How to Earn an A

At the end of Summer 2009, all students earning an A in PHYS 2212 K were invited to pass on any advice they might have for students in subsequent semesters. Here are their responses, for your benefit, in the order they were received. The only editing has been for spelling, and to remove material that was not advice to students (advice to instructors, for example).

My advice to get an A in this class is to go to class, read the book, and study practice tests. Going to class gives you the advantage of answering PRS questions, which is helpful in two ways: you know whether or not you understand the material, and the PRS questions are sometimes quite similar to questions on the quizzes. Also, don't go to class just once or twice a week. Go to every class if you can, it really helps. Reading the book is beneficial because it goes along well with lecture and it will help to explain the theory behind things, which is really helpful on the conceptual quiz questions. Finally, studying the practice tests to prepare for the quizzes will help you to understand what types of problems you need to be prepared to do. When you study the practice quizzes, don't just read the answers. Understand the process by which the answer was found; knowing the steps to solve a type of problem is the best way to master the material.
-KL

I found it very helpful to go over the exams from previous semesters. If you go over enough of them, than you are pretty much guaranteed that there will not be a question on your exams that you aren't fully prepared to answer. Chances are you will do pretty well even if you only spend two or three hours looking at the previous exams , but I recommend looking at them 3 or 4 days before each exam, and spending as much time as you need to in order to be confident about being able to answer each type of question.

In this class, you will need to try in order to do well. You should think about your goals at Tech and make sure you are working to accomplish them.
-JS

I would suggest trying your best to attend every class — and while there, give (your instructor) your full attention. Don't worry so much about getting every PRS question right. If you just listen to the lecture and apply what he's saying you'll do fine on the attendance grade. Brush up on your calculus; mainly how to use and manipulate derivatives and integrating basic equations.
-MP

If I were to give some advice, I would definetely say, go to class. Granted I didnt have prefect attendance, but I believe that is something that helped to pull me through the course. In addition, I found alot of help with the Stop to Think questions. They really test some of the difficult concepts in the book, and you can always find an answer and a thorough explanation at the end of the chapter.
-SA

To all who want to know how to get a A in Physics II, I'll tell you how I did it. I found the time to read the book carefully before we talked about the material the next day. I also highlighted the book what I thought were important concepts. That way, anything I was confused on would hopefully be explained in class and if not, go talk to the professor, it only takes like one minute. Also, I wrote down the questions and answers to all of the PRS questions. For questions I got wrong, I wrote down the explanation of how to get to the right answer. But the most important way to get a A in the class, (drumroll)… never give up hope. In truth, I thought I calculated my grade where there was no chance I could get a A, but always approach each quiz and homework like it's that one thing that'll make a difference in your grade. Even if you mess up one quiz, don't be discouraged the rest of the year, you always have a chance to make it up.
-JB

The Unofficial Strategy Guide to Earn an A in PHYS 2212

PRS: Do the assigned readings the night before or morning of each lecture. Also, complete the Mastering Physics HW corresponding to the lecture's topic in that time. Reading and HW should not take more than one hour to be time-efficient. Variations of the Stop-To-Think problems have great probability of appearing on the PRS. During lecture, bring your book and follow along to refresh yourself with equations and concepts.

HW: The important parts of the HW are the conceptual questions. They are the only problems you should invest in understanding. For the rest of the HW, try to complete each HW assignment within 30min. You do not need to stress yourself out with four homework assignments per week. They can be time-consuming, so it is essential to have effective Google search abilities to find the answers. The Bonus HW did not prove to be very helpful in preparing for the tests.

Recitation: Figure out the recitation topic of the week from the physics web page. Then, search the previous semesters' web pages to find the solutions of the recitation of the same topic. Familiarize yourself with the solutions and use them as aids during recitation.

Lab: The first few weeks when you have pre-lab quizzes, it is important to read the pre-lab section of the lab webpage. However, after those weeks, the emphasis of the pre-lab readings is not as crucial. They do help in writing your discussion though. I did not find it very beneficial to read the lab manual prior to lab because the instructions aren't very clear. Make sure to get as much help from the Lab TA. Ask a lot of questions. They can give explanations that may better your discussions.

Quizzes: The free response questions are very similar to the practice tests. You might even find a free response problem that looks very similar to a recitation problem or even a critical thinking problem in the book. But, definitely, focus PRIMARILY on practice tests. Multiple choice questions are very familiar to the practice test multiple choice questions, as well. These questions can be trickier than free response on the test. However, if you have REALLY paid attention to lecture and have done your reading assignments before each lecture, multiple choice questions will be easy.

Final: Before you do any review over the material covered on the quizzes, make sure you learn the new material first! They may only represent a small portion of the final, but more students miss them than any other because there is not a practice test for it. Reworking all the previous quizzes should be the next step. Then, print out the formula sheet given on the final and make sure you understand what all of the equations mean and how they are used. Read the book and check off the equations as you go until you have learned how to use them all.
-JL

Note from Dr. Murray: I hope JL isn't offended, but some of this seems like bad advice — I've just included it because I do want to provide advice from students, not just advice I agree with. In particular, Googling answers to the quatitative homework questions will deprive students of the practice I'd expect to be needed to do well on the free-response quiz questions. Remember that problem-solving is a skill, and like any other skill, must be practiced if it is to be developed. The same applies to recitation. The goal of recitation is to help you improve your problem-solving skills in an environment where you can discuss issues with other students and have a TA to turn to when stuck. If you just plop down a solution because you've guessed correctly ahead of time what the nature of the problem will be, you're really just wasting your time.

I read the book, every day. It became part of my lifestyle. If I began to lose motivation, it helped me to remember that this "stuff" we were learning isn't just "stuff," it's real! Remembering that physics is a big part of how we are here, and how the world itself is here and operates, kept the material relevant and interesting. I also tried to make it a habit to do the Saturday homework, but not just on Saturday - throughout the week when I had spare time. If I didn't understand something, I went to the tutoring sessions in 209 and made sure that I understood it. The biggest thing I learned was that I could not succeed in this class simply by memorizing formulas. I had to really understand how everything worked. I could only do that after I read the book.

It also helped a lot to rework the practice quizzes and UNDERSTAND their solutions. Again, if I didn't understand why the answer was what it was, I went to the help session to learn it.

Oh! And of course, going to class, and taking notes on the PRS questions. It was really helpful to "requiz" myself on these before the quizzes.
-JL

I would definitely say that the best advice I have is to keep up with the reading so that the lectures can be even more helpful in understanding the course material. If students don't do the reading, they won't be able to follow along and will probably just get frustrated instead of absorbing useful information. Doing the reading also keeps the information fresh in your mind so that it is not a scramble before a quiz to re-learn all of the information.

I also think that doing and re-doing the old tests is key to getting good grades on the quizzes. The old quizzes help tremendously in becoming familiar with the format of tests as well as the understanding of the material. Doing the old quizzes does not mean just scanning through them online--it helps to print them out and work the problems on paper, paying attention to how the correct answers were obtained (especially multiple choice answers). If you don't know how they got the correct answer on the test, open up your book or google the topic and learn about it so that you can have a full understanding of the course material!
-RT

To earn an A in physics II, one must keep a high hope and believe that they are capable of making an A. addition, I would suggest attending the lectures regularly, reading the textbook, doing the Saturday homework problems, understanding the stop to think problems from the textbook, working the old practice exams, asking question and going to [your instructor's] office when stuck. If everything else fails, pray. Wish you all the best in your performance in the Physics II class.
-AF

See the remarkably similar advice from Spring 2009.