Study Tips for College Physics 101

[jcksn34]

study suggestions??

Im taking college physics 101 right now and have failed the first 2 tests. I've tried studying by practicing problems a hundred times and took the second test answering every question and feeling like i knew what i was doing only to find out i got a 46 percent! he is a hard teacher the highest grade was an 87 and there are a lot of grades in the 30's and 40's ,but even the kid next to me was struggling during the lecture and i was helping him, he ended getting an 84. I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong if anyone has some suggestions on how to approach studying and maybe if i should go back and try to learn the topics from the previous test more. I have a tutor and it helps but it seems like there's a lot of times I am correcting him so i feel like i know what I am doing for the most part, any suggestions on how to study for a first time physics student?

 

[Feldoh]

What exactly is that you're missing on your tests? Theory? Application? The math?

 

[jcksn34]

im fine with the actual math i think its setting up the equations or which ones to use after reading the situation

 

[hage567]

When you get your tests back, what kind of things are you finding out that you were doing wrong? Are you using the wrong approach to problems? Are you just going wrong in the math somewhere?

I would suggest making sure you understand the basics of the concepts being studied, and to do lots and lots of practice problems. And I don't mean doing the same ones over and over. If there isn't a lot of extra problems in your textbook, get some other books to work out of. This will help you see where your understanding is at and give you "experience" so you can recognize what to do when you find one of these problems on your exam.

 

[Feldoh]

If you can, get halliday for physics there's easily 100+ practice problems to work through for every chapter.

If you're having trouble setting up the right equations for certain problems then I would suggest writing out a list of everything you know and what the problem asks you for. Generally for most questions if a value is given in a problem you will need to use it at some point (MOST of the the time).

 

[jcksn34]

thanks ill try that i think my biggest problem is when doing homework in class ill know what type of problem we're doing but when it comes to the test and we get questions on different topics or ones that combine different aspect of what we learned i get confused and a lot of times have trouble seeing the big picture if that makes any sense

 

[jcksn34]

wow cool i just found a free companion website for that halliday book it looks like it has interactive tutoriols and other tools