When is the best time to do physics practice problems?

[john16O]

physics practice problems...

when do you guys usually find time to do practice problems...i mean, between having 3 labs and A LOT of other reading to do I am having trouble finding time to do practice problems for physics(1st college physics course)...I usually just read through the physics text trying to grasp the main concepts and then its time to go to class or finish homework assignments for other classes...I am trying as hard as I can to keep my Fridays and Saturdays workload relatively easy, but I am starting to get the feeling that I might have to just suck it up and do physics...I know right, fun life??

 

[Vanadium 50]

If you don't work problems, you won't learn the material. If you have too much work to do this, I would suggest dropping a class so you can be sure to get the most out of the classes you stay with.

 

[Flat]

What is your schedule like? How many classes are you taking this quarter/semester?

I usualy find time either in the early morning, in between classes or later in the evening on the weekdays so that my weekends are free.

 

[john16O]

6am-8am: Workout
8:30am-9:00: Breakfeast
9:00am-9:45am: Review Notes
10:00-10:50: Physics
11:00-11:50: Organic Chem
12:00-12:50: Free Period
1:00-2:15: Read for my poly sci class
2:30-3:45: Poly Sci
4:00-4:50: Genetics
5:00-7:00: Review Notes and Eat Dinner
7:20- 9:30: Physics Lab
9:30- whenever: Look over notes for the next set of classes

this is what my schedule is MTF

 

[loonychune]

There seems to be plenty of note-reviewing and looking over notes. Obviously you need to do these things but perhaps do them in conjunction with problems - if you're looking over notes for classes the night before and then actually sitting in a class and taking the notes, you probably have a good grasp of the concepts. An hour in the morning and an hour round-about dinner then, doing problems, is going to cement the concepts in itself. Since you're going to labs at 7:20pm! (shocked!) you've obviously got a lot on your plate -- might be worth spending a few hours on sunday doing problems for your classes

 

[G01]

I agree. You should add in some practice problems during the time you review our physics notes. That way you can practice applying the problems as you learn them.

 

[john16O]

thanks for the advice! when i do read my physics text there usually is some kind of example word problem that i work through, but they seem sooooo easy in comparison to what my professor puts on his exams...i think that it all comes down to just spending 3-4 hours on saturday and 2-3 hours on sunday...