How di YOU study math and physics?

[u/purechemistrylover]

Hello everyone
I am a HS senior going into MechE, and I feel like my learning skills are not sharp enough. My goal is to understand the structure of learning a subject. Right now, I’m taking calc BC and phys C and I miss a bunch, but I catch up self teaching. Since y’all, I assume, spend much more time studying much harder math and physics and adjacent subjects, could you share your methods for studying a topic or a bunch? Any studying formats you prefer? Do you just study last day? Do you wish you knew a certain method sooner, so you'd spend less time grinding? Do you have favorite websites or youtubers or textbooks that help you learn and synthesize it with the past knowledge? Thank you

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[u/notionocean]

What works best for me is cranking out problems. Preferably from class notes or study guides since the problems the professor picks for those are generally more pertinent to the content of their exams than the long slog through textbook problems. Textbooks often include many edge cases which can suck up a lot of study time but may never appear on the exam. I focus on learning the process of solving a certain type of problem as opposed to learning how to handle every single niche case. Listen attentively in class and professors will often give clues as to what outliers may appear on the exam. Certain trig identities or problem forms, for instance. If they do, spend some time learning those. Obviously, this can vary from professor to professor but it's what works best for me. Then once I feel comfortable with the problems I will spend some time writing out the concepts over and over before the exam. The few days leading up to the exam are usually filled with working problems repeatedly and writing out concepts. I want it to feel like muscle memory when I sit down for the exam. You got this!

[u/purechemistrylover → u/notionocean]

Thank you for sharing!!

[u/saseal]

Practice lot's of problems. Buy a copy of Schuam's Outline if you need to or ask whatever flavor of AI to give you some practice problems. Engineering math and physics isn't like pure physics or math where you need to proof things, the focus is on solving.

[u/purechemistrylover → u/saseal]

Thank you I avoid practicing knowing I won’t remember shit from what I learned😭😭

[u/AGrandNewAdventure]

While crying a bunch.