How to study for a physics subject?

[alondouek]

So, I'm taking BMS1031 - Medical Biophysics. It's a great unit, and really interesting, but in all honesty I'm struggling with the content. As someone who has no background in physics (and a love/hate relationship with mathematics), I'm finding it difficult to a) understand and b) reinforce the material taught.

The subject matter is also very different to what I'm used to. For example, VCE biology has a number of parallels with its uni counterpart, so I'm managing that quite well. However, having never done physics of any sort before, I'm lost as to how to deal with the course material.

I believe one of the main issues that I have with BMS1031 is the sheer number of applicable formulae - how do I keep track of these and apply them effectively according to the theory taught?

More importantly, what methods and strategies of study can I put in place to reinforce and remember the unit content? Effectively, how do I study and learn for it?

I'm just really all-over-the-place with this subject, and I'd much rather be able to enjoy it without the stress of struggling.

[DisaFear]

Speaking for PHS1011/1022, I found that doing questions helped immensely. Which textbook are you using? Knight?
The solutions manual for that textbook is really detailed, it helps a ton.

Doing questions gives you experience with which formula to use, and when. Which is what you need. A bit of understanding theory, from lecture notes/Khan Academy, and when/how to use which formula

Just my thoughts.

[alondouek]

Speaking for PHS1011/1022, I found that doing questions helped immensely. Which textbook are you using? Knight?
The solutions manual for that textbook is really detailed, it helps a ton.

Doing questions gives you experience with which formula to use, and when. Which is what you need. A bit of understanding theory, from lecture notes/Khan Academy, and when/how to use which formula

Just my thoughts.

We're using a custom textbook compiled by Monash from 'Physics' (Giancoli), 'Bodyworks' (Strube) and 'Human Physiology' (Silverthorn). It's pretty in-depth on the theory, and the explanations are alright (I get the feeling they'd be better if I had a greater understanding of physics). There are some questions, but not many, and not for every chapter (probably because the material is sourced from different books).

Khan Academy is great for the explanations (that guy is a physics god, seriously), but I have trouble transferring that understanding to practice. Maybe I should be taking notes from the Khan Academy videos? Hmm.

[BigAl]

Come to tapas. You'll definitely find someone to help you with the problems..and it is a great area to chill

[alondouek]

I think I might very well do that... but it's so far away from everything haha

[DisaFear]

Maybe ask around for the Physics textbook that Biomed students at UoM use for their Biophysics, saw a friend use it last year for questions, also written by Knight.

[alondouek]

Maybe ask around for the Physics textbook that Biomed students at UoM use for their Biophysics, saw a friend use it last year for questions, also written by Knight.

Will look for that, thanks!

Is it worth writing out summary notes? It worked for me in VCE biology, so would that hold true with this unit?

[DisaFear]

Wouldn't have a clue. Different people study differently; I wrote summary notes for all my units