<p>I'm currently a senior in high school and I've been interested in self studying physics. I've picked up self studying since last year and have been going through various undergraduate introductory textbooks such as Goldstein and Griffiths for mechanics and EM. </p>
<p>What exactly is the best way to self study to attain full understanding of the material? I usually read through the chapter where I gain understanding of it then go back and go through the problems. Should I go through the chapter and re-derive everything as well as do every problem? Or is it enough to read through the chapter and look through the problems and just see if I know how to approach it? </p>
<p>I feel that mathematics is part of the problem as well. For example, as I was reading through Griffiths, I had to re-read how they used separation of variables to solve partial differential equations for laplace's equation several times in order to be able to understand it and do problems. Should I study some math first? I've already taken a course in multivariate calculus and am currently taking differential equations. </p>
<p>In addition, is there a general method to self study efficiently? I feel that when I stay up late to study, I don't really learn/understand things as fast as I do when I read it during the day. When I take classes in school, it seems that I pick up things faster than when I self-study. For example, I somehow just sleep through all my math and physics classes and just ace the tests and I actually understand everything. However, when I self study and actually want to learn what I'm reading, it seems harder for me to understand things fast and retain it or have the drive to do more problems. </p>
<p>Is the doing more problems part the most important? Most of the time, I spend more time going carefully through the chapter and re-reading proofs and re-deriving things and then I just skim through the problems and move on if I can figure out the general method to do it. I sometimes just get lazy and don't bother to go through with solving all the long integrals and math. Or I just get impatient and want to move on to learn new things.</p>
<p>What tips do you guys have?</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>For me doing problems is what forces me to actually learn things. It’s too easy to smile and nod while you’re reading without actually processing what you’re reading; the problems will force you to actually think about why things work the way they do. It’s not like you have to do all the problems though; you could try to look online to find some problem sets from associated courses and see what problems were assigned, since they’re more likely to be the more useful ones.</p>
<p>Goldstein is probably a bit advanced to be doing now; it can technically be used for an undergrad course, but I believe it’s more commonly a graduate mechanics book. I’d try using something like Taylor or Thornton instead (Thornton wasn’t that great in my opinion; I’ve heard okay things about Taylor but I never used it).</p>
<p>For advanced undergrad mechanics you probably want to know some basic differential equations, for E&M you need to know multivar, and for quantum you want to know linear algebra (and maybe PDEs; not necessary but likely helpful).</p>
<p>Just keep doing what you’re doing.</p>
<p>thanks. So going through mit ocw courses and doing the problem sets is enough? Since they have a electrodynamics course that solely uses griffiths too. I don’t have to like read carefully through the text and rederive everything?</p>
<p>no I wouldn’t derive anything. I took 3 university physics courses. sometimes we would derive them in class. but they were never on a quiz or anything. I think the best way to learn that, is do what your doing. I suggest doing a few practice questions from each section of the chapter. then try the mit ocw assignments or quizes a few days later, like every sunday night. by doing this, you’ll force yourself too look through the chapter again, memorize definitions, try more practice questions… essentially study… which is where the learning comes in, because you are re-inforcing it into your brain. </p>
<p>check out [#1</a> in Textbook Rental. Rent or Buy Your Books Now | Chegg.com](<a href=“http://www.chegg.com%5D#1”>http://www.chegg.com) they have solution manuals for mit courses etc…</p>
<p>so just read through it and do the problems? Is it not enough to just go through the text and do mit ocw problem sets? Or do I have to do the problems in the textbook as well. Some problem sets usually assign questions from the textbook anyways.
Do I have to work through the entire problem? Like I stated before, I sometimes jsut look at the problem adn figure out how to do it lol.
And also, is there a general method to learning. Like staying up at night and studying is that usually not as efficient for learning?</p>
<p>Ishida, you are well ahead of most other would-be physics majors. So far ahead that it isn’t worth worrying about optimizing your process, just study and enjoy.</p>
<p>But don’t neglect your social life.</p>
<p>I also suggest books like Thinking Physics, Mad About Physics, The Flying Circus of Physics, and Why Toast Lands Jelly Side Down, to bolster your conceptual understanding.</p>
<p>I should add, my advice would change once you are in college. Then I’d say derive everything, understand all math steps and methods, and work out problems.</p>
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<p>I’d say sometimes it’s worth it to actually work through everything to make sure you understand what’s going on. It’s very easy to gloss over those important, fundamental details when you’re not actually writing everything down step by step.</p>
<p>so I just read through the chapter then do problems? is it necessary to do practice problems in the text beyond the problem sets? Or should I just go back to them after a while?</p>
<p>Right now ANYTHING you do is gravy, not necessary. But if you want to study like a real physics major should, then you should not only read the text but work out the examples and follow along with the derivations of the math.</p>
<p>thanks. I guess I should just slow it down and go through the text carefully.
Btw, as for textbooks, are dover books any good? Like for classical mechanics, I use Goldstein, but I looked at the classical mechanics book by dover and it’s shorter and also covers about the same content.</p>
<p>Don’t know, my class used Morin, which I both loved and hated.</p>
<p>A lot of the Dover textbooks are “classic” ones which tend to have fewer examples, worked problems, and solutions. They’re a great way of seeing different explanations for concepts, and sometimes they’ll present a derivation/proof in a different way that’ll make what you’re confused about more clear. I own a few and have found them somewhat less useful in general, though, compared to just having a second textbook on the subject.</p>
<p>If I were to self study rigorously and to actually understand it completely, would I have to re-read everything carefully that I read through before when I didn’t do problems? Or is it enough to just skim through it, re-derive things, work out examples, and do problem sets on mit ocw?</p>
<p>Is it actually less about reading every word in the textbook than just constantly making sure you understand what you’re reading? Sometimes, I get stuck on problems on the problem sets and I feel that I have to reread the entire chapter again.
The problems are generally a lot more challenging and different than the ones I’ve seen in high school even in courses like differential equations. While the teacher usually assigns questions from the textbook, it seems like in college, professors assign problem sets meant to make you think and learn more about the topic rather than just drilling it into your head.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of textbooks out there, so all of them will have different words to read. What’s the same between all of them are the concepts that need to be understood.</p>
<p>Frankly, I’ve found I never feel I fully understand something until I to teach it to someone else.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry as much about trying to learn every little thing as understanding the broad concepts and understanding how it all goes together.</p>
<p>I found that it’s helpful to like write out a summary of what I’ve just read as like notes for someone else and I get a chance to rederive stuff and solve examples all over again. Is this a good idea?</p>
<p>Rewriting things in a different form is an excellent way to be sure you’ve digested the information and understand it in a context more than just being able to regurgitate exactly what was given you you.</p>
<p>First, i applaud you for studying on your own. It shows good dedication and is an important skill later in life.</p>
<p>I’d also like to give my quick tips:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Read the textbook as if you were going to edit it for typos. Then teach it to your mom/dad/little brother. That’s what i did. Needless to say they were completely baffled but it helped me understand things by
having to lay it out on my own on paper. My criteria for understanding something is if you can teach it to someone else without the help of notes. At a slightly higher level, you should be able to catch typos
on someone else’s book.</p></li>
<li><p>If you spend 10 min understanding a new formula, you should spend at least an equal amount of time solving problems related to that new formula. Griffiths has plenty of example problems. For good resource of problems look at Irodov Problems in General Physics</p></li>
<li><p>There are the MIT ocw lectures for 8.01-8.02-8.03. Then there are the IIT lectures on E&M which are at the Griffiths level. Prof Balakrishnan has beautiful classical mechanics lecture also at the Goldstein level. if found online lectures much easier to learn from than books for self-studying.</p></li>
<li><p>I find goldstein really dry and long winded. I suggest Landau Vol. 1 for mechanics. It is a lot shorter (150 pages) and covers almost all the important topics of Goldstein. Beware, Landau is a lot more condensed. You won’t have flowery long sentences. Everything will be to the point. I’ve spent more than 1 hr on some pages of landau. And don’t aim to study the whole book. Your goal should be “I will understand ch. 1 of Landau by then end of the month”. Feynman’s lecture on the principle of least action (vol. 1, lecture 20) i believe was also really good. </p></li>
<li><p>Focus on quality. Learn few things but learn them well.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>PS: this is coming from someone who had the same problem when he was your age.</p>