rocophysics said:Pay close attention to the examples that you were given in lecture, it would obviously be on the exam. Make sure to do the review at the end of the section!
Also, MIT OCW offers exams you could look through. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/index.htm#undergrad The exams aren't tough, they mainly test your understanding of concepts.
symbolipoint said:Many textbook chapters are grouped into UNITS. Often, at the end of each unit, the last chapter is a REVIEW section; it might be a chapter itself, with instruction, but it will contain exercises representing all of the topics of the unit. These review sections give you a fairly structured way to practice all of the concepts and skills which you have studied throughout the unit of chapters, and this is also a good way to prepare for your tests.
G01 said:Doing the problems is the best way to know if you actually understand the material you are learning. You don't have to do them all, not even the extraordinarily difficult ones at the end of the problem sections. Focus on the medium-medium/hard problems in the chapter. If you can do most of these in a reasonable amount of time you probably have a good understanding of the material. After this then maybe challenge yourself with a really hard one, but only after you are able to efficiently do the core fundamental problems and the medium level ones.
Shackleford said:I'm using the Fundamentals of Physics Extended, 8th Edition Halliday, Resnick.
Shackleford said:Well, I'm in the first Calculus-based introductory physics course. It's my first physics course since high school in 2002. I think I'm doing fairly well. The first exam is next Thursday. I want to do the very best that I can in this course as it is laying the foundation for the road ahead. What key concepts should I focus on? What problem-solving skills should I make sure I acquire? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
vladittude0583 said:Hey, I am also in Physics with Calculus I using Halliday/Resnick 8th edition too! Our class just finished reviewing Chapter 7 (Kinetic Energy, Work, Spring Force, etc). So far, I have made high A's on both of our tests; Test 1 (97 - chapters 01-03) and Test 2 (100 - chapters 04-07). I will tell you right now though that I primarily spend about 60% of my time reading the chapters/sections as our class progresses through. Most of my classmates usually jump straight into the homework problems in the back of the chapters without reading the material because they believe lecture is sufficient. My best advice for you is to read the chapters at a decent pace, but with great comprehension of the subject material! Great understanding of the physical concepts provides the foundation and framework for mastering the homework problems in the back along with the skills and knowledge of being able to derive other equations as a result of thorough understanding of the key concepts and their mathematical implications. I for one usually work on the 1-dot and 2-dot problems for each section when I am ready to do the end of the chapter homework problems. To further enhance my problem-solving ability, I also work on the "additional exercises" at the end of each chapter's homework section. These particular "additional exercises" really tests the different concepts without any hint as to the level of difficulty of the problem.
arunma said:east in my experience. Oh, and make sure you know how to do that problem where you've got a ball tethered to a rod and rotating with uniform circular motion. A lot of my students had issues with this in our exam.