Question

Can anyone offer me advice on the best way to study for a physics exam? It is in 2 days and I am not nearly as prepared as I should be. Thanks so much!

Also, any study tactics or whatnot would be greatly appreciated! I am obviously going about it the wrong way.

Answer 1

from experience, practice the problems. as long as you're practicing the concepts and not just trying to memorize the steps, then you'll be able to apply what you know to the questions that appear on the exam. you're not going to ever get the exact same situations, but if you practice enough then once you're writing the exam you'll start to recognize similar patterns and methods which you practiced.

Answer 2

Okay, first, you want to memorize all of the equations. Period. Not knowing an equation is like going into a soccer game with one of your feet missing. After having solidly memorized your equations, backwards and front, and from any angle, go through your class notes and textbook examples to find out how to apply those equations to specific types of problems. What I like to do sometimes, when I have trouble, is to try some examples out myself and see if I get the same answer that the book has. After you've witnessed all the different forms of problems you might come across (no guarantees that this will be an all encompassing guide, btw. your professor/ teacher may want to know you have the intuition to apply equations to situations you haven't seen before), start memorizing and becoming familiar with the smaller, more subtle details less likely to be tested over: like the requirements for the flow of an ideal fluid, etc, etc, you get my drift.

So, equations, equations, equations, equations, EQUATIONS. Then their applications. Then smaller details in the texts/ notes.

Beyond that, your intuition should serve you to identify other relevant pieces of information that don't fit in the above categories while you're in the process of going through your book and notes.

Hope that helped.

Answer 3

I disagree, never "memorize" the equations, always derive them. if you only memorize equations then you will become lost in the details due to the fact that in physics there isn't enough letters in the alpha to stand for every thing in physics and there being constants in different places. some equation sets have the same letter to stand for different things.start deriving the equations as a part of your studies and that way when you forget one equation while taking the test, you'll be able to quickly derive it and more importantly know what the different letters in the equation stand for, and then apply them to the problem at hand...

a good place to start to study for physics is with the units. Know your units! this also helps with deriving equations by making sure the units on one side of the equation match the other side, if they don't then either the equation is wrong, you plugged in the wrong values in the equations, or that you don't remember which units can be converted to another (for example, cm to m). Those are two major places to study for any physics test.

since I don't know what subject in physics your studying for so and what your test is on, I can't be to much of a help in that regard. since different subjects in physics require different styles of studying. some subjects just require you to take extra problems from the book and do them (like vector addition) while others require you to reread the book as apart of your studies (like Waves).

all in all, the best way to study for a test is to start study early. teachers give at least a week or two notice about when a test is coming up. when the teacher tells you there's a test, that's when you start studying in addition to your normal work load. Waiting to the last min to study is really bad. first it forces everything to be packed into your brain without room to "know" the information, second after the test the information then goes away if you don't study after the test which then hurts you on the next test and final exam cause you think you know this "test" cause you feel you did well on it but the information went away right after you took it. also, if you need help on something there isn't time to ask questions whereas if you study early and find something you don't get you can ask a peer or teacher about it and be better prepared for the test.

for last min studying, reread the book, reread your notes, go over it with a friend and hopefully you'll remember enough to get through this test, but make sure you go over it again after wards or you will forget the information and be worse off for the next test.

As I have taken 3 physics classes in college, what seems to hurt people the most is not starting early, not taking extra time to practice then being too confused with something the day before the test to get a good answer, then being afraid while taking the test which leads to doing worse on the test (even on stuff they should know) from lack of being prepared. As crazy as it sounds, I knew people in my physics class who studied for 15 or more hours the weekend before the test. Not only did they get good score on the test but they also did well in the next physics class from all the back load of studying. One guy was complaining about his A being too easy, cause he just studied some much in the past that the stuff being taught in class was simple.

In short, start studying early and ask questions, don't be afraid to ask a question about something you don't get cause there's a good chance that other people in the class wanted to ask the same question but were too afraid to ask... good luck on your test, hope this helped you and be better prepared in the future...

Answer 4

As a physicist and Astronomer, I have to say NEVER Memorize an equation. knowing the concepts is far more important than memorizing the equation. Too often students think "oh my god I have 300 million equations" and they all apply to different things and spend days if not weeks studying for an exam and really get knowing out of it. The key thing to realize are the connections between the equations, and how and why the are formed. This may take a little extra time to fulfill, specially if you are not accustomed to finding patterns, but once you start to see them you start to realize that the 300 million equations are all actuall intercorrelated and can be easily derived from one another. Know your concepts, know dependecies, ie what are the key parameters in an equation and why. It may be a lot more thinking you than you are use to but that is what Physics is about not the math.

Also, start early, in college I started about a week in advance and read through all the chapters then started to try to look for patters and logical passes.

Answer 5

Of course there are connections between the equations. I was assuming in the process of studying you'd understand how to derive the equations and the connections between them. There aren't 30 million equations, and the math behind them isn't that complicated. I can guarantee you, however, on a test, that it is not time efficient to learn one "catch all" equation and derive anything and everything from it using a few math tricks. I haven't received a degree yet, so I can't attest to what some of the others are saying. My method has done exceptionally well, however, for myself and the people I have tutored.