question similar to yours. I hope you find it useful. HERE

Thank you for your reply.
I read the post then I realize that my current attitude is lack of patience.

 

[BlackholeGirl]

Thank you.
I didn't know NPTEL!
This website looks outstanding and good for self-study.

 

[BlackholeGirl]

Thank you for your precious advice.
The purpose to study physics and math alone is neither doing well in a course nor doing well in a particular course.
Because I'd like to explore the universe and because I'd like to learn other fields such as philosophy, literature, computer science, and medical science.
Life is too short, isn't it?

 

[Stephen Tashi]

Because I'd like to explore the universe and because I'd like to learn other fields such as philosophy, literature, computer science, and medical science.

Devote a few minutes to studying the XML markup system. You're formatting messages so it appears that other people wrote them. The "reply" feature on physicsforums will put messages written by others between two "tags". The beginning tag is "QUOTE" inside brackets. The ending tag is "/QUOTE" inside brackets. Don't write your own message between these tags. Write it outside the text bounded by those tags.

And if you want to quote passage from a book, you can type your own QUOTE and /QUOTE tags around a passage from the book.

 

[fresh_42]

Hi, I'm an undergrad student from this fall.
Before starting a term, I'm studying physics and math in advance.
However, no one around me learns such things and I'm getting so nervous to keep my self-study.

If you have had similar experiences, could you give me any advice so that I'm able to proceed with my learning?

Anything is ok; good books, youtube, music or even how to study

Thanks for answering

Here are a bunch of links to this subject.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/self-teaching-gcse-and-a-level-maths.933639/#post-5896947
It might help to have a look on these articles quoted there, as they contain valuable advises, which could help you to avoid mistakes.