Ok, so i narrowed my list of majors into two areas, mechanical engineering and software engineering. In high school I got a C in Honors physics and I got an A in AP Calculus. Im afraid of taking physics because i dont want to fail college but at the same time i want to major in mechanical/software engineering. If I take Introductory Calculus Based physics, what are some study tips that would greatly help. I cant understand why im so good at math but when it comes to physics, i blank out.
Some of the concepts of physics may be easier with calculus (e.g. the relationship between position, velocity, and acceleration).
My older daughter took calculus based physics in high school, then needed to take physics without calculus in university. She said that calculus based physics was far easier. I personally took calculus based physics as a freshman in university. I found calculus to be a huge help in understanding physics.
I think that it is worth giving it a try.
my advice is to panic early and often. One of my kids took calculus his first semester…it flattened him…a 68 on his first test! That night he went to the free tutor…and kept going, night after night, week after week. Guess what happened? His prof dropped the lowest grade and gave him an A! He crawled his way back and now he’s not frightened of any class.
I struggled with physics my freshman year. On my first exam, I got a 40!! And there wasn’t that much of a curve. I got a tutor and worked really hard. Got a B one semester and a C the other (I’d never made less than an A all during high school). I’m glad I stuck it out, because I liked engineering and ended up with a high GPA. I agree with SouthernHope - get a lot of help!
This is truly terrible advice. I mean, if ever there was a succinct way of telling a student how to study solely for a test and spend a lot of time doing something in a way that will tend to cause them to have trouble applying broader concepts in later classes, this is it.
Do not ignore “concepts”. Do not spend inordinate amounts of time essentially trying to memorize recipes for how to solve problems. This is a surefire way to limit your ability to connect ideas from one unit or class to another. Focus on the core concepts in the course. Learn how those core concepts apply to the homework problems. Learn why a certain recipe works according to those core concepts to solve a problem (rather than just learning the recipe). If you do that, you will be a much stronger student. It’s definitely a harder route to take, but it’s the one that leads to the strongest learning.
"then needed to take physics without calculus in university. " - For engineering? That would be unusual. She might have preferred the high school class (I assume AP) because of slower pace.