Studying Struggling with exercises after reading quantum mechanics textbook

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on a physics graduate who is preparing for a master's program and is currently studying "Modern Quantum Mechanics" by J.J. Sakurai and Napolitano. The individual expresses difficulty with about 50% of the exercises in the book, despite understanding the chapter content. Participants suggest that the student should specify which exercises are challenging and consider posting examples in an advanced physics forum for targeted help. A common recommendation is to seek out similar example problems and solutions to understand different approaches. Additionally, practicing progressively from simpler to more complex problems is emphasized as a way to improve problem-solving skills and recognize patterns in exercises.
rb120134
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
I just finished my three year bachelor degree in physics with an overall average grade of 7.4 on all courses. In september I will be starting my 2 year masters degree at University. I am reading through modern quantum mechanics third edition of J.J Sakurai and Napolitano. However, I do find I struggle with about 50% of the exercises after each chapter. Do you guys have any tips on this? Like I get the stuff that is explained in the chapter, but some of the exercises seem pretty tricky and the solution not straightforward, how to deal with this?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
rb120134 said:
I just finished my three year bachelor degree in physics with an overall average grade of 7.4 on all courses. In september I will be starting my 2 year masters degree at University. I am reading through modern quantum mechanics third edition of J.J Sakurai and Napolitano. However, I do find I struggle with about 50% of the exercises after each chapter. Do you guys have any tips on this? Like I get the stuff that is explained in the chapter, but some of the exercises seem pretty tricky and the solution not straightforward, how to deal with this?
You'll need to be more specific about the exercises you can't do. It's years since I studied that book, but I don't remember the exercises being especially tricky.

You could post a couple of examples in the Advanced Physics Homework forum.
 
  • Like
Likes TensorCalculus
rb120134 said:
I just finished my three year bachelor degree in physics with an overall average grade of 7.4 on all courses. In september I will be starting my 2 year masters degree at University. I am reading through modern quantum mechanics third edition of J.J Sakurai and Napolitano. However, I do find I struggle with about 50% of the exercises after each chapter. Do you guys have any tips on this? Like I get the stuff that is explained in the chapter, but some of the exercises seem pretty tricky and the solution not straightforward, how to deal with this?
The sorts of textbook exercises that I struggle on are definitely more basic (and therefore all of the advice I provide may not be applicable to you since it is from my own experience), but something that I have found is generally very useful and hopefully will be applicable to you is to find example problems and solutions which are similar (but not too similar!) To the problem at hand. That way you have an idea of how one might approach a similar problem, and that can help you with finding the right approach to the problem you are currently struggling on.
And then there's also the usual advice which I will reiterate and reemphasise which is that the more you practice problems the better you will get at spotting patterns between problems and the better you will get at problem solving. Building up from more simple problems (e.g. application based problems where you just have to rearrange and apply a formula) to more difficult problems which combine concepts slowly and progressively did well for me and maybe give it a shot, it might do well for you too.
 
I graduated with a BSc in Physics in 2020. Since there were limited opportunities in my country (mostly teaching), I decided to improve my programming skills and began working in IT, first as a software engineer and later as a quality assurance engineer, where I’ve now spent about 3 years. While this career path has provided financial stability, I’ve realized that my excitement and passion aren’t really there, unlike what I felt when studying or doing research in physics. Working in IT...
Hi everyone! I'm a senior majoring in physics, math, and music, and I'm currently in the process applying for theoretical and computational biophysics (primarily thru physics departments) Ph.D. programs. I have a 4.0 from a basically unknown school in the American South, two REUs (T50 and T25) in computational biophysics and two semesters of research in optics (one purely experimental, one comp/exp) at my home institution (since there aren't any biophysics profs at my school), but no...
Back
Top