Many students have asked about how to improve your studies in physics. Frankly speaking, the precise answer to this "how" question varies with people, because everyone has different learning styles. My suggestion here is what I find most efficient to me and many of my friends after trying different methods with them, and I hope it helps.
Probably unlike other scientific disciplines you have encountered before, physics requires more "thinking" than "memorizing". If you don't like to think, it is unlikely that you are going to do very well in the class. In the classroom, I often ask questions, and I expect you to think and answer it. For the same reason, you have to "think" for yourself beyond the classroom. When you leave the classroom and review the class materials, you would like to make sure you get the concepts by thinking through some conceptual problems, not by memorizing them. If you find yourself trapped somewhere, you need to look for help immediately, from your fellow classmates, SI leaders, or from me. It is unlikely that you would get out of conceptual traps by yourself.
Although I emphasize conceptual understanding a lot, I do
not mean that you don't need to practice. Nothing is going to stay with you
without diligent practice. Without practicing, you might find that you often
understand the concepts when they are taught or explained in the classroom, but
you still get it wrong if you are given a slightly different conceptual problem, or not be able to apply
the concepts to solving a typical problem.
You might ask, how many practices are
needed? It really depends. For some people, couple questions might be sufficient
for a concept, for others, five or even more might be necessary. You have to
judge for yourself.
This is another part of physics that really gets you. Many of
you were studying very hard and practicing a lot of problems. You probably
expect
that whatever problems you will encounter are going to be the same as what you
had practiced. In tests, I could do so, but it won't help you very much in
developing problem solving skills. This is why I don't feel I am helping you by
testing you ONLY with the problems you know.
To help you improve such skills, I
will show you the typical strategy for solving a problem, and I will keep demonstrating in the class how I solve problems, step by step. Watch closely how I
do it, and practice on problems by yourselves. Again, how many practices are
needed depends on each person's strength and learning style. You must judge for
yourself.
One thing you must keep in mind is that you should not turn
to the solution manual as soon as you finish reading a problem. Reading/watching
someone else solving a problem will never do you any good unless you do it yourself.
Turn to the solution manual only if you have tried very hard to analyze and solve
the problem but still going nowhere.
This is probably the ultimate reason why you are concerned
about learning physics. I have to be honest with you; the answer
will be "Maybe, maybe not". "A" is never a guaranteed grade to anyone or any
amount of work. It is a comment on one's academic achievement on an subject.
For some people, they might get "A" by doing all these in ways appropriate for
their learning styles. For some people, it might be very difficult for them to get "A", but they will
still pass with B or at least C if they study right.
Same things happen to physics. "A" is never guaranteed. You
have to earned it, with some talents and hard study. The only thing I can say is
your grades will be fair in reflecting your achievements in this class. And
remember that how you
study matters. Find a way that suits your learning style best.
If you think I can be a help in any part of your study, come
to me, and you will be more than welcome.
I hope this little note is helpful...
So, let's work diligently together, shall we?