How To Study For Physics

[Comma]

Pretty much what the title says, what do you think is the best way to study for physics?

[appianway]

Physics is conceptual, so the best way to study for physics is to nail the concepts. Personally, I find that making connections between different ideas helps me (such as recognising the link between Newton's laws and momentum), but each to their own.

[dptjandra]

lol - I just made an epic cheat sheet and learnt it as I was putting it together

[Comma]

Physics is conceptual, so the best way to study for physics is to nail the concepts. Personally, I find that making connections between different ideas helps me (such as recognising the link between Newton's laws and momentum), but each to their own.

Thanks Appianway, thats great advice

lol - I just made an epic cheat sheet and learnt it as I was putting it together

That's what I did in year 11, it didn't work out so well...

[taiga]

Understand the definitions well, then the maths should be relatively easy

So atm I'd just say you should read Then do some of the written questions!

[dyaner]

Best practice for exams: doing ALOT of questions from a variety of books. It really helps.

[bblovee]

the most important is obviously to know the concepts
Read your textbook, familiarise yourself with the practical applications of the concepts
and out of interest, read up on the history behind the concepts, it sounds irrelevant but those who are actually enthusiastic about physics will find it very interesting and even helpful towards understanding the concepts

and do lots of practice

[fuzzylogic]

the best way of studying physics is not doing what I did...ie, falling asleep in every physics class or falling asleep every time you go to revise for physics or open the text book.  stay awake!

[QuantumJG]

lol - I just made an epic cheat sheet and learnt it as I was putting it together

Lol same here.

Physics at high school is pretty much conceptual with fairly basic Maths involved. So to study for physics the first thing you should do is try to understand what's going on then do the problems. So read the textbook and if something isn't clear, go to your teacher, if you still aren't satisfied try the Internet or another textbook and you should find at least one explanation that works for you.

[Chavi]

Don't study VCE physics. Study it in your spare time or at Uni.

[m@tty]

The level of VCE physics is humorous. Surprisingly easy to fail though. . .

[taiga]

Dont learn anything till the day before the exam, and then bug the two guys above me (Chavi and M@tty) for definitions/clarifications. It should get you a 39 raw, 40 if you're lucky

[m@tty]

lol you bugged him too? xD

I've heard it said that physics is the further maths of the sciences - I'd tend to agree: basic and competitive(particularly '09), and very easy to start making mistakes.

[Xavier1234]

Cheat sheets are there to sort of, sadly, dumb down the course. but in reality, if you have studied thoroughly and practised everything, then there's really no need for it. never go gaga about putting everything in them, just the relevant formulae and then some concepts that you feel weak at, if any.

As for studying, im not gonna deny it but i lived off external lectures. studying vce phys is extremely easy. doing well at it, and being in the top 7.5% is extremely hard. (some) lectres give you an edge towards exams because they give you exam strategies and better notes. but it will still be up to you to perform well in your sacs and especially the exams. also, dont make the mistake of doing too many commercial study books like checkpoints, etc like i did for the first exam. go around this site and look for as many 1/2 or 3/4 exams as you can and do them instead under STRICT exam conditions.

Lets face it. vce isnt about knowing everything. its about beating everyone. the more exam strategies and traps you are exposed to, the better off you are in the end.

[John President]

It's ok to make an extensive cheat sheet (or copy one off itute as I did in 2nd semester to increase the amount of time available for past exams) but doing that is definitely no substitute for understanding the concepts. And don't get cocky. It's easy to make silly mistakes with things like the right hand grip rule (which I continually screwed up MANY times in the lead up to exams but eventually got right consistently)

m@tty: Darnit! I feel so much less good about getting 50 in it now!