<p>Well this is my first semester in a 3-2 physics/engineering program. I just transferred from a community college and originally was going into business and about a year ago I figured out I want to be an engineer instead. I know they are completely different but the only reason I wanted to do business at first was not even that I was into business but I just needed to select a major and wanted to make sure I stayed in school instead of taking time off to figure out what I want to do and possibly not return to school .. But I really want to be an engineer and my dream is to go to U of I in Champagne. Since my credits were mostly business I felt that U of I may not accept me into the engineering program and Loyola did and I only have to do 2 years here for my bachelors in physics then 2 years at U of I and in the end have 2 degrees in a little longer amount of time then just waiting to go to U of I. After all of that rambling I'm just not doing well in physics this semester. Most of my class isn't doing good but I just feel that I understand the concepts and my grade does not reflect that. The Chairman of the physics department allowed me in this certain physics class because the class I need in order to get into all the other classes for my major isn't offered this semester. When I was talking to other physics majors and told them what class Im in their jaws dropped and they told me I have a bad professor (I know excuses excuses) but she literally reads the book to us and its for bio majors but I'm also assigned additional problems from the chairman because he is going to allow this class to take the place of the one that wasn't offered. I can't believe how poorly I'm doing in this class I've honestly never done this bad in a class in my life and I've taken physics before and I'm really searching on this post for what you think my next move should be. If I don't get a B in this class he said hes not going to count it anyways (just told me last week) and I'm just hoping to get any advice on what to do whether it would be to forget about physics and just stick to the one degree or take the longer route but still get both degrees etc. I really do feel I understand the physics I'm learning and many of my peers come to me for help and even my instructor is surprised of my grade.</p>
<p>Welcome to COLLEGE physics, stuff’s hard bro, you just gotta keep at it</p>
<p>As a physics professor I can tell you that most of the responsibility for learning physics is really up to you. The professor can be good and motivate students to be interested but it is all about reading the text, doing the derivations on your own and doing the problems the right way. </p>
<p>There are a couple of things you can do to get the most out of the professor, particularly since you are a physics major.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Read the book before going to class and ask questions. I assure you that most of the rest of the class has the same questions too.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to office hours. I don’t have much sympathy for students who don’t come see me with questions and the ones that do, always get valuable information.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That being said, they have done you no favors in letting you take the course for biology majors. It is probably not calculus based and so you are not getting the course that you need to be prepared for future courses.</p>
<p>What’s the highest math you’ve taken and how well did you do in your math courses? Most of the problems I had with Physics in my youth was due to a lack of math foundation.</p>
<p>@lookbehindyou - thank you I really need to suck it up but venting on a forum did help me from the panic I was feeling Ha!</p>
<p>@xraymancs- thank you for your advice I do not think I’m reading the book properly to understand the content and need to work on this. The course is not calculus based but I have one book for that course and then another book (fundamentals of physics) that is calculus based and the chairman assigns me 5-10 problems per week out of that book to make up for what I’m missing… but does not teach me any of it and the problems sometimes need integrals which I have not learned whatsoever in my calc classes yet but I should learn enough from the book and read it more in depth . I actually find the algebra physics a bit more difficult but thats just me personally. Would you recommend me sticking it out and go through with the physics degree? or try to transfer out to U of I and eventually get into their engineering program?</p>
<p>da6onet-The highest level of math I’ve completed is calculus for business. I had to take pre-calc after that because they recommended it for the trig I will need to go into engineering. I received an A in that class and I’m currently in calc1 with an A so far.</p>
<p>whoaaa…you are being royally screwed. You are trying to do too much w/o the preparation. </p>
<p>You are taking a non calc physics lecture and trying to do calc based homework problems? Who advised that hairbrained scheme? Especially if the chair is not teaching you how to do the calc based part. You should have never taken that class. You should have just waited for the physics w/ calc course and take it next semester. You are taking an algebra based course but for your engineering classes you will need to be thinking in vectors. Conceptually it’s the same, but you want to get the experience of working w/ the vector notation mathematics. </p>
<p>It’s probably too late now, but I would have probably withdrawn from the non calc class.</p>
<p>What major do you want to graduate with? I would go back to community college and take the pre-engineering curriculum for cheap then transfer into an engineering school instead of getting a physics degree that I probably don’t want. And physics is hard!</p>
<p>@Lookin4ward has it right. You need to decide if you really like physics because most engineering majors only take 3 semesters of physics at the most and with 3 years of a physics program at your school you will be taking more than that. That being said, I am not sure that UIUC (or my school, IIT) would accept a non-calculus based physics course for a 3+2 engineering program. You would end up having to take it again and lengthening your stay. While I know that the 3+2 programs are appealing, if you really want to be an engineer you should go for the engineering program right away.</p>
<p>I do like physics actually but I just had a poor start. Thank you all for your advice it is honestly very helpful and has confirmed some things I have been worried about. This is a good thing because I still have time to address these issues Thank you!</p>