<p>Is it usual for premed to take physics 101 and 102? I hear it's autotutorial... how different is it? Does this make the course more difficult than the other physics courses with lectures and labs? Is this graded harder than the other physics? Any information would be great. Thanks.</p>
<p>It's pretty easy. Autotutorial just means there are no formal lectures. You teach yourself the material and if you need help you can go see the TA's. There is a lot of flexibility in the class but it's also very easy to fall behind. Anyway, it's adequate enough for premed. I never took any physics in HS and still managed to ace the Physical Sciences section of the MCAT based on what I learned from Physics 101-102 alone.</p>
<p>So this is what premeds usually take - like bio 101 chem 207... is it the "normal" path? And also, since you're basically a genius, when you say it's easy it doesn't mean much to me =]. Do other people on average say it is easy? You know, the non-geniuses.</p>
<p>dude, intro physics = math class with a few formulas. its easy as **it</p>
<p>At most schools, algebra-based physics (which is Physics 101-102 at Cornell) is the normal physics sequence for premeds. You can of course take Physics 207-208 which is the other popular sequence. There is no med school out there (outside of a few MD/PhD programs) that requires calc-based physics so there's no reason to take Physics 207-208 unless you really want to learn physics. If you absolutely love calc (which I don't), that's another reason to take Physics 207-208.</p>
<p>Also, people say not to take Physics 101-102 if you're a procrastinator and are not good at motivating yourself. However, I pretty much have the worse study habits of anyone I know and I still did fine in the class. It's pretty easy to fall behind since the deadlines are fairly loose so it depends on how well you can manage your time.</p>
<p>Norcalguy, they changed PHYS 101-102 since the start of fall 2005. I wouldn't say it is "easy" because the median grade dropped to a B or B-, compared to the A- from two years ago. What really changed was the grading rubric for the tests. They no longer give a 6/6 if you get just the minimal passing score. They also wrote new questions and switched to a scantron testing format, which doesn't really make that much of a difference. I'd say the difficulty is the same in terms of learning the material, but it is much harder to get a good grade because of the drop of the median grade. The main reason for the drop is that autotutorial was just too easy for a premed course and it wasn't comparable to PHYS 207/208, even though they usually did change the median grade of PHYS 207 to match that of PHYS 101.</p>
<p>Yea, it appears they did drop the median to a B+ from an A-. Even so, if I have to do it over again, I'd still take Physics 101-102 because of the flexibility and the lack of calc. The grading from before was pretty ridiculous, I have to admit. I think, before the change in grading scheme, you could've missed 4 questions per unit test and still have gotten full credit. Out of the 16 or so unit tests, I only missed more than 1 question on two of the tests. So even with the harder grading, there is still room for error. And keep in mind, I had absolutely no background in physics when I took Physics 101-102. Anyone with high school physics should breeze through that class.</p>
<p>Random anecdote: I took my Physics 102 final on Slope Day (which also happens to be my birthday). I wanted to go drinking in the morning and then take my Physics final but, luckily, my friend convinced me to do the final first and then do the drinking. Coming out of the final, a girl burst into tears right in the waiting room (they grade the final right in front of you). So I guess at least one person found the class to be hard.</p>
<p>Most premeds I've talked to take 112, and that's the course I'd suggest.</p>
<p>101/102 is typically more for non-majors (of course, you probably won't be a physics major either, but it's kind of a "physics for people who don't particularly love science but want a sort of general introduction", and that's probably not what you want for premed). 112 is more rigorous.
In terms of the difficulty of the intro physics courses, it goes 101/102, 112, 116. 116 is VERY rigorous and usually only physics majors/people who are strongly interested in/are very good at physics take it.</p>
<p>i was traumitized from physics 207.</p>
<p>there are 3 50 min lectures, 2 50 min mandatory sections, and 1 2 hour lab a week. the problem sets took me about 5 hours to do. the only thing is if you really get it the tests are extremely easy, if you dont you're screwed!</p>
<p>According to the Cornell premed guide, here are the possible sequences acceptable for premed:</p>
<p>Physics 101-102: Denoted as the "usual" sequence
Physics 207-208: 3 lectures, 2 sections, and 1 lab seemed pretty excessive to me
Physics 112-208
Physics 112-213-214</p>
<p>Physics 112 is geared towards engineering and physics majors so you should take that sequence if you are an engineer or physics major but otherwise I don't see a need to.</p>
<p>physics majors take 116-217-218</p>