Physics blues

[Guest minnieMD]

Hey mates.

 

I feel like i'm complaining about physics too much. But it's justified because I stink. I know practice allows for improvement (but I don't seem to) but it seems very overwhelming with the numerous equations. Is there a way to assimiilate the material easier or GUESS more accurately and proficiently without really knowing the "details"?

 

Any help will be appreciated. Even shoutings directed at me telling me to Learn the Details Anyways. I'm looking for motivation!

[Guest fox]

I found if you know the concepts you can answer a lot of questions just by looking at the formula. There seem to be standard questions that always include wavelength vs frequency, and usually one about the doppler effect. I memorized the formulae and then moved things around to figure out the answers.

 

I am horrible at physics, so I had to work my butt off (luckily chem comes easily for me). I had old Kaplan books, which summarize everything you need to know quite nicely, and then I did all of the review problems (which are not written like MCAT problems are written) for practice. I finally succeeded in getting a good mark on the physical sciences section. So, there is hope for you. It was actually my highest mark in the end after I spent so much time concentrating on physics!

[Guest premed81]

Hi there,

I too am not liking the physics subject very much. Though I am a numbers and mathematics type of person, my mind just cannot wrap around physics very well for the same reason of too many formulae and concepts. At the moment what I am doing is using cue cards. So one side of the card, I'd write a particular concept, like for example as mentioned earlier the doppler effect, then on the back of the card, I'd write the 2 main equations associated with the doppler effect. I go through my cue card series and each time, I memorize it and try to be faster. I don't know......it's all I got right now. And it's so difficult to study this stuff in the middle of the summer. Just hang in there.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there premed81,

 

That style of cue card-using sounds really neat and effective--I like it! I wish I'd thought of that while studying last year.

 

It reminded me of a wee tip for you guys that I found worked quite nicely, which can be applied to either of the science sections. When working through problems and whole exams during the weeks before the exam, if you trip on any questions (and this is after doing a good bit of studying, not right at the beginning of the studying when you're doing a lot of refreshing), write a simple version of a question relating to the problematic concept on one side of a set of flip-book cue cards and the answer on the other. An example of one of these questions may be: "Is HF a strong or weak acid?" My list of questions accrued over the weeks to become a wee trivia flip book of orgo, physics, chemistry and biology questions. I'd try to review them every day, to make sure those naughty little concepts were hammered home. By the final weeks, I could zip through the cards in no time, so the "extra" studying didn't end up taking up too much time. It turned out that quite a few of those wee concepts ended up as sneaky wee questions on the actual exam, so I was quite pleased with the resulting cost/benefit of that stratagem.

 

Cheers, and good luck studying,

Kirsteen

[Guest UTMed07]

IMHO flash cards is the way to go--got the idea from a book called Super Reading Secrets (incidentally -- this book is of some use if verbal reasoning isn't your forte).

 

The MCAT, despite what AAMC wants you believe, is memorization--at least as seen from my perspective (I studied engineering--my tests and exams were mostly of the type where you can bring anything you want to help -- except another human being).

 

All my MCAT studying was flash cards; at the end I had well over 500 of them.

 

IMHO, I think doing well in MCAT physics requires two things:

(1) memorizing all the mundane formulae

(2) understanding some basic mathematics (You know what an inverse relationship looks like? How about an exponential one?)

 

(1) requires persistence and a beat-your-head-on-the-wall mentality

(2) is practice and experience

 

I understand why many people find the section hard and frustrating:

(a) math isn't most premeds's forte

( many of prep books' physics sections are about as exciting as watching paint dry. Further, it's my impression they get the least amount attention-- one book I worked from had a bunch of errors.

 

I never liked the MCAT physics section... it is pretty much all plug 'n chug. Also, IMHO physics exams/tests (like engineering ones) should never be multiple choice.