Who here takes College Physics? (not a homework question)

[mosco]

I am just interested in how easy/hard it was and what you took in high school(Physics 2 and/Physics 1).

Also, can anyone tell me what book you use in college and what college you attend. I have heard a number of people use the "Fundamentals of Physics" by Haliday/Resnik/Walker. If that is the case i should probably save my homework.

 

[NutBucket]

Ionno. I took AP "C" in hs which is supposedly equivalent to college and it seemed about even (I only got a 3 so I had to repeat the course in college).

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: mosco
I am just interested in how easy/hard it was and what you took in high school(Physics 2 and/Physics 1).

Also, can anyone tell me what book you use and what school you attend. I have heard a number of people use the "Fundamentals of Physics" by Haliday/Resnik/Walker. If that is the case i should probably save my homework.

I took AP Physics C in high school last year. We used that book--I liked it a lot. I thought the class wasn't too hard; I scored 5's on the exam. Some of my friends would tell you differently though. And...the difficulty of the course at university would depend on the school--i'm sure Physics at MIT would be harder than physics at like...DeVrie

However, if you're comfortable with calculus (differential and integral), then physics shouldn't be too horribly hard. Mechanics is very intuitive (you can think about real-world situations to help you solve problems--e.g. riding a roller coaster). Electricity and Magnetism (E/M) is more abstract and generally harder to understand. Though again, if you feel that you're good at math, physics won't be too much of a stretch.

-Eric

 

[floccus]

Forget which book we used... but class was evil... should have taken it at a community college, would have been much easier to get an A... well, get an A actually seeing as I only got a B here...

 

[Gyrene]

I took Honors Physics in High school, from a very lax teacher. I got my ass wooped in College Physics.

 

[opticalmace]

College physics just comes down to calculus (mainly).

If you're good at calculus, it's not too bad.
(I suck at calc. =P)

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: mosco
I am just interested in how easy/hard it was and what you took in high school(Physics 2 and/Physics 1).

Also, can anyone tell me what book you use in college and what college you attend. I have heard a number of people use the "Fundamentals of Physics" by Haliday/Resnik/Walker. If that is the case i should probably save my homework.

That's the book I use.

 

[Tdawg951]

Took the AP C class in high school, got two 5's on the exams. I go to duke, they dont like taking most of your test scores, so they dont take 5's for the C exam unless you pass ANOTHER exam given by the duke physics department. They also teach a lot of different stuff (fluids, thermo..) i'm in mech right now, its just starting to pick up (doing torque and angular motion and such now)

 

[mosco]

Originally posted by: dtyn
I took Honors Physics in High school, from a very lax teacher. I got my ass wooped in College Physics.

Luckily, I don't have that problem. My teacher is a Xavarian Brother who has been teaching Physics for ages ... He has huge slide rule above the board. I have never seen someone do math problems in their head like he does. I don't think I have ever worked so hard in a class. Not a very fun class to be taking with less than 3 months left in my senior year. Senior slide should be on...

 

[kaymin]

I took physics at my univeristy which is pretty wellk nown for sciences and computer science etc. I took "Classical PHysic", the two course curriculumn for the intro physics level (there were easier options, dont' ask me why I took those). But it was the hardest course i ever took and I'm a comp sci major. i hated that class so much. It was a chapter/topic per week. Way too fast.

 

[mosco]

Originally posted by: kaymin
i hated that class so much. It was a chapter/topic per week. Way too fast.

yeah, my class is about 1.5 weeks per test on 1 or 2 chapters. Thats what i hate the most, We get 1 or 2 days lecture(read "lecture" as maybe 3 example problems) on the board and then we are on our own until the test.

 

[cchen]

I took AP Phys C and Thermodynamics (two separate courses) in my junior year of HS, and took Optics and Quantum Physics in my senior year. When I got to college I took the hardest physics course (which was a mistake) and the books used were the Feynman lectures and An Introduction to Mechanics, which was more like a doctoral introduction to mechanics. Subsequently, after I realized I would never do any physics ever again, nor cared at all about the class, I dropped to the middle level which used the book Physics for Scientists and Engineers

 

[MaxFusion16]

I took AP physics C in high school and got a 4 or 5 on it, so i skipped university physics 1 in college. I'm now taking university physics 2 using the haliday book, in general the course is pretty easy, you should've seen most of the material in ap physics, just do the hw and you'll do fine on the tests.

 

[matt426malm]

I'm going to be taking phys 141 and 142 next year right now I'm taking climatology which has quite a bit of thermodydamics almost equivialant.

 

[Anubis]

im a physics major, and the 2 intro physics courses Phys 131,132 here are pretty easy, if you have taken calc and a basic HS physics course, getting a B is a walk in the park do a lil work and you have an A

 

[Bassyhead]

Originally posted by: mosco
I am just interested in how easy/hard it was and what you took in high school(Physics 2 and/Physics 1).

Also, can anyone tell me what book you use in college and what college you attend. I have heard a number of people use the "Fundamentals of Physics" by Haliday/Resnik/Walker. If that is the case i should probably save my homework.

I'm using that book. I've taken University Physics 1,2,3 with it.

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: Bassyhead

Originally posted by: mosco
I am just interested in how easy/hard it was and what you took in high school(Physics 2 and/Physics 1).

Also, can anyone tell me what book you use in college and what college you attend. I have heard a number of people use the "Fundamentals of Physics" by Haliday/Resnik/Walker. If that is the case i should probably save my homework.

I'm using that book. I've taken University Physics 1,2,3 with it.

Same. Your homework might not be very useful if you have to use webassign.

 

[silverpig]

Depends on what physics courses you're talking about. 1st year physics is pretty easy, mechanics, and simple electrical circuits, with an emphasis on resonance and harmonic oscillators. 2nd year you get into thermo, advanced mechanics, and some very intro quantum/relativity stuff. 3rd year is quantum, E&M, fluids, and 4th year is advanced topics in the 3rd year courses, as well as some statistical mechanics etc.

 

[CanOWorms]

I'm an MSEE but I've taken a lot of physics-related courses (or I'm assuming they're physics related) like semiconductor courses, solid-state physics, photonics, etc. I find stuff like semiconductors and solid-state phsyics ok. I hate photonics though, I believe the devil brought this subject to the world.

 

[Daishiki]

i'm taking a simple physics class on sound and music. not like the ap physics i took in hs.

 

[jaydee]

Used Fundementals of Physics by H/R/W. Excellent book, but it's worth about squat unless you have good lectures to go with it. Phys I is cake, Phys II is very difficult.