/sci/ - Science & Math

>Is this *supposed* to happen to most students?

That's what every prof will tell you.
Especially physics can be hard in the first semester

>>7367143
Really? It's strange. I'm doing very good in Calculus, but I'm not truly *learning* anything of Physics. Also, the Calculus professor is outstanding -- her classes are very interesting. In contrast, the Physics professor giver boring, uninteresting and confusing classes.

I'm trying to learn by myself, but even so my grades in Physics are horrible.

Honestly I don't find college a great learning environment. It's more of a rush of information that some might stick and most you will forget. It can weigh heavily on class size and professor quality as well.

>>7367151
I'll probably have to do Physics again next semester because of 'muh bad grades'. I'll see if I can find a better professor.

>>7367150
>2015
>relying on your professor for a good education

there are dozens of books that teach you exactly what you have/want to know.

>>7367137
>I'm a freshman getting totally destroyed by Physics
pleb

>>7367168
>I'm trying to learn by myself, but even so my grades in Physics are horrible.

I'm... trying.

look at it this way

if youre 120 iq in hgihschool youre surrounded by a 100 iq average
when you go into first year engineering or heavy stem field you are surrounded by a 115-125 iq average

of course you feel like an average joe

>>7367180
Well, I'm in Computer Engineering. The only thing I'm better than all my classmates is Algorithms & Programming. I even got assigned as class monitor.

But Physics... meh. It's the only thing dragging me down.

>>7367137
>Now I'm just another average joe
Welcome to the real world

>>7367190
physics is hard if you dont understand problem solving fundamentals

physics becomes easy when you really get those down, you have to respect the process

>>7367180
not OP
when I was in 5th grade back in 2001-2002, I had gotten my IQ tested to see if I qualified to be in the gifted program or some dumb shit like that
after testing, I remember I missed the necessary IQ by 2 points, I had 122, and the necessary points were 124. I wonder now what my IQ would be considering that's what it was in 5th grade

>>7367197
usually doesn't change much

>>7367196
Care to give some advice? Because this may be precisely my problem. When I try to face a problem, I usually get stuck in which equation to use.

>>7367197
your iq doesnt change, and generally goes down as you age, so it could be anywhere from 110-120

which is not high if you're in engineering. I've had two official tests done and I'm at 135, i'm a mech engineering senior at berkeley and i know many many people of equal or higher intelligence in my faculty

>>7367200
if not knowing what equation to use is your problem you definitely arent going to make it

if you dont even have an inkling as to what equation to use, then you dont know what the equations mean and what they represent, and how they are applied, which means you didnt pay attention in lecture, didnt do practice problems etc

you cant study physics and math like you can everything else

>>7367204
I study 6h + a day. I do most required exercises, but can't really grasp too much in classes. Usually I just study theory by myself, because, as I said, the professor's classes are confusing. He's not a guy good at teaching.

I really don't know what or who to blame. Everyone in class (even the ones doing good) dislike his classes.

>>7367210
>i do most "REQUIRED" exercises
>thinking study time reflects how much you learn
I study 2-3h a day

learn how to study prperly
learn how to do physics properly
i cant help you if your problem is you just dont understand what the equations mean

>>7367210
Is his name Roger?

>>7367137

you are just not working hard enough. its a marathon . if you did bad at physics then ok do better at the remaining course and get you average grade up.

>>7367210
god i hate your type
blame everyone else but yourself, everyone gets bad teachers, but every class has shitty students too

>>7367212
Carlos. He's a nice spic outside classroom.

>>7367215
It's not like I'm not blaming myself. I wanted to study more too, but I have to work so it gets really hard. I don't have free time and the professor's quality only makes it harder for me.

You don't need to speak like you know me.

>>7367219
i do know you, you say you're studying 6h+ a day yet cant grasp fucking first year physics, that just means you're a dumb lazy fucking faggot, do you REALIZE that?

>>7367210
Either you're half assing this and you need to stop blaming others and man the fuck up and start really studying, or you just aren't cut out for this. The fact that you only do "most" required exercises tells me that it's probably the former.

>>7367137
My brother is in the physics program at UCI. He said that when he started off their was over two hundred pupils in his class along side him. Three years later theirs only nine. The beginning is meant to cull out those incapable.

>>7367224
this
>I do "most" of the required exercises!
lol, when i was in undergrad I was doing every practice question available in the book

Well, go fuck yourselves.

I'm dropping this shit of Engineering school. Shouldn't have asked anything here because you're not paying attention in what I'm saying.

I need to work now.

>>7367233
another dumbfuck weeded out from the master race
my dick grows larger, try music theory or something dumb fuck

>>7367233
OP did you go to the best school that made you an offer?

>>7367238
holy shit, what's wrong with you?
didn't mommy love you enough?

>>7367210
Join a study group. Physics is a language, you need to learn to speak it.

>>7367201
That's actually not exactly true, psychological states such as depression can have profound changes in IQ. If you have undergone serve depression for longs periods of time your IQ can be drastically impaired.

You have to realize nothing goinh forward will come easy to you. You have to work your ass off as if there is someone out there working twice as hard as you at any given point and your mentality has to stay strong. This is especially true in classes that curve grades which is pretty much all physics/stem. No self deprecation and definitely no excuses. If you maintain this attitude you'll stop sweating the small stuff like "what music should I listen to study" or "which library floor should I study on" because no matter where you are you'll be putting in work, studying, and getting shit done. In labs you have to focus on the task at hand, when studying you have to master the details and connect to the big picture etc. For your next class(es) focus on going above and beyond the grading rubric or standards set by professor and you'll notice it in your grades.

>>7367242
my mummy loves me very much cause i bought her a house with all this disposable income i got from being a lot smarter than your dumb fuck ass

>>7367253
because the average person in a controlled environment goes through long periods of very severe depression

you're saying that it's not true that asian people generally don't grow very tall because theres a guy named yao ming and he's 7 ft

good one

>>7367245
>Physics is a language, you need to learn to speak it.
But that's true of pretty much anything, it doesn't mean that joining a study group is necessary or even beneficial.
You can learn the "language" of a field of study by reading publications and even textbooks, better than by studying with students at the same level as you.

>>7367254
Also yes, join study groups when possible and hack the exercises in the textbook, even when you don't think you have the knowledge to solve it. That's why it's called "learning". Do all required problems plus more and for wvery exam or hw question you miss you have to go back and redo it meticulously until you have it nailed down. It's an ongoing process so this applies even afyer you're done w the class.

>>7367263
Studying with other people does have side benefits though; building social ties and learning about how other people understand things.. Two things which can be very worthwhile depending on your goals.

>>7367263
You will never learn the language of physics reading textbooks. You've actually completely missed the point of his post.

Not OP but lol at his situation. That's what I dread, the notion that I'll do all this work and still not understand stuff because I did the wrong questions or did things in the wrong order to build the best understanding.

>>7367258
Well you are right it is an outlier. Some 6.7 percent of the American population goes through depression. The problem is we both talked in absolutes.
> your iq does not change
but in some cases in can no matter how miniscule in small that percentage is

>>7367272
theres only one order
do all of the questions, by yourself, with no help, until you understand them

its really not that difficult. If you can't do that, you won't make it when physics actually becomes hard.

>>7367276
so you're trying to be that guy who corrects the guy that says to kids hes teaching birds and the bees "women give birth to babies" by interjecting and saying "No that's not true, some women are infertile! Some women are born without eggs!" and going into all the scientific detail to cloud the situation

good one lol

>>7367268
What's a better way to learn a language? By interacting with those who are fluent in it (and in your own language), are by interacting with those who are learning the language alongside you?
I would say the former.

>>7367283
now you're talking about language literally

how do you fucking arts retards end up on this fucking board? you still don't understand it

>>7367283
A fucking textbook ain't interacting with you lol

>>7367277
But there are certain ideas and problems which once grasped/completed make the grasping of other ideas and completion of other problems far easier.
The more you're able to optimise this sequence of working the more efficient your efforts are and you are less likely to end up like OP studying 6 hrs a day and failing.

>>7367137
Are you French, OP?

>>7367288
thats just common sense, you learn things in the order that they are taught to you. You need to have a comprehension of algebra and precalculus before you can do calculus, obviously. It's not like you can just accidentally not learn algebra and end up in calculus.

>>7367257
you're pretty bitter for a wealthy smart guy

>>7367292
i hate dumb fucks

>>7367294
haha, you go man!

I'm getting destroyed by analysis.

Help

>>7367137
You don't "deal" with bad grades, you either bulk up and study harder or you find a different field to major in.

>>7367290
You haven't understood.

I'm saying that like say you have 4 homework tasks to complete named 1-4 and the order you choose to complete them in determines in part the time it takes to complete them. Like if you did 3;4;2;1 you might finish in half the time as if you did them sequentially 1;2;3;4, leaving you more or less time to do other study.

>>7367307
if this is the stupid shit you worry about youll never achieve anything worthwhile

>>7367307
Math usually first, but it really doesn't matter

>>7367302
Go full autist or drop

>>7367320
Are you saying I should become a math major ?

OP here. Sorry, I got carried on when I posted >>7367233

Thanks for the advices. I haven't tried studying in group yet. I have my Physics exam in two weeks and I'll try to study with some more guys that aren't doing that good either. I'm probably doing the resolution wrong, and by seeing other ways of achieving the answer I can get it right.
I'll try to go totally by the book, though. My teacher considered many of my answers wrong in previous tests (even though they were right) because I solved the problem with an incorrect approaching.

I'll see if I can start managing my time in a more efficient way (work makes it harder, but I'll make it).

I'm definitely starting a study group next week.

Besides, this guy here
>>7367215
>>7367222
>>7367238
>>7367257
>>7367284
>>7367294
is a retarded. I know you're the same guy, faggot.
I can't believe someone like him made me even considering dropping out Engineering.

I'll pass in this fucking exam, guys. You'll see.

>>7367323
If you can into autism. If not, applied math is very profitable

>>7367324

How do study groups work? I have never been in a study group, I have tried but it doesn't work.

>>7367326
I think I live for the autism now

>>7367330
Find other humans in your class and do hw problems

>>7367314
Even 5% extra efficiency adds up over time

>>7367324
>im dumb, im gonna study with other people that are dumb too!
lol

>>7367347
Yeah that's how it works

>>7367347
And then when one of you get jobs can vouch for each other getting better and better ones while the autists who aced exams without effort on their own are unemployable because they know no one and can't into "team play".

>>7367137
Short answer coming from someone sort of in a similar situation to you last year.

Suck it the fuck up, find what you're good at. Learn to study (god knows i'm trying) and realize that you'll have to self teach to an extent. It isn't easy.

Introductory classical physics is a major pain in the ass, but it's a rite of passage. You can't approach these physics courses for the first time with the same mathematicians mindset you're using to learn calculus, they're very different ways of thinking until you eventually begin to bridge the gap and learn and really understand things like vector calculus and differential equations.

The best advice I can give is when you approach a problem, take a deep breath.
Then, write down newtons laws and the general forms of the relevant equations for that type of problem. After that, write down all the given information in the problem and draw a free body diagram.
I cannot stress enough how essential those fucking diagrams are in the beginning while you're still getting the hang of things.

Finally, it's been somewhat stated before, but the most important thing to learn in college is to be able to learn things on your own. We live in an age where the entirety of human knowledge is at our fingertips in an instant - there are plenty of free lectures on every possible subject you could need on youtube, google, khanacademy, etc...

Side note: Take time occasionally to make yourself comfortable and just sort of meditate and think about the concepts you read about while not in front of a textbook or computer. Let your mind digest the material.

>>7367210

Read the book. It's what helped me get an a in quantum mechanics.