<p>Hey!
I'm gonna be a freshman engineer at A&M. I've heard that this is one of the fundamental classes that all engineers have to take. Unfortuantely, people have also said that it's pretty hard. I took physics C in high school as a senior... did ok in the class, but pretty badly on the ap exams. Any tips from you guys on how to approach the class and succeed in it.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Do the homework, go to help sessions if you need them, and study diligently and you’ll be fine. I know that’s basic advice but there’s not much else to it than that. </p>
<p>It may also be helpful to get familiar now with the information that the professor for the class you have registered for provides online, so you develop a comfort level with what is going to be covered day by day, and what resources are available for you. Google him or her. I think it can be helpful to know, in advance, what the structure of the class will be like and what the actual lectures, labs, and recitations will be like. There is a LOT of information out there. Here is a link, for example, to one professor’s introductory lecture to the class, and while this material candidly says the class is hard, it provides all sorts of basic advice about how to succeed in the class–much of it like @izelkay’s advice. Pages 9, 11, 15-18, and 21 are particularly instructive. <a href=“http://people.physics.tamu.edu/eusebi/courses/P218/Syllabus/Syllabus.html”>http://people.physics.tamu.edu/eusebi/courses/P218/Syllabus/Syllabus.html</a> </p>
<p>This link will take you to a directory of all the Physics and Astronomy professors, and when you click on your professor’s link, his or her bio page will also have a link to the professor’s personal website, which may contain a lot of course info. <a href=“http://physics.tamu.edu/directory/showgroup.php?group=all”>http://physics.tamu.edu/directory/showgroup.php?group=all</a></p>
<p>These additional links are to other, random information that professors have posted.
<a href=“http://people.physics.tamu.edu/eusebi/courses/P218/Schedule/Schedule.html”>http://people.physics.tamu.edu/eusebi/courses/P218/Schedule/Schedule.html</a>
<a href=“Page Redirection”>http://people.physics.tamu.edu/etanya/P218/videos.htm</a>
<a href=“P218”>http://people.physics.tamu.edu/etanya/P218/P218.htm</a></p>
<p>Woa… @yakker thanks for the insight ! It makes sense that each individual professor is different in the means with which he teaches the class. </p>
<p>@izelkay - lol ur advice may be basic but it’s so true hahah thanks </p>
<p>Also I have prof. Rupak mahapatra ? Do y’all know anything about him?</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman engineering major this fall and is really struggling in Physics 218. She did very badly on the first exam, got some good tutoring, and felt great going in to the second exam. She finished the second exam last night and said she is certain she did very badly. Of course she won’t know until probably next week, but she said that the exam was nothing like the previous exams that she was encouraged to utilize to prepare. She is very concerned about failing the class and is wondering whether she should plan to drop it or if she can expect a curve. She is a very dedicated student and is devastated by the thought of dropping and the fear of failing. She also knows that dropping or failing will really put her behind in her degree plan. Can anyone comment on this from previous experiences?</p>
<p>I don’t have any previous experience but just some thoughts. My son is an engineering student too and is in 218 this semester. He said the 2nd exam was harder than the first.</p>
<p>Since these kids are the guinea pigs for this new engineering process I wonder how failing or dropping a core course will affect their application to their major? From what I understand they will apply sometime next semester for their desired major to start their sophomore year. I think they must have successfully completed a core science, math and engineering course prior to applying. If that is the case then dropping or failing a core course would move her back a semester for applying. But then again this a new process and I’m not sure anyone really knows how it will work. I would suggest having her discuss with her prof and see what is the likely outcome of the course based upon curves and her grades.</p>
<p>Yes, that was my suggestion as well. Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>@proudaggiemom Of course, I don’t know just how badly your daughter did on her Physics 218 exams, but she does need to be aware that many profs do curve at the end of the semester. Some of my son’s profs over the years have told the class at the beginning of a semester that they do NOT curve, even though they DO end up curving at the end.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that Physics 218 was also the class that scared the beejeebees out of my son in his first semester (but I’m not positive it was that class). He got something like a 62 or a 58 on the first test. He had never seen grades in the 50’s or 60’s in his life and he was quite distressed about it. But he eventually came to learn that his score was the highest score in the class. His second test grade in that class was something like a 73. Again, he was very concerned. He figured he had a high D average after the second test, and the prof said he doesn’t curve! But he again discovered that his 73 was the highest test score in the class. His grades in that class did continue to rise as the semester went on, but they were generally not anywhere near the grades he had come to expect before A&M. (Also, as I recall, the final test was far easier than the first two tests, which also helped him bring up his average.) </p>
<p>According to my son, the prof stuck to his guns throughout the semester that he was not going to curve. As I recall, my son ended the semester with something like an 86 average in the class, what should have been a B. But sure enough, he got an A in the class and was told that his average was the highest in the class. He carried that experience forward to all of his other classes at A&M. He no longer frets if an individual grade looks bad on paper … chances are, the prof will curve and all will be well in the end. He has come to realize that he is typically well-prepared for his tests and that his occasional low scores are actually high scores compared to his peers. This may be your daughter’s experience as well.</p>
<p>Please forgive me if this response does not apply to her. She may have done very poorly on her tests, even when compared to her peers. If so, I’m sorry that she has to go through that. There are lots of ways to get help in engineering. In my opinion, in addition to getting help with the actual work in some of those ways, she should also go to the prof’s office hours to discuss her concerns. That’s what my son did – and that’s how he learned that he was actually doing very well in the class (though the prof never did reveal his hand that he would eventually curve the grades). On the off-chance that your “very dedicated student” is experiencing what my “very dedicated student” experienced in his freshman year, I thought I would share my son’s experience.</p>
<p>Wishing her the best! </p>
<p>@SimpleLife Thanks so much for this insight! My daughter did meet with her professor after the first exam, and the professor told her to just keep at it. I guess she needs to wait and get the results of the second exam then visit the professor again. I’m just trying to gather some information to help her be prepared. Thanks again.</p>
<p>^ Oh, good. I hope that sharing my son’s experience helped alleviate some of your worries, and I’m glad your daughter has already talked to her professor. Hopefully, “just keep at it” is code for “you’re doing just fine; don’t be too concerned!” TAMU’s engineering programs are surprisingly challenging. That’s a good thing! 
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<p>All the best to your daughter!</p>
<p>@proudaggiemom My son is also in his first semester at TAMU. It was a bit of a relief to read these posts as we had this exact conversation last night after his second test in Phys 218. My son is an Honors student and has never made much less than an A in his whole life. He scored a 91 on his first test in Phys 218 and felt a bit confident. Last night he texted me that this second exam was the “hardest test he has ever taken in life”. He is confident he bombed the test and is quite upset. He said he knows the material, but the math on this test was much, much, much, much more difficult than what was on the practice exams. I suspect that everyone has done poorly on this test, so your daughter is in good company. </p>
<p>There are several options for my son, and your daughter, to recover from the test. First, I have read that the final exams are easier and can replace one of the 3 tests as well as count 25%. We have also read that many of the professors apply huge curves at the end. You cannot count on it, but from what I have read these curves can move B’s to A’s, C’s to B’s and even F’s to C’s. My son is also looking at attending a review session at A+ Tutoring for the next test. This is not something my son has ever had to do and it may not do much, but I told him the more he reviews the material the better chance he has. I have read that A+ does a great job and many students swear by their ability to increase their test scores. Might want to give it a shot. </p>
<p>Tell your daughter she is not alone. There are many freshman that are nervous after last nights test. Hang in there. These are known as their weedout courses. </p>
<p>My son is taking Physics 218. He said there are two groups. His group is using: Don’t Panic: A Guide to Introductory Physics for Students of Science and Engineering: Mechanics. This book is written by William Bassichis, a long-time TAMU physics professor. My son said their class average is about a 70.</p>
<p>The other group is using University Physics, which is the group that his roommate is in. Their class average is even lower than 70. I doubt that TAMU will flunk half their freshman physics students.</p>
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<p>Ah, yes, that sounds very familiar! That fact alone helps students to pull up their averages just in the nick of time.</p>
<p>But really, more important than the numbers themselves is how those numbers compare to other classmates’ numbers. The highest grades in the class will likely be A’s whether they’re 55’s or 95’s. Most high schools don’t operate that way, so it’s scary when smart, accomplished, college freshmen encounter that practice for the first time in their lives. They’ll eventually get used to it! 
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<p>It does sound familiar! I have an older daughter (now a senior Mechanical engineering student) who took Physics 218 as a freshman and had the same experience. (A on the first test and C on the second.) She told us the same thing --The first test is manageable but the second test is much more challenging. She, too, I believe would say she got a little over-confident after the first test. She was an A&M Honors student and had always had straight A’s but, as they said at NSC, this is now college. It was a wake-up call but definitely a growth experience. Of course, because the averages on the Physics tests were so low (like 60s and 50s) we thought there would be a healthy curve. Unfortunately, in her experience, the final was still really hard and, what’s worse, her specific professor did not curve. Yes, she said there were many kids who dropped the class after the second test to take it the following semester and quite a few who took Cs. I remember seeing later this professor’s average GPA for that class was in the low 2s. Of course, all of this may have changed in the past few years but we now have a second daughter, a freshman engineer, and we had some long conversations about these classes before she left. Her sister told her about the higher math requirements for the later tests After having the heads-up, she thought the test the other night was hard but ok. We also had her take tutoring classes from the first day whether she thought she needed it or not. The good news is that it is just one class and there are many other opportunities for As for the GPA and, in the end, it didn’t really matter. My other piece of advice is for next semester – Physics 208 is notoriously the weed-out class.</p>
<p>@NETarrantMom That is what I’ve heard about Physics 208. The true weed-out class. Much worse than 218. My son is already a little concerned about it. One of the advisers even said to take it at a junior/community college.</p>
<p>kdat1 - My older daughter took 208 at a CC in the summer after freshman year and when she walked in the professor said, “How many Aggies do I have in this class?” and about 80% were from A&M. Funny, right?! </p>
<p>kdat1 - sorry I hit “Post” before I wanted to. Of course, my older daughter took it a few years ago before you had to apply for your specific engineering major. She was already in her major so I am not sure delaying into next summer would be the best course of action now. Hard to know with the new system.</p>
<p>We have all shared “similar but different” experiences here. While Physics 218 is notoriously challenging, it’s clear that the overall experience depends on the professor and the section. I remember that being true of other classes as well.</p>
<p>Within this post, some of our kids felt that test 1 was hardest; some, test 2; others, test 3. And some profs curved and some didn’t. Class averages are all over the place. It’s interesting how much of the overall experience in the class rides on the prof and the section.</p>
<p>I’ve long wondered if the profs might curve over their entire group – if they teach 2 sections of the same class, maybe they curve over both sections combined by pooling all of their students’ grades prior to curving? There have been a few experiences over the years that made me wonder about that. Just a little curiosity …</p>
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<p>See, that’s interesting. I have heard the same thing since before my son attended, but he was surprised to discover that 218 was actually much harder than 208. I just asked him, to be sure my memory was correct, and he texted, “Physics 218 was much, much harder. But I actually got almost or exactly the same test grades in both classes. I just had to work more for one. Much simpler and more straightforward rules and applications in Physics 208.”</p>
<p>He ended up with an A in both classes, but I definitely remember his concern about 218. That’s why proudaggiemom’s post caught my eye. Maybe a lot of that concern was driven by the fact that he was pulling in those low test scores for the first time in his life. By the time he was in 208, he probably wasn’t as concerned about the numbers, so he didn’t find it as stressful. Plus, as he said, he found the rules and applications to be much more straightforward in 208. I remember that he actually enjoyed 208 and found it to be rewarding!</p>
<p>For those who are a little afraid of 208, it is possible that you won’t find it nearly as challenging as 218!</p>