<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I am really bad at physics, but want to improve in this subject when I get into college. I didn't do so well in my regular physics class in HS. So I was wondering what I can do to improve myself?</p>
<p>How good are you at Math? If you do not have a good aptitude for Math the prospects for significant improvement in Physics is limited. If you are good at Math but have problems with Physics you need to do as many practice Physics problems as you can to improve your ability to apply your Math skills to physical situations.</p>
<p>Ya I would say I am pretty good at math. But the concepts kill me and I end up doing really bad.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t think that being good at Math will make you a good Physics student. Physics is basically math, and the two subjects are like twin. In ancient time the two subjects were under the one branch of study, however. </p>
<p>Anything you do in life requires you to learn the concepts and then apply the concepts routinely. We are not IQ 180 so reading definitions will not save us from hell right away. Physics is not an exception. The majority do bad in Physics because there are so many topics and many textbooks are wordy. They give simple examples and then expect students to apply the same framework to something more difficult without getting into the details. Some teachers are also not very good at passing their knowledges to students. Many students also don’t take the subject seriously and did not do enough practices to formulate solid conceptional questions. If you don’t spend enough time thinking and doing problems, you will come up with baby questions “oh so we need to do this step???”. </p>
<p>I think you just need more time. You still have a couple weeks left, so go online and look for lecture pdf, ppt, and videos.</p>
<p>Physics takes good math skills, but it also takes good visualization skills. You have to be able to “see” the math, not just compute the math.</p>
<p>Study the mathematics of vectors if you want to be good at Physics I. If you have solid understanding of vectors and a good understanding of derivatives, then Physics I should be easy as pie.</p>
<p>IMO, Physics is just applied mathematics. The better you are at math, the better you can be at physics.</p>
<p>I have not taken calculus as of yet. I will AP Calc AB this upcoming school year so maybe I will have a deeper understanding of physics then?</p>
<p>I got my Physics degree, but had a hell of time keeping up. For me the difficulty was visualizing the equations. What did they mean? Then I got mathcad. If you can grab a copy and enter some of the formulas that confuse you. Then start graphing results. Change some of the variables and look at the graphs again. Get real data on materials from a reference or online and try it again. Key - Label the axes, and title the graph (seems weird but it really helps).</p>
<p>It was when I could “see” what the equations meant, then it started to click. That plus round the clock studying, and no lie, answering every question in the text book not just the ones assigned (after awhile that trick made it way easier, to the point that it took less time to do my homework that way than just doing a couple). Physics requires you to bang your head against the wall with a smile, over and over again, until one day, it goes click! Then it makes sense and life gets better. Good luck.</p>