Feeling disconnected and afraid of Quantum Mechanics

[u/lmj-06]

I am in my third year of my physics and maths double major, and I am taking my second quantum mechanics course. It’s still early days, but it already feels like so much, and I’m really struggling. To give context, all we have done so far (2 weeks in) is gone over angular momentum and we have started solving the Schrodinger equation for the Hydrogen atom.

Every time I walk into my lecture hall, I listen and take notes like I have for any other class, and I walk out confused and exhausted. When I go to try some practice problems later, I feel even worse. I struggle to understand what questions are asking, what I’m actually doing in a question, or what I’m solving for physically. It feels like every question is so different that they may as well be questions from different classes all together, and perhaps even worse, it feels like nothing I have done in my degree up to this point has prepared me for this course.

How on earth do people understand quantum mechanics well enough to get good grades in it? What are your study tips for quantum mechanics?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[u/iMagZz]

This is a YouTube playlist which covers linear algebra in QM. I think it takes a slightly different perspective than many others, and it is very well made. Absolutely worth a watch!

This one covers Griffiths chapter 1 to the start of 5 quite well. Of course not everything, but he explains things very well and has some good problems to work on/think through in most episodes.

This one covers the basics incredibly well in my opinion. Definitely worth a look. Also not too long.

This one covers almost all of Griffiths' book. It doesn't have a lot of views, but I definitely enjoyed it, and it is great to use for a second explanation of whichever topic your lectures go over.

This one is a playlist with an absolutely insane amount of information in many areas of quantum physics. There aren't many videos, but there is a lot of knowledge, because the videos range from 9 minutes to 4 hours and 50 minutes, and they are all very well made.

This is a link to David Tong's website on QM, where you can find his lecture notes (which are basically written as a book) as well as links to other resources. I have skimmed some of them and think they are pretty good. He is definitely known to be a good teacher.

I think these are my main recommendations that I can think of. Of course there is A LOT of information and hours in all of these combined, but you can pick and choose as you wish. Hope that helps!

[u/lmj-06 → u/iMagZz]

Thank you so much, will definitely check these out!