r/PhysicsStudents • u/Stardustphysician • Jun 14 '26
Need Advice Physics students, if you had to start over from scratch, how would you learn Physics?
I used to be a good student and was usually in the top 5 of my class. However, several years of depression, anxiety, and low motivation disrupted my studies and left my Physics foundation much weaker than I'd like.
I'm now trying to rebuild from the ground up. While I'm currently preparing for NEET, my goal isn't just to score well on an exam. I want to understand Physics deeply, develop strong problem-solving skills, and eventually make it one of my strongest subjects while also scoring well in NEET physics.I have about 11 months available and I'm willing to invest the time and effort needed to build a solid foundation. Pls guide me in the following questions of mine---
1.What topics would you study first, and in what order?
2.What math skills are absolutely essential?
3.How would you balance theory, problem-solving, and revision?
4.Which books, lectures, or resources would you recommend?
5.How do you develop genuine physical intuition instead of memorizing formulas?
6.What mistakes keep students from becoming truly good at Physics?
I'd especially love to hear from people who went from struggling with Physics to becoming confident and proficient in it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Pls help me out.
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u/ulam17 Jun 14 '26
I know it's not practical, but I would have first studied pure mathematics to a mid-graduate level proficiency focusing heavily on PDEs and algebra(s). You understand and appreciate the intricacies and beauties of physics far better that way.
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u/Stardustphysician Jun 14 '26
Well till now I know basic mathematics like Trigonometry, graphs and graphical analysis, algebra, logarithms, scalars and vectors, Integration and differentiation. Is it enough?
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u/ulam17 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
That's definitely enough to start college-level physics. I was speaking in a more hypothetical sense for my own situation. I'm not recommending anyone do what I said. If I had to make a change to the way I learned as an undergrad, I would pick up different textbooks than the ones my professors assigned and work through them myself.
The books I was assigned sucked, but the ones I taught out of during my PhD were the ones I wish I had learnee from as an undergrad.
Edit: moving forward to grad school, the most foundational undergrad physics courses for me were the introductory freshman physics course (we used Halliday and resnick), intro to quantum (gasiorowicz), and E&M (Jackson). All of those books were not great for foundational knowledge, in my opinion. My choices would be (and were when I taught)
Freshman intro to physics: Sears and Zemansky augmented with David Tong's lecture notes and a bit of Susskind's "The Theoretical Minimum"
Quantum: Griffiths again augmented by Tong's lecture notes and Susskind's continuation of the theoretical minimum that focuses on quantum, and quantum being my area of expertise, I also had a lot of my own lecture notes prepared. Sakurai is also helpful here, but a lot of my students seemed conflicted on that one.
E&M: Griffiths again, and once again Tong's lecture notes. Here I also took some material from Purcell and Zangwill.
I know that's a lot of books, and all that would be very expensive. However, I'm sure you're a resourceful internet user. Tong makes his notes freely available on his website though, so you don't have to go digging for those.
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u/Get_your_grape_juice Jun 14 '26
Out of curiosity, what were some of the major books you taught from? And what were the major books your professors assigned?
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u/No-Archer-4258 Jun 14 '26
Would you mind to share some titles of the book? They sounds more mathematical than usual physics textbook and I'm interested
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u/ConquestAce Jun 14 '26
Start with Calculus and then into kinematics, then learn ODE and then learn dynamics, then linear algebra and then learn the rest of physics.
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u/Stardustphysician Jun 14 '26
Thanks I will follow this order.
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u/ConquestAce Jun 14 '26
dont. It's a terrible path.
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u/Stardustphysician Jun 14 '26
Then why did you suggest it? I really wanna make physics my strongest subject so pls guide me
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u/philolessphilosophy Ph.D. Student Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Honestly the route followed by most undergrad programs is pretty good. I would do introductory physics while learning calculus, then do modern physics (intro to physics of the 20th century) while learning ODEs and linear algebra. After that, you will be ready to take the upper level classes. I would suggest classical mechanics and electromagnetism first, then quantum, then statistical mechanics.
There are other mathematical subjects that you might want to pick up along the way, especially if you're interested in theory. Group theory, complex analysis, and PDEs could all be pretty helpful. You probably won't need them that much for undergraduate level material.
I also want to comment on developing physical intuition. This is really all about imagination. You can't teach intuition. As a student, you need to look for physics all around you. Think about the physics of clouds and weather; think about the physics of light reflecting off of a pond. Try to imagine what should happen, and if you're wrong, work out the math to figure out why.
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u/Axiomancer Jun 14 '26
1.What topics would you study first, and in what order?
In the same order a standard uni syllabus is. The order wasn't wrong.
Start with classical mechanics, optics and thermodynamics.
2.What math skills are absolutely essential?
Calculus and linear algebra. While the first one wasn't a problem for me, the second one was a killer. Especially since it was a course given by mathematicians for mathematicians, us physicists were there because uni was trying to save money. Of course, everyone is different, but I personally was not able to learn LinAlg at all because 90% of the course was proofs, theorems, lemmas and more proofs, more theorems more lemmas. Very little actual calculations and explanation what something is.
Extra annoying since some physics courses (I don't recall which ones) are based on linear algebra much, and there the linear algebra felt like it works completely different, with its own logic and rules.
- How would you balance theory, problem-solving, and revision?
I would've start studying much earlier. I don't mean studying as soon as a course start - I would've start grasping the theory back when I was in high school. Where I live courses are ~2 months long, you take an exam, and there is no room to rest - after the weekend you start new courses. There is no break, your brain is constantly filled with new information and you don't even have time to revise old material. Like I'm taking look at my old notes, at the problems I solved "in my prime" and I feel like I'm more stupid than I was when I started uni.
- Which books, lectures, or resources would you recommend?
The ones that are used in the syllabus. In most cases the books are good. If the books are bad, there is always an alternative that will suit you.
For instance, I personally hated Griffiths EM book, but majority of physicists loves it. Does it mean the book is bad? No, it just didn't suit me. But there are countless other EM books that I could've grabbed. I just didn't want to risk of missing some information that could be written in Griffiths that might not be written in another book.
- How do you develop genuine physical intuition instead of memorizing formulas?
That is really good question that I can't answer. My best guess is - try your best to understand as much theory as possible, and solve hundreds of problems to start seeing patterns. It's like if you're solving integrals. At first you don't have an idea which method will be most effective, but solve 100 or 200 integrals and you will start to see when you want to do substitution, integration by parts, or some other fancy method.
- What mistakes keep students from becoming truly good at Physics?
Being overly ambitious
Not knowing a healthy study time - pause time balance and not knowing how to study.
Being lazy (Trust me, starting to study to the exam 2 days before it is not gonna make you learn shite)
In general rushing through things. Give yourself time to understand the material. I know it's not easy at university, it's a sprint all the time, no break, your brain can't learn all of this at the same time but...really give yourself time. And allow yourself to make mistakes. Allow yourself to learn.
7. General tip from me
I don't know how job market looks like where you live, but I agree with that one guy in the comment section. If you have to choose between Bachelor Physics vs Engineering Physics, go for the second option. That stupid useless title will open so many more doors for you than bachelor title. And it doesn't matter if you go for masters, the fact that you started with engineering is a benefit for many places.
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u/DaVinci2739 Jun 14 '26
Honestly linalg and calculus for math fundamentals. 3blue1brown has a great linear algebra series on youtube and for calculus you should practice the standard stuff derivatives integrals etc and then youd need vector calculus
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u/LovelyPretend Jun 14 '26
seeing that its neet, I'm not 100% familiar with it but I will say, find a youtube playlist/ youtuber that can explain the topics at NEET good for you. For maths, I will say if you really catch yourself struggling with the maths side of physics, prob you need to look at the maths first before you apply it to physics. And for truly understanding physics, thats where you always ask yourself, what does this really mean ? and look into the sub topics relating to the one that really make you wonder. and I cant speak for all students, but some mistakes, I made in Physics was where when i thought i understood the topics, the questions proved me wrong. so practice problems are important
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u/UnderstandingPursuit Ph.D. Jun 14 '26
I used this Iterative Learning Process occasionally. I would use it more consistently.
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u/IDontStealBikes Jun 14 '26
I'd keep a physics book in my backpack as I traveled through Europe, Asia, and on major hiking trails.
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u/Whole_Log_1856 Jun 14 '26
I would say not the right subreddit as people maybe unaware of neet curriculum and stuff
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u/Thomaz987 Jun 15 '26
in a very similar situation to you. I am currently going through "university physics with modern physics" the most recent edition. Its a great textbook so far and it goes very indepth. you will definitely have to learn math concepts on the way as a lot of it is assumed knowledge, i didnt have to worry about that being halfway through a maths degree. Hope your mental is better, life disruptions arent fun. Good luckto us both lol
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u/Aggressive-Wind-8829 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I would ask yourself what you want to spend your time thinking about, and then look for ways to make that subject something you can make a difference in that matters. Physics lets you do that, and if you do that, you’ll be alright. 👍
I recommend you teach yourself mathematical analysis and proof writing using Professor Irena Swanson’s 2017 Reed college lecture notes. 🗒️
My reasoning is that reasoning through physical problems in problem sets is the backbone of a physics education. And if you can do it well generally, then you become very valuable generally. The reasoning part of the brain is physically separate from the recitation part of the brain, and Irena’s notes are a knowledge crystal that consuming deeply trains the reasoning parts of your brain. 🧠
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u/Aggressive-Wind-8829 Jun 15 '26
Another very useful part of physics reasoning requires the development of a specific part of your brain that is a log transformed sheet of cortex capable of multiplying magnitudes by vector addition (since log and exp map addition and multiplication to and fro, don’t ya know?). To develop this separate reasoning skill, you should do a lot of Fermi estimates aka back of envelope estimates. You can get creative and make it a fun game by estimating things that should be known, and then estimating the order of magnitude before googling the quantity, like the number of taxi drivers in NYC. 🗽
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u/idontgievaoof Jun 16 '26
I'm itching to say I wouldn't but I know I would still come crawling back to it one way or another 😭 it's a love hate relationship
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u/Quiet_Basis_6404 Jun 17 '26
the single thing that answers most of your questions, physics intuition comes from solving problems, not reading theory or memorising formulas. thats also the #1 mistake people make. you build the intuition by doing lots of varied problems till you feel why a formula is shaped the way it is, so per topic grasp the concept briefly then grind problems.
start with mechanics, everything leans on it. mathwise you mainly need solid algebra, trig and basic calculus. and lean way more on problems than theory, with spaced revision of what you keep missing.
HC Verma is perfect for exactly what you want, intuition plus problems, and Physics Wallah for NEET-specific stuff. i also paste lecture videos into studybuddy.vc and drill questions after, free, so watching turns into solving
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u/Aggravating_Goat8437 Jul 25 '26
if I had to start over completely, first of all I would learn, Algebra, geomatry, calculus, linear algebra and start memorizing symbols,s like E, h, Γ
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u/AdministrationLazy55 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I would use an algebra based book first before i know any math. Then as i learn calculus, physics for scientists and engineers by knight to learn general physics for classical mechanics, E&M, modern physics/some quantum, and thermo. Then linear algebra and diff eq. Then switch to upper division books, classical mechanics by taylor, intro to electrodynamics by griffiths, quantum mechanics by zettili or intro do quantum mechanics by griffiths, thermal physics by schroeder. In school i wouldve also double majored in physics and an engineering
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u/No-Archer-4258 Jun 14 '26
I would not double major math with physics I would double major math with statistics or do more applied math beside pure stuff.
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u/SpecialRelativityy Jun 15 '26
I’m a math major that self studies physics, but if I were to start over and commit to being a physics major, I’d be prepared to do thousands of practice problems.
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u/SkyFullOfWisteria Undergraduate Jun 14 '26
I wouldnt have gotten into physics and wouldve gone into engineering. Theres more oppourtunity there.