It is a common saying that:

• If you give a person a fish, he will not be hungry for a day;
• but if you teach that person how to fish, he will not be hungry for a life time.

Ready-made-formulas:

Quite often, in the middle of a semester a student would come up and tell me about his puzzlement. He has been doing well in the homework and yet he failed the exams. This is usually due to the fact that the student does not really understand the basic concepts of physics and the strategies involved in applying these concepts. Often homework problems are similar to examples in the textbook. Also, problems similar to homework may have been worked out in discussion sessions. The student may have been able to get by without paying much attention to the physics, but the very final formulas. The perception is that, when the student plugs in the appropriate numbers into a final formula, he or she can "work" out the problem. I would like to refer to these final formulas as the "ready-made-formulas". Providing a student with a "ready-made-formula" is like giving him a fish. Having been given a "ready-made-formula" for a specific problem, the student would get the problem done. Yet for another problem where the situation is slightly different, the student would not know what to do.

Basic concepts and problem solving strategies:

In solving physics problems, it is important to focus on the basic concepts and the problem solving strategies. This is analogous to focusing on fishing techniques. Before doing an actual calculation one should look for the basic concepts involved and the strategies needed to tackle the problem. A problem solving process may be characterized by the use of the basic concepts and the applications of strategy. After completing the problem, one should go back to review in what way the basic concepts and the strategy have been applied in solving the problem.

Course summary:

We have made up a course summary. It contains a collection of basic concepts and implied strategies. We have systematically removed the "ready-made-formulas". We encourage you to use the course summary as your study companion when you are

• previewing the material to be covered in the lectures,
• practicing the interactive quiz (iq) questions,
• working on homework problems,
• in reviewing for exams, and also
• using it as a common baseline for informal discussions among peers and with instructors.

Suggestions in studying physics:

• Lectures: Identify the key points of each lecture. Actively participate interactive in quiz sessions.
• IQ questions: To keep up with the pace of the course, always review and understand the IQ questions of the previous class.
• The TA session is meant to help you learn the course material beter. Bring your questions to your TA session.
• Instructor's weekly informal session: Attend this weekly session, if your schedule permits.
• Homework: Before you work on a homework problem, study the textbook material related to the homework problem. Then proceed with the problem. Breakup you r effort into 3 stages:
  • understanding the question,
  • setting up the problem, and
  • doing the mathematics.
• Exams: When you prepare for an exam, make sure that you understand the solutions to the IQ questions, homework problems and the tutorial homework problems. Review the textbook examples and a few additional problems at the back of the chapter if time permits. Keep in mind that the exam problems are typically variations on the same theme.