What makes Physics so hard? What are some good study habits for the subject?

Question

I am a college student and will be taking Physics 1 and 2 in the upcoming year. I've heard horror stories about Physics. I've made it through life cramming the night before for tests and doing just fine. I have a feeling this won't work as I get into my harder classes. And I just realized I have no study habits. What is it about Physics that makes it so hard, and any good ways to study for it?

wow thank you for all the feedback so far, i feel very lucky and confident, thank you all for your time

Answer 1

Physics is an extremely visual discipline. It takes imagining in pictures. People who think best by getting their hands dirty touching stuff, or (worse still) in words rather than pictures, do more poorly in physics, because most physics teachers think in a visual sense, and most don't have the verbal skills needed to communicate with other types of people.

For most physicists: Newtonian mechanics is billiard balls; Electricity is water flowing around canals and pools and waterfalls and pumps; magnetism is iron filings around a bar magnet; light and sound are light/dark waves in a ripple tank.

Then there's the math. Now, most physicists don't start with the math, they start with the pictures, and use the math to prop up the answers.

To succeed in physics: draw lots of pictures - you have to learn to think visually to get it. Go over solved problems - see how the pictures fit into the math. Once you realize that there are only about five or six basic equations, and you learn how to solve them (most physicists are bad at math, anyway), you go back to drawing pictures.

And forget about historical personalities. My god, the way people idolize Newton and Maxwell and Einstein, you'd think they were minor gods. They were just people, thinking in pictures.

Draw lots of pictures.

Answer 2

Physics is hard because you can't cram the night before.......
And really, there's no way you'll be good in physics unless you enjoy solving the problems, because you need practice.

So the best way to study for it is to care about it and try to get satisfaction out of solving the problems and understanding the concepts. Challenging yourself to a tough problem is one way to do it. So when you get the answer you'll feel like you're the only one who can solve it.

Never give up on a problem if you can't get it. Try very hard to solve it by yourself before you seek other's help.

Make sure to understand the concepts fully, don't just memorize the equations and methods and then plug and chug. Ask yourself (does that make sense?) everytime a new concept comes up.

Also, put all the formulas in one sheet for quick reference when you do the problems. It helps you organize the concepts you learned and a great tool when doing problems.

Good luck with your physics finals!

Answer 3

I think fear is one thing that makes it hard. Most questions are like word problems. So you have to analyse the situation and find for yourself which formula is the right one to use. Avoid panic and it's not so hard. Note what numbers you're given and what you need to find and find a formula that includes only those parameters. You will need a good math foundation.

Study habits: don't fall behind, especially at the beginning of new topics. Try to get it to make sense rather than just learn the steps. This week relies more on what you learned last month than it does when you're in a history class. I think that's good advice, I wish I had followed it when I was in college.

Answer 4

For me, physics was hard because it failed to answer why...it answered only what. Like, what is the acceleration (a) when pushing a mass (m) with a force of F?

That's answered by a = F/m; fair enough. But, to me, the real issue was why that acceleration, why was it proportional to F and inversely proportional to m; and even, why m, why not size, or intrinsic energy, or whatever...why mass?

The best way to study physics depends on what works for you. I crammed mostly, with minimal reading, note taking, and underlining in the textbook. That got me a BS in physics; not stellar grades, but a degree nonetheless.

Now that I'm older and have the Ph.D., I discovered that continual study over the entire term is best...pretty much all A's for my postgrad degrees. Here's what I learned to get A's:

1. There is no substitute for doing homework problems...lots of them, more than just what your prof. assigns. Shaum's outline textbooks in physics have lots of problems to work...with answers.

2. Sit at the front of the classroom. It helps stay awake and pay attention to the prof. You can also see what's on the board and hear what is said better.

3. Take only the essence of the lecture as notes. Trying to take down every word only detracts from understanding the words as the prof. lectures. Jot down shorthand-like so that you can understand the important points when you go back to read your notes.

4. Underline/highlight the important points (like definitions) in your textbook. But be prudent, highlighting everything is like highlighting nothing.

5. Study with a buddy. He/she may have insight on something you do not. Take turns asking each other questions each of you thinks might show up on an exam.

6. Put yourself into your Prof's head. Try to figure out what he/she thinks is the most important. You can usually tell because the prof. will spend an extraordinary amount of the lecture/lab on the subject. Once you've figured out what's most important to the prof., spend your cramming time on just those point before a quiz.

Answer 5

Hi,

I majored in Physics and Math in college. I also tutored people who were taking them both as requirements for their real classes. These were the problems/mistakes that people ran into/made and some advice to help you not make them.

1. Don't take too many classes as once
make sure to take classes like physics and math, and some easy electives that you need to do at the same time. Don't try to take math, phys, chem, and a major class all at once.

2. Don't procrastinate
Don't ever think that you can catch up, because you might, but I wouldn't bet on it.

3. Don't focus on learning for the test, focus on learning.
Physics and math (more than most) are subjects that require previous knowledge. It's important that you don't forget how to do the stuff that you learned before if you're going to be successful. One of the worst things you can do is cram for a test and (even if you do well on it) forget it, because then you've got to relearn it for the next term.

4. Don't think that lab and lecture are seperate.
Everything that you learn in physics is reality. The lab classes that you'll inevitibly take are important to solidify your knowledge. Take it seriously.

5. Be prepared.
If you read the chapter before the teacher starts talking about it (a good idea for every class), you'll know what they're talking about and you'll catch the important parts that they know that you'll have trouble with later. This will help when you're doing the homework.

6. DO THE HOMEWORK/TAKE NOTES
A lot of people didn't have to hand in the homework, so they didn't do it. WORST IDEA EVER. Also just because the stuff that the teacher writes is in the book or on the internet doesn't mean that you don't have to write it down. There is a direct correlaton to things that you write and things that you remember.

7. Go to office hours
Office hours should not be considered optional. If you don't have questions for your professor outside of class, you either have the best teacher ever, or you're not really getting it. There should be things that confuse, intrigue, concern, or amaze you. Just showing up to office hours (even if you don't don't really learn anything) will show the teacher that you're invested and want to learn, and when the time comes to decide between an A- or a B+, you might just get the benefit of the doubt.

8. Don't psych yourself out.
Things will be hard if you think they will be hard. It's amazing the effect that positive thought can do for your attitude, and hence willingness to study, and hence your grades. Good stuff happens to positive people.

9. Don't study too hard.
Work smart not hard. An hour of studying BEFORE class is worth two hours after class. Why would you want to study twice as hard?

10. Study groups are fine, but make sure that you do the homework/studying that you can before the group meets. That way you can solidify your knowledge on the concepts that you understand by teaching to others.

Also, sometimes in a group people will focus on the wrong things. Make sure you have an agenda, and if they're working on the same things you are, and no one makes progress, time to head for office hours.

I hope that helps, in fact if you follow those rules you shouldn't have any problem.

Good Luck,
Matt

Answer 6

Hard is not the right word, I would say challenging.
The main thing physics will teach you is a different way to think or problem solve.
The way to exceed in physics to remember one word.... Why?
When you learn physics ask often "Why?" (ex: Why does this do that?). Your tests will be asking you "Why?".
Your study habits of physics will require more of working sample problems than reading a book or writing a paper. The more problems you work the easier it becomes.

Answer 7

First to answer your question, physical sciences, in particular subjects like Physics and Mathematics are hard because their base is nothing but logic.

You see, the problem is that we humans are very irrational and we are so used to making stupid decisions that it can be very hard to follow logic. We hardly use our heads and most of the time we use our hearts to make decisions based on emotions. This is not necessarily bad. Emotions like greed, jealousy, and hatred do exist but there is the good stuff like love, compassion, and mercy.

This is why whenever we have to follow strict logic, we have trouble. EVERYONE has a harder time with math than anything else. We don't assume a lot of things. We assume as less as possible and then prove and derive everything else. There is no guessing and then there is no intuition.

x+x is not 2x just because we think it should be.

Another reason for the difficulty is that some the results are very unintuitive and not so obvious. That is why humanity had to wait until Newton came along to get a good grasp of Physics. Everyone before him including the Greeks and Galileo started on the wrong foot. Everyone thought that if I move something, the natural tendency will be to stop unless I keep it moving. Newton said, no! If I move something, the natural tendency is to keep going unless I stop it.

Some of the things are obvious and intuitive such as if I throw a ball up, it will eventually come down. But some things are completely unobvious such as whatever I throw up, will come down at the SAME RATE. It doesn't matter if I drop a ton of steel or a ton of feathers from the top of a building. They will both come down at the same rate.

Just like the way we think, other things that we use such as the laws that we have or the language that we use are not logical either. Some of the laws that we see are just plain dumb and stupid. Languages don't make sense. English in particular is probably the worst language.

If the plural of tooth is teeth, and the plural of goose is geese, then how come the plural of booth is not beeth? English is the only language where a house can burn UP while it is burning DOWN! English is the only language where you can first chop a tree DOWN and then chop it UP. English is the only language where you can fill IN a form by filling it OUT.

Equations in Physics and Math also form their own language but they are based on logic. So the trouble begins when you try to translate from one language to another. That is why everyone always has problems with word problems more than anything else.

As for studying habits, you are absolutely right. Cramming will so not work. Do you know what is the first thing that goes when you have lost sleep and been studying all night long before the test.

MEMORY is the first thing to go.

In this case, it still won't work. Stay with the class. The only way you will understand something is by actually doing it with your own hands. Do as many of the homework problems as possible. You will not get it by listening to the teacher. You will not get it by reading the book. You will not get it by paying some tutor $50/hour. And you will not get it by posting your homework here on yahoo answers.

The only way you will get it is by doing the problems, with your own hands, by sitting down with a pencil and a paper.

Another thing, with these subjects, memorizing doesn't work. Memorizing works in subjects like art, history, and religion but not here. Make sure that you UNDERSTAND why the formula is the way it is. Why does it have a minus sign instead of a plus sign? why is it being multiplied by two. give yourself a reason to belive it.

There is nothing else to it. It is easier said than done especially if you have been getting by with cramming. It will be hard to break that habit. Good luck!

Answer 8

Think of learning physics as learning a skill, like playing an instrument or ice skating. You are learning how to translate words and pictures into mathematical equations. You learn physics like you learn any skill, by practice so you must do your homework with as little help as possible. When you get something wrong find out why and what is correct.

Answer 9

Thinking that it is tough make it hard nothing else.i hope so.

Answer 10

Transfer to psychology. It's spelt much the same, it's easier and it ultimately pays more!