Tips to do well in Phys 157

I am done with the first term of the first year of Engineering. Those four months went by in a flash. I took 5 courses that term: MATH 100, APSC 100, CHEM 154, PHYS 157 and PHIL 101. I took PHIL 101 to satisfy the first year arts requirement of engineering. Out of all these courses, the most challenging was definitely PHYS 157. A lot of fellow first years I know were also having trouble with that course. In fact, PHYS 157 is dubbed the second hardest course in first year engineering, first being PHYS 158 (which I am taking this term).

There are two midterms for this course. And I didn’t do well in both of them. The class averages for the first and second midterms were 68% and 90% respectively. The first midterm was quite hard, whereas they reduced the difficulty for the second midterm (hence such a high class average). My grades for both midterms were 70% and 80% respectively. Pretty average.

But I absolutely killed the final exam (which according to fellow first years, was pretty hard), and got an overall grade of 88%, the class average being 72%. I am quite happy with my grade on this one. I could’ve gone above 90 if I did well on the midterms. But I am content with what I got.

Note: I didn’t take ANY tutoring. In fact, I didn’t take any tutoring for any course I took. I think it’s just a waste of time and money. It is more useful to study individually. But, if you think you’re not able to achieve much by yourself, and are in desperate need of help, then by all means, go for those prep sessions. That’s better than failing the course.

That being said, following are some tips which I think will help boost your PHYS 157 grade:

  • GO TO THE TUTORIALS! Tutorials are the best source of practice for this course. They cover all types of questions which can come on the midterms and the final. The difficulty level of the questions may be a bit less as compared to the questions they put on exams. But still, the concepts used will be the same. If you want to do well, always show up for the tutorials. Keep your phone away and focus on the questions for the entirety of the duration. Absorb as much as you can from the tutorials.
  • I did not like going to the lectures. I found them useless from the point of view of exams. But I had to. I needed those clicker grades. So, majority of my time in lectures went by in completing homework, and solving clicker questions. I didn’t really pay attention to the demonstrations done in class because I found them pointless (though, some of them were interesting). So, if you don’t mind losing a few points, don’t go to the lectures. All the notes will be posted on connect, which you can review later. But this is true only for students in Kotlicki’s section (as I was in his section). I can’t say for any other profs. Right now I have Don Witt for PHYS 158, and man, that guy is a very good teacher. If you’re in Don Witt’s section, definitely go to his lectures.
  • They will be posting what content you have to read from the book every week. Make sure you have a deep understanding of the concepts they tell you to read. Do example problems related to those concepts from the book. Application is the key. Know how to apply what you read to solve problems. That’s what engineering is after all.
  • Complete all the reading quizzes! They are free marks! Take as many tries as you need to get all of them correct.
  • Try to do questions on your own first. If you can’t solve a problem in the tutorial, see what is missing in your knowledge. Ask yourself what you don’t know about the problem, or the concepts involved, that you’re unable to solve it. Once you self reflect, then ask for help. By doing so, you will be filling the knowledge gap in your brain which prevented you from solving that problem. And thus, you’ll be able to solve the same type of problem in the future with ease.
  • Know how to solve each and every problem they give in Tutorials and the Homework. This is the most important tip I can give. They sometimes even put the questions directly from the homework in the midterms or the final.
  • Solve each and every past midterm and finals in exam conditions. Solving problems at your own leisure is quite different from solving problems in exams. You are a lot more stressed, and exhausted, perhaps even nervous when you are giving an exam, which can significantly hinder your problem solving ability. Try to write practice midterms during the evening because that’s when the actual midterms are going to be held (finals are usually held in the morning, so you’re going to have to practice for finals in the morning). Don’t write them in your room! Go to your house lounge (if you are in rez), or some classroom and write it there.
  • If you don’t get a question right on the practice midterm/final, see where you went wrong. And make sure you can solve that question. Google that question if you have to.
  • Make sure you know how to solve every type of potential problems they can ask you to solve before going into the exam. This will make you more confident.
  • Spend 95% of the study time for PHYS 157 in solving problems.
  • Don’t stress.
  • Play some Overwatch (or do anything you like) after you’ve done studying for the day 🙂

And that’s all the things I can think of at the moment. I hope you this will help you in getting a good grade in PHYS 157. All the best for this course!

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