Calling upon past students

[kenhung123]

Hey guys,

Could you guys help me out? I am wondering should I go over the theory for physics before doing past exams or should I just go straight to exams?
I'm not too sure if theory is important in physics..

[shinny]

My perspective on it is that it depends on what stage of learning you're at. A good understanding of the theory can negate any need to do practice exams as you'll be able to cope with any situation. I didn't do any practice exams for BM and Methods, of which were basically my highest scoring subjects because I knew that I understood the theory well enough to not need to do any practice exams. Practice exams mainly iron out careless mistakes (so definitely use them if you're prone to them) and aid in identifying fill in for any gaps in understanding, so if you don't believe or don't know whether you fully understand all the theory, then go nuts on practice exams. Obviously I didn't do physics, but I'm pretty sure this applies to most theory (commerce/maths/science etc) subjects.

[kyzoo]

I get frustrated when I go over theory since it'll all stuff I know >.<

[shinny]

I get frustrated when I go over theory since it'll all stuff I know >.<

Going over the theory doesn't just mean reading the textbook. Try and summarise it, teach it to someone else to consolidate (this probably made up half of my study), and most importantly, extrapolate from it (this is the step that most people can't do). A good indicator is that you conceptually understand something and can hence derive it through a few basic facts, rather than rely on rote learning the numerous individual implications of these facts. Most of the exam questions obviously go beyond what's in the textbooks, so think about the implications of a particular principle, and specifically, how it can be transposed or applied in different situations, or how it can interact with other principles. It's hard to explain what I mean, and even more difficult to explain how to do it, so just ask if you don't understand what I mean.

[Akirus]

Photonics theory is painful; simple, uninteresting... sigh.

I do agree teaching to others is one of the best ways to reinforce your knowledge; the need to explain it in understandable terms to another first forces you to make sense of it yourself.

[schnappy]

I find that I learn a hell of a lot more from doing the exams than anything else.

[Fyrefly]

I also find I learn well by teaching... it solidifies an idea in your mind, and it's a great way to test whether you fully understand something.

[appianway]

Make sure that you know all of the relevant theory. Link ideas. For instance, if you were given a formula for the centripetal force acting on a body, what extra information would you need to find out the kinetic energy? What operations would you apply to the equation?

Exams are good, but they can be misleading as you might not cover all of the study design.

[kyzoo]

I get frustrated when I go over theory since it'll all stuff I know >.<

Going over the theory doesn't just mean reading the textbook. Try and summarise it, teach it to someone else to consolidate (this probably made up half of my study), and most importantly, extrapolate from it (this is the step that most people can't do). A good indicator is that you conceptually understand something and can hence derive it through a few basic facts, rather than rely on rote learning the numerous individual implications of these facts. Most of the exam questions obviously go beyond what's in the textbooks, so think about the implications of a particular principle, and specifically, how it can be transposed or applied in different situations, or how it can interact with other principles. It's hard to explain what I mean, and even more difficult to explain how to do it, so just ask if you don't understand what I mean.

I get what you mean, but that extrapolation stuff doesn't come to me when I try to think hard about the implications of a basic principle. Everything comes spontaneously >.<. And haha I meant reading my own notes, I haven't really read the textbook except for making the notes.

[matz0]

it isnt worth studying on the physics theory at this time of the year, i guess its more worthwhile to start the practice exams, then identify which theory bits you need to work on, and the rest (which are the bits you reckon are least important) you can rely on your cheatsheet.