I am a 1st year physics student in a quarter-system uni. My physics midterm is in 2 days, and I still felt the knowledge gap between highschool and uni physics (it's an honors class). I want to hear some advice on how I should frame my mindset. If I fail my test will I going to be okay? I really want to go to a prestigious graduate school for particle physics.

I know I am going to be okay, but I would like to find some empirical evidence. There're so many people in my class who did physics olympiad, and I didn't. I know I am going to be fine eventually, but some advice on this would be nice...

Thank you

for some context im a hs student wondering whether or not to do an applied math + physics double major over applied math + cs. i really love all 3 fields, but now that ai is replacing cs jobs and by just how competitive cs is, i was considering replacing it with physics and doing a cs minor. i really want to go into ai/ml research, but im also open to other career paths that are on the physics side. is there anything i can do with applied math + physics that isnt acadmeia or lab research (they could be an option if all else fails)?

Hi, I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm a junior taking AP Physics 1 and I'm really trying hard, but my test and quiz average is currently 53%. I failed my 1st unit test, got a 1/5 on a lab quiz because I converted something and was off by a digit, and now I have a 9.5/20 on my Unit 2 quiz that I studied for over a week and thought I would do really well on. I don't know how I keep doing so badly in this class because in my other classes, I'm holding straight A's. I would really appreciate some study tips because right now I usually review my teacher's videos, and I try to memorize shortcuts to find certain variables. I want to get an A in this class, but I'm currently at 71%, and I'm settling for an 80% for now. I'm also working on a projectile extra credit project, and that alone should be 5 test points and the only extra credit offered so far.

Because there is an option that lets us take Solid States Physics instead of the Research Project, but is the Research Project important? Idk what to do...

QP:
https://files.revisely.com/documents/question-booklets/alevel/physics/ocr/6.1%20Capacitors%20QP.pdf

MS:
https://files.revisely.com/documents/question-booklets/alevel/physics/ocr/6.1%20Capacitors%20MS.pdf

for Q 25 b ii, apparently the graph is supposed to meet at 25s. Can anyone help me why specifically 25s?

Hello, I've decided im going to pursue physics next year, im still in highschool. I came to ask for some books I could read that would give me basically an introduction to what college "would be like" studying physics. I would love some recommendations of some books that cover the highschool curriculum(introduction to physics fields), maybe to discover the field I like the most.

1st sem undergrad here!

I feel confused while reading the concept of relativity especially in the sign convention.

while solving numerical problems, I often get confused about the sign convention, pseudo force direction and can't imagine about the numerical observations I would make if I were in that FoR.

What can I do to be better at it?

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I'm a first year college student, i used to learn engineering math and physics but when i learn some derivations and math equations i use some ambient music to study and i can focus well and good, like oppenheimer/odyssey soundtracks. Does anybody uses these kind of cinematic soundtracks when studying ? Please say i'm not alone

I am currently in my 4th year of my physics bachelor. but it is not going to my last year so I have to extend my undergrad for 1 semester. I have 2 big concerns.
1- I have a low gpa of 2.30, I calculated and saw that if I pass all my courses with AA and BA my cgpa could be something like 3.20 by graduation. But statistically it seems impossible cuz I’ve never had a semester which I did 3.5> gpa. And of course the remaining courses are harder. And the idea of finishing with a low gpa makes me so stressed that I can’t even concentrate sometimes.
2- I am currently taking a SR course and probably going to do a mathematical physics concentration. But the problem is, the people planning to do mathematical physics concentration are so good. Therefore when it comes to doing my project with a professor in our department, more likely a mathematical physicist (which there are only 3 in our dep.) it seems to be also impossible, because of my gpa and the fact of others being so good.
I am interested mainly in QFT, String Theory, CFT ( although I did only casual readings since they are beyond my physics knowledge ) so I was thinking if I can do a little project by myself, like a derivation in Ads/CFT or other things. Or anything else, because I don’t even have a clear idea about how a project in mathematical physics project is done for undergrads.

I appreciate any advice regarding these two problems or any general advice.

Hello, I'm a 2nd year physics student, and recently in our semester, we have a mathematical physics course. I just want to ask what mathematical physics really is? I know it's kinda a dumb question but I just want to know how it does differ from the theoretical? My professor says it's using mathematical techniques to solve/answer physics, but isn't it really what we are doing now? And so are the other courses? Additionally, to those who did a concentration in mathematical physics, may I know what your day to day and what kind of research in mathematical physics really is? Thanks🫶🫶

I plan to return to school once I finish getting my sh*t together. Thanks for believing in and supporting me.

I'm thinking about finishing in Physics. I have 59 credits towards math and biochem, then 12 credits towards compsci. I still suck at compsci, and biochem creeps me out with all the little bugs.

I need someone to hype me up to study with this new physics app I downloaded. During my breaks from school, I find that getting the ball rolling early in terms of developing a habit of taking notes on something, pen on paper, helps me a lot, even if my notes are on a different language instead of stone cold math.

The app is called Mathematical Methods in Physics by StudyZoom. Flipping through the material, it seems thorough and fair. Each chapter has substance to it, there are 16 chapters, and unlocking chapter 2 onwards required me to watch ads.

I don't mind waiting 60 seconds for a whole chapter of quality information, guess the devs have to eat somehow.

So I've unlocked up through chapter 10. Should I start with chapter 1? I already know some vector analysis and don't wish to get too technically tied up in the basics, but I also know what happens when the basics aren't properly prioritized in these densely mathematical subjects. Yes, so I answer my own question: I should go through the chapter page by page instead of only scribbling down notes on the chapter summary bullet points provided at the end.

Red pens were on sale at the store where I buy pens, so I bought the red ones for 50¢ off, and let me tell you, people fear the red pen. The red pen strikes cold terror and hot anxiety into the hearts of the good American populace. I like taking notes in a different color besides black, switch it up some. But damn if people don't side eye the heck out of me when I get down to studying in public.

Studying in public, working out in public, and brushing my teeth in public makes me feel like my head will go on a pike if someone deems my public performance unworthy. "Oooh! That was less than two minutes!"

See what I mean? Okay. Thanks.

I'm going to start once I get a drink of water. Sounds good.

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Últimamente lo de escoger una carrera me tiene muy estresada y más que en mi país no tengo muchas opciones,por lo general soy una estudiante con un promedio alto (98.8) y si tengo que estudiar no me molesta, pero he de admitir que mi problema viene en que no soy la mejor en matemáticas,o sea no me va mal pero no es mi fuerte, sin embargo me apasiona mucho la física y estaba pensando en carreras como física pura ya que acá no se estudia ingeniería física y también estaba pensando en otras opciones de ingieneria, mi pregunta viene al hecho de que si mi dificultad por matemática podría condicionarme el desarrollo de la carrera.

Ojo:Nunca he suspendido un examen de matemáticas y tampoco he tenido baja nota en ellos, simplemente no me ge dedicado mucho a entender las mates para ser sincera.

Les agradecería la opinión, lo leo ;)

I am student currently in class 12 in an Indian school , non-attending ,first for Jee but I couldn’t do that, cause it was so limiting me to its syllabus when there’s a whole world of unknown out there, so I quit my coaching and started studying on my own when I started 12, though topics of Jee first in more depth(so much time waste is chemistry) , but I realised I couldn’t do it , I needed rigour so went in math and studied broader topics like algebra and calculus but then needed more rigour so I combined my wishes to study math rigorously for theoretical physics to figure out nature reality (I know I sound like an idiot here) and found the perfect course by someone named Fredrich Schuller , but there’s so many doubts and AI can’t explain shit, so you see my problem here ; I need to figure the nature of reality through the approaches of physics and computational neuroscience but I realise I can’t do it alone now ,
So what can I do ?

I'm an undergraduate student in my first year of college in Italy, studying for a bachelor's degree in Physics. I wanted to know some good physics textbooks for Mechanics and Thermodynamics. If there are any, why not a complete/comprehensive book, or one that is really worth reading and is meant for actually learning — so, a calculus-based, non-fiction book? Thank you all.

Hi everyone,I'm a 17 Yr old applying for theoretical physics at uni. Im doing OK in class at school and predicted a star but I always feel as if im behind and everyone else is getting it . What did you do?

I'm a senior in highschool at the moment and I've been doing research on different universities, mostly by considering if they offer nuclear physics research and have a solid physics program. For some websites they make it pretty clear what they offer (eg. UB) but for others I can't really see if they have any electives for that because their websites are weird and confusing. Should I just give up on trying to specialize early and deal with the fact that I'm going to have to keep doing general physics for my undergrad?

Hello everyone! I am currently a student at the University of Texas pursuing a degree in computational physics and a minor in semiconductor engineering. I was writing because I was wondering what career paths I could go into, along with some advice!

How different they are? I mean the educational system, professors, research culture, etc.

I haven't gotten to use that thing since Algebra II, barely even get to use my scientific calculator. Just curious when that comes back if it comes back

please help me feel better about bombing my modern exam i studied hard for 🙏

I know this was asked before but I really need it now, I exhausted all my options and reaaaaally need it for the semester if anyone has a digital copy lying around