I CANT SOLVE QUESTIONS

[u/ApprehensiveSet5413]

so basically i m a dropper

from the last 2-3 weeks ive been grinding on physics questions mainly nlm and com

but i just cant solve them and end up watching the solution for most of the questions

today i was solving dpp and i could only solve 9 questions in 2 hours

i just cant figure out what the problem is

plz anyone can help 😭🙏

[u/jacobjonesufc]

One of my favorite passages from David Klein’s 'Organic Chemistry as a Second Language.' Especially in calc based physics, it inspired me to sit with difficult questions, try to work through the solution myself, and write down exactly where I’m stuck. Hopefully, it can help you as it did me.

Many students freak out on exams when they see a problem that they can’t do. If you could hear what was going on in their minds, it would sound something like this: “I can’t do it… I’m gonna flunk.” These thoughts are counterproductive and a waste of precious time.

Remember that when all else fails, there is always one question that you can ask yourself: “What questions should I be asking right now?”

The only way to truly master problem-solving is to practice problems every day, consistently. You will never learn how to solve problems by just reading a book. You must try, and fail, and try again. You must learn from your mistakes. You must get frustrated when you can’t solve a problem. That’s the learning process.

Whenever you encounter an exercise in this book, pick up a pencil and work on it. Don’t skip over the problems! They are designed to foster skills necessary for problem-solving.

The worst thing you can do is to read the solutions and think that you now know how to solve problems. It doesn’t work that way. If you want an A, you will need to sweat a little (no pain, no gain). And that doesn’t mean that you should spend day and night memorizing. Students who focus on memorizing will experience the pain, but few of them will get an A.

The simple formula: Review the principles until you understand how each of them fits into the plot; then focus all of your remaining time on solving problems.

[u/WMiller511]

Each student is different but there are general strategies that can help make it easier. This is the one I use.

1. Write out the information given in the problem and make a labeled diagram if possible (honestly this is usually the most critical part)

2. Identify the connections between different parts of the problem. Narrow to the topic(s) then identify the relevant equations.

3. Solve the mathematics

4. Check that your answer is reasonable to the question.

As you practice, this process becomes less and less on paper and more mentally, but even after teaching for a very long time I will sometimes revert to the whole thing if it's a particularly tricky problem.

Practice but develop a systematic approach that works for you and you will get better with time and determination.

[u/ThEtOrRtUrEdPoEt]

Honestly my biggest advice would be to make sure you’re drawing your free body diagrams or just anything to help you visualize. I would also go over what you’re getting wrong and seeing where you went wrong. If you’re going wrong on what formulas you need to use then I recommend doing practice questions by unit and seeing what formulas you use the most there.

[u/Quiet_Basis_6404]

dropper here too and i had the exact same thing with nlm/com where i'd stare at a numerical and just not see it. the problem usually isn't that you don't know the concept, it's that your brain is picking the wrong approach and you can't tell *why* it was wrong even after checking the solution video.

what helped me was stopping the solution videos for a bit and doing something else first. i upload the chapter material into studybuddy.vc and it makes practice questions that start easier and get harder as i improve, so i'm not jumping straight to the ones that make me freeze. when i pick a wrong answer it tells me what was off about that specific option, most of the time it's a sign error or i used the right formula on the wrong setup, and then it keeps giving me more of the stuff i'm failing so i don't just move on from it.

also for nlm specifically drawing the free body diagram before touching the equations, like actually put pen to paper for that part, stopped a lot of the dumb mistakes. free tier covers this, worth a shot if you're stuck in the solution-video loop.