Kristine's Guide to passing Engineering Physics

In General

1. Show up to class. Almost 13% of your grade is directly tied to attendance and participation. These should be the easiest points you earn all quarter.

2. Do all your homework and application projects on time. It helps you keep up with what's being covered in class. And missing assignments takes a big toll on one's grade.

3. Participate! Talking in class is welcomed! Please ask questions! When prompted, discuss things with the people around you. Research has shown that participating in class helps people learn much better than just sitting quietly and listening.

4. Read the book. You can't just read it the same way you read fiction though. You have to interact with your textbook — read all the bold print and captions first, then ask questions, and then read the text to look for the answers. Write notes in the margins (that's why the book has such big margins!). Circle very important things. Highlight in multiple colors.

5. Join a study group. Your classmates are a great resource for study help. Peers can often explain things at a better level than professors.

6. Studying should occur more often than just the night before an exam. Studying often involves reading the book, reviewing your notes, reviewing the results of Interactive Lecture Demos and in-class group work, working through examples or odd-numbered book problems.

7. Come to office hours or talk to the instructor after class if you have questions. Make an appointment to meet later if office hours don't work with your schedule. Ask questions via email if that medium is more convenient for you.

Mastering Physics

1. Print out the problems and do them on paper first. I don't pick easy problems for homework. You won't be able to guess the answers without a fair amount of work.

2. Don't wait until the night it's due! Look the problems over the day they're assigned. Start early so you can ask the instructor for help if you need it.

3. Consult the book. Most of the homework problems are from the book. There are example problems worked out in the book.

4. If the homework problems seem daunting, warm up by doing some of the "Exercises" at the end of each chapter. These cover only one section of material at a time and are meant to be easy plug-and-chug type questions to get you accustomed to using the equations.

5. Do odd-numbered problems in the book that aren't required. The answers to all of them are in the back of the book. Additionally, the solutions manual often has the fully worked solutions for odd-numbered problems.

6. Work in groups as much as possible. Your peers can often explain things better than your instructor.

Exams

1. Get plenty of sleep the night before and eat a good breakfast. Those things are often more helpful than last-minute cramming.

2. A formula sheet will be provided so don't waste time memorizing. The formula sheet will be posted a week before the exam so you can refer to it as you're studying.

3. Roughly one third of the exam will be conceptual in nature. Spend some study time understanding what the various concepts are; don't just work through practice problems.

4. After you've finished a problem, double check that your answer is realistic. Many points are lost on answers that are physically impossible.

5. Double check your units. Know beforehand what the units for different quantities are.

Below is a good example of how to read and annotate your textbook. Making notes in the margins, asking questions, summarizing key concepts; these are good ways to actually learn from the book instead of numbly reading through.