Unfortunately, I had a terrible quiz today in AP physics. It was on rotational kinematics (not inertia or anything, just the basics). I kinda sorta understood it before, but only to the point where I was memorizing the content-- I didn’t actually understand why you would plug the numbers in and such. Needless to say, I got a 2/10 on my quiz. I am very disappointed in myself. Many people in my class seemed to understand it while I did not and it makes me feel inadequate. I know that it’s very early in the year but I wonder that, if I cannot understand something as “easy” as this, how am I going to fare the rest of the year?
Don’t get me wrong, I did study. I watched videos, I asked for help on problems that I didn’t understand, and I still couldn’t get it. It’s not that I’m concerned with the grade on the quiz (she ends up dropping 3 quizzes at the end of the semester anyways) but it’s the fact that I just didn’t understand the content. I plan on going into engineering in college and this is starting to worry me a little bit.
How can I grasp the content? Should I start watching more videos, maybe buy a physics book? I had no problem with physics last year (except with tension I believe, which I still need to clear up with myself). If anyone could give me some advice that would be greatly appreciated. I really enjoy physics and I want to do well and understand everything.
I was talking with my AP Physics teacher the other day and she was saying how some concepts come easier for some students than others. In other words, rotational kinematics may be something that you personally struggle with while others may struggle with other things. For example, in chemistry I struggled a lot with intermolecular forces while my classmates breezed through that unit, but I found myself understanding thermodynamics a lot faster than my classmates.
When I struggled with more-basic-than-rotational-kinematics earlier this year, I found that looking at the variables in terms of units helped me understand why, for example, acceleration is multiplies by the change in time squared rather than just the change in time. Perhaps you could meet with your teacher outside of class and ask for a step-by-step walkthrough of a problem, asking them to explain /why/ they do each step. Maybe that’ll help you understand better?
If all else fails, searching for some online tutorials/videos/webpages is a good idea and then if all else fails, you may want to buy a physics book.
Since AP Physics is based off of conceptual ideas, focus on the why and how when learning the information. That different type of learning, compared to just plugging numbers into formulas, is challenging to many students at the start of AP Physics. As far as books go, Dan Fullerton makes a great essentials guide. The usual prospects will also work: PR and 5 steps, (stay away from Barron’s).
@Faultystart it’s funny that you mention the acceleration piece because it just donned on me the other day why it’s m/s^2 :)) I think that I’m going to have to start meeting with my teacher like you suggested. I really want to grasp these concepts. Thank you for your help
@lnicole
Acceleration is m/s^2 because it’s the change in velocity per second. So since velocity is already m/s, you divide it by another unit of seconds to get the change in velocity (and change in velocity equals acceleration). Then you get m/s/s which equals m/s^2.
