Physics

Hi! I’m a MMathPhys student (I’m about to finish my first year. I also did A-level physics and gcse physics. Suffice to say I’ve done a lot of physics in my life lol).

- Figure out what the heck is going on first and don’t jump to formulas. Understand what you’re doing conceptually before you start crunching numbers

- Draw stuff. Diagrams save lives. Even a rough sketch can make a problem way clearer.

- Units are your friends. Always write them out. They often tell you what formula to use or help you catch mistakes

- Formulas = tools, not magic. don’t memorize bliondly. Know when and why to use a formula (like why F = ma matters in that problem).

- Break problems into chunks. isolate parts: motion, forces, energy, whatever. It’s less overwhelming when you split it up.

- Think of real-life examples. Like, what does friction feel like on your shoes vs. ice?

-Practice, but smartly. If you keep getting stuck, pause and actualllly review what concept you’re missing.

- Use your mistakes. Go over what you did wrong. Physics builds on itself, so fixing one misconception helps with future topics. Look over old exams and assignments, figure out what you did wrong and how

- Talk it out – explaining a problem out loud (even to yourself) forces your brain to process it deeper.

- Flashcards to memorize stuff. Trust me, theyre helpful

- Ask questions, even dumb ones. if you don’t get it, chances are others don’t either. Physics gets way easier when gaps are filled early.

I took physics as part of the IB(International Baccalaureate) program, so some of the lingo is different but I have a pretty good formula booklet that has all the essential equations in it. Even an annotated version that defines all the variables.

Honestly, i wish I could take Physics 2 but due to class schedules, I can't. YouTube was greatly helpful for me as well as reading the textbook and recommended pages. As well as finding practice problems online and solving them, teaching myself out loud how to solve each problem. Try to understand the concepts before working on solving problems. It will help greatly. As well as have the equations near you when solving the problems but again be sure to understand the concepts that form the equations before solving first. As well as lastly take breaks when you get too frustrated. It is important.

With physics(biophysics in my case)I just focus on getting the rough idea of a mechanism by going through various videos and illustrations, and connecting it to my other subjects. If I feel like I’m missing a detail I ask ChatGPT for short and clear answers or look through my notes , because it can be easy to get lost in numbers and volts and what-not. But I didn’t have a proper Physics class, so i don’t know if what I do can be applied to your studies 🥲