So we have taken one quiz and I got an f. I actually studied really hard for it too. I’m just not sure what to do. I have a 59 in the class. Should I drop it and take a W or should I try and keep pushing and try to get my grade up. I’m a hs senior btw and the teacher is terrible- not that this is an excuse but I’m kinda scared of her so…
Start resorting to learning on youtube. I had a terrible physics teacher in highschool too and now I am studying geophysics at university. I got through highschool teachers by living on youtube and doing practice problems on google. Also if you have a half decent textbook, do all the practice questions you can and keep doing them till they are second nature. Guaranteed a good mark if you do this and apply your time properly. Good luck.
@Futuremed17 I totally agree with what @Moodz91 says–youtube and online resources are your best friend! You can find many different problems, lecture notes, even some past exams from different colleges that may be the same caliber as your tests.
Also, thoroughly look through the quiz you just took and identify where and why you made mistakes. Was it because you didn’t understand the concepts? Because you read the question wrong? Because you did some less-than-stellar math and had some sign errors? Was your calculator in degree mode instead of radian mode (or vice versa)? It’s important to carefully review where you made errors and see how you can improve. It may just be a matter of reading the questions more carefully or it may be that you weren’t so solid on the concepts and need to review some more and get a better understanding. Who knows, maybe the quiz was difficult for the entire class and lots of people failed it–you may not be the only one who struggled. Either way, don’t give up now! Especially since it was only the first quiz. Is that your only grade in the class? If it is, you have plenty of chances to get your grade up–it’s only September! Most likely your entire grade does not depend on that one quiz.
Some other resources that may be of help to you:
Peer/teacher tutors. Do you have a tutoring center in your school? The teachers there might be able to help you go through the mistakes you made, clear up any misconceptions, and just in general help you understand concepts and math better. They may have a different teaching style that your teacher, so you could benefit from hearing the same concept explained in different ways–hopefully one of those explanations will click. If there’s no tutoring center, you could always try to find another physics teacher to help you or even go to your own teacher for help. The latter prospect may seem daunting, as you say that she scares you, but you’ll never know if she can help unless you ask. Some teachers can seem cold in the classroom or while teaching but can be really friendly and nice if you go personally talk to them. Plus, then your teacher will know that you are motivated to learn the material and that you took the time to ask for help which will hopefully reflect favorably upon you (e.g. a teacher is more likely to round up a student at a 79.2% or 89% at the end of the semester if he/she knows they have been putting in a lot of effort, rather than a student he/she knows was struggling but hasn’t gone to ask for help). My physics teacher always had two periods open to help kids and if one of them was struggling or failed a quiz like you did he would take the time to go through it with them and sometimes even *gasp let them retake the quiz.
AP website. This is SUPER SUPER helpful! I don’t know if you’re in AP Physics 1/2 or AP Physics C, so for the former this may be a less useful tool than for the latter, but either way, the AP website has some awesome resources. The ones I’d say to utilize the most are past free response questions and past multiple choice tests (though the latter is harder to find…AP doesn’t release a lot of mc questions). These are great because 1) you can review for information you know can be on the test and get a feel of what AP will want from you on the actual test and 2) there are frqs for literally every topic imaginable. Doing these can be great review for in-class tests and maybe even quizzes if you do parts of the frqs or find mc questions on the topic you quiz is on. Also, you can time yourself with the questions so you’ll get better at planning out how to do questions and get a feel for what 45min for 3 frqs (in the case of AP Physics C) feels like. I’d say to do as many frqs and mcs as you can before the actual AP test.
Disclaimer* AP Physics 1/2 has only been around for 2 years so there are a limited amount of frqs and sample questions. Disclaimer In the beginning of the year you probably won’t have enough physics knowledge to actually complete a full frq b/c generally one frq can cover many topics such as starting out with forces, going to rotational motion, and ending with harmonic motion/springs. This said, you can always just do part of an frq and then later come back when you know the other material.
*Your textbook. Some teachers give every student a textbook and then use it approximately 4 times during the entire school year. Others will use it everyday. No matter how many times your teacher actually utilizes it, reading the textbook and maybe even taking some notes can be a HUGE help. One kid in my physics class decided to read a chapter in the textbook half way through the year and then told my teacher “you know, the textbook is really helpful. I used it to help me on X hw problem”. Don’t be that kid. Start reading now! You don’t know how beneficial it can be without opening it. Also, it may be a good idea to read the textbook chapter/section on what you’re going to be learning the next day beforehand. That way you’ll already have some idea of what you’re going to be taught and even if the teacher does a bad job explaining and teaching, you’ll already know what she’s talking about instead of feeling completely lost. Now, if your textbook does a bad job of explaining things or is written strangely or in way that doesn’t make a lot of sense, don’t just forget about it in your locker. While it may not be the best and teaching you material it sure can provide a plethora of practice problems!! Take advantage of these–your teacher may base quiz/test problems of the textbook questions or even use some of them on your exams (if this does happen be cautious though of just writing down an answer you memorized from doing the problem–many teachers will change the numbers up slightly. In any case, you really shouldn’t be memorizing answers, but rather understanding how to do a problem and the concepts needed to tackle it). But really, doing practice problems can be really helpful if the hw or in class worksheets aren’t enough and your teacher probably has a solution manual somewhere where you can check answers to the evens (or whatever answers your textbook doesn’t provide) and maybe even show you a different method of doing the same problem (lots of physics problems can be solved using more than one method, for example kinematics vs. energy).
*Your peers. Don’t be afraid of asking your classmates for help. Many times they will be more than glad to help you out and also many times they can be as completely lost as you are. If you can, form a study group! You can hear insights from many people each problem and there will always be times when you know how to do a problem your buddy doesn’t and your buddy knows how to do a problem you don’t. Plus, teaching/helping people with problems you’ve solved can help you solidify what you learned and also can quickly help point out if you don’t fully understand a topic. If you can’t explain how to do a problem clearly or you’re stumbling through the explanation, it may mean that you haven’t fully grasped the material yet and is a signal you should go back to review it. I had a study group and we’d go to the library before tests to do the review packet and also help each other on the problem set for the unit.
Good luck and don’t give up!! If you have any more questions feel free to message me–I took both AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C in high school.