No matter what I do, I just cannot 100% understand anything in my AP Physics 1 class. I go in early every morning before school for 45 minutes to work on homework and ask questions, I do every single homework assignment, I study in advance and typically spend 3 hours a night before a test reviewing, and I have a private tutor I meet with once per week for an hour. Despite all of this, I am barely pulling a B (80.9%) in the class with a C average on tests - and I am an A student who works hard for her grades.
I’m retaking a unit 4 test tomorrow and as I look over all my material I just feel so stupid because I don’t understand any of it. Why is physics so hard for me? What can I do to improve?
^Could you take the “regular” physics instead?
OP, it was very hard for me, too. I was an A+ student in high school. My first college exam was in physics, and I got a 45!!! I thought my life was over. I made a C one semester, and a B the other. I would look at each exam and wonder if I were in the wrong classroom! The questions didn’t seem to resemble anything we had studied. I had a tutor, also.
I ended up with a 3.8 GPA in college and graduated with high honors, so don’t worry too much about physics being hard. Oh, and I majored in structural engineering.
Physics is just a tough subject. Dude, you’re talking about a class that constantly questions your surroundings. This is your very first intro into Physics so it’ll seem hard in the beginning. As the year goes on, class will get easier. Keep pushing. (That is if you want to major in an applied Physics major, like Engineering)
Unfortunately at my school you either take AP 1 or prep, which is a core level class. I would drop down but I wanted to try and persevere to finish it out :-S
By any chance, do you guys use ‘physicsclassroom.com’? My AP physics teacher loves that site.
@AcceptableName I use it whenever I want to review or read simplified versions of complex topics (topics that are gibberish in my textbook).
My daughter took AP Physics and said it was very different, because what is important is the thinking process and writing out the thoughts. She said it required a different approach than any other type of science course she ever took, and she took them all.
Here’s a good article with some tips for solving physics problems, with an emphasis on how to describe the problem, your approach and conclusion to get the most points in grading.
https://telescoper.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/11/02/three-tips-for-solving-physics-problems/