Ways to teach yourself physics?

[ssj2pizza]

I was wondering if anyone knew of good books/ online resources to learn physics without a formal course. Thanks a ton!

 

[berkeman]

I was wondering if anyone knew of good books/ online resources to learn physics without a formal course. Thanks a ton!

There are lots of resources listed in the PF Learning Materials section:

https://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=151

.

 

[Nano-Passion]

This will never fail you, it has worked perfect for me and I always recommend it to everyone.

1) Familiarize with the material before the lecture. MUST take detailed notes!
2) Look for any loop holes in your understanding during the lecture/online resource
3) Go home and practice lots of problems !

So far, lectures to me are almost pointless because I study the material thoroughly beforehand. You can easily self-study using 1 & 3.

For number one:

- Make sure your notes are organized
- Learn the material thoroughly as you take down notes
- Follow through concepts VERY SLOWLY
- Follow the concepts with a pencil and paper in hand, this isn't biology.
- Almost nothing should be memorized. You should aim for complete understanding of why equations or concepts are the way they are.

For number three:

- DON'T undermine the power of practicing problems! You can take notes for every chapter yet understand very little.
- Do as many practice problems as possible. I would wager 1/3 - 1/2 the problems should suffice for a good understanding.
- Use Cramster.com, its a great source! But don't cheat yourself out of it.

That's about it, I broke everything down in a notes-type fashion. You should be doing the same for your chapters. ^.^

 

[Phyisab****]

I'd be less concerned about obtaining the necessary resources. I'd be more concerned with how are you going to put in 8 hours a day for several years without any outside motivation. That's what it takes to learn physics, and I'd say it takes an extremely rare borderline sick person to pull it off.

 

[ssj2pizza]

Thanks!

 

[Nano-Passion]

Thanks!

I'm assuming you trying to learn introductory physics?

 

[kjohnson]

2) Look for any loop holes in your understanding during the lecture/online resource

I believe this is a very important point that can't be stressed enough. You can read the books and do problems and have a good idea what is going on. But chances are you will have (& should have) questions that arise when learning something new. Even if it seems like a small step and you are tempted to not worry about it, it is a good idea to try and figure it out. Not necessarily right away, but make a note to look at it later. It is in answering these sometimes simple questions that I find myself tying everything together and having that "ah ha!" moment of understanding.

 

[EternityMech]

Buy Friedmans physics book start with chapter 1. it'll take you a year but you will become familiar with physics then.

 

[golu14]

Just ask questions to yourselfs about the things that are happening around you in everyday life, then google them. Trust me google is a far more better source of informal knoledge than books.

 

[EternityMech]

how can a person google about something he knows nothing about.

the best book I've seen on physics is Young and Freedmans University Physics with Modern Physics.

 

[Nano-Passion]

Just ask questions to yourselfs about the things that are happening around you in everyday life, then google them. Trust me google is a far more better source of informal knoledge than books.

Just ask questions to yourselfs about the things this guy is saying. :rofl:

Jokes aside, that would be better for some layman knowledge towards philosophy, biology, or something of the sort. I don't know about studying physics, its more mathematically inclined to just look things up randomly.

 

[Monster92]

This will never fail you, it has worked perfect for me and I always recommend it to everyone.

1) Familiarize with the material before the lecture. MUST take detailed notes!
2) Look for any loop holes in your understanding during the lecture/online resource
3) Go home and practice lots of problems !

So far, lectures to me are almost pointless because I study the material thoroughly beforehand. You can easily self-study using 1 & 3.

For number one:

- Make sure your notes are organized
- Learn the material thoroughly as you take down notes
- Follow through concepts VERY SLOWLY
- Follow the concepts with a pencil and paper in hand, this isn't biology.
- Almost nothing should be memorized. You should aim for complete understanding of why equations or concepts are the way they are.

For number three:

- DON'T undermine the power of practicing problems! You can take notes for every chapter yet understand very little.
- Do as many practice problems as possible. I would wager 1/3 - 1/2 the problems should suffice for a good understanding.
- Use Cramster.com, its a great source! But don't cheat yourself out of it.

That's about it, I broke everything down in a notes-type fashion. You should be doing the same for your chapters. ^.^

Ah sound advice. This is very much what I want to do. One of the reasons is that there are in-class tests every week for two of my courses D:. Jezzz