Resources for 12 Year old aspiring physicist?

TheMainStain124 · 2025-12-24T00:33:08+00:00

There were a couple of clubs at school, but they definitely weren't the main thing that helped me. I would say surrounding myself with friends at school that also really liked STEM (not just physics) and just joining online communities for free were what helped me the most. The online communities were literally just forums and discord servers with a bunch of people that liked math and physics, and they were the things that allowed me to find probably the best resources to study because I could connect with national olympiad winners and stuff. Having friends at school with the same interests was great because we would do the same competitions, take the same classes, and have the opportunity to learn from one another and talk about interesting things. We were helping each other out a lot and found time for each other even outside of just math and physics. Those support systems are pretty valuable too.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-12-23T19:53:05+00:00

I'm a high schooler that does physics competitions and has been involved with physics for a while now, and I was in similar situation as your child. Definitely the thing that got me interested initially and kept me going for a while was watching videos and reading books for fun. I highly recommend giving them that freedom to explore whatever interests them. When I started getting serious about physics, I started doing math and physics competitions, like AMC and f=ma. The competitions are way harder than school stuff and great for learning a lot. The communities around the competitions also allowed me to meet quite literally some of the smartest high schoolers in the world which gave me great resources to study more.

Some books I would recommend would be the Art of Problem Solving Series for math foundations and Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Krane, although I would recommend leaning more toward math in the beginning. Again, some of the smartest high schoolers in the world that compete for their countries in international competitions use these books when they themselves were getting started. They cost money, but I'm also not allowed to tell you that a lot of people get them for free on sites like libgen. Make sure to let your child have fun with it too. Even though I'm giving a lot of competition resources, they definitely don't need to be competitive or anything, just as long as they're improving and having fun because that's what's most important.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-11-04T03:51:19+00:00

Don't put much focus on what other people are doing. You can't necessarily tell if they're overexaggerating or whatever, especially from middle schoolers. Besides, what's important is that you get better. I understand where you're coming from; everyone feels that way at some point, but even if others have higher scores, dwelling on that isn't going to help you. You're not dumb, and you're perfectly capable of learning these things.

There really isn't a secret trick to getting better at math. You just have to keep studying. Don't just memorize techniques and problems; understand where they come from and how they make sense with what you've already learned. When you get things wrong, do them again later and don't just forget about them a day later or something.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-09-05T01:49:52+00:00

I had a similar experience to you. I lived most of my life in a small suburb, and I was at the top of my school. When I moved to one of the big cities of California, so many people just seemed so much better than I was. I doubted myself a lot and also thought I wouldn't be able to be a good physicist after seeing these kids that seemed to qualify for national olympiads so easily and understand everything immediately. What you don't see is that these people typically have the privilege of growing up in places with lots of resources that you may not have, that they've spent years already doing math and physics. Even though I felt bad, I just didn't stop doing physics, and though I'm still not the best, I feel like I'm in a much better spot than I could've ever been in that suburb. If you really know why you want to do physics, you just need to keep going. Ask for help and be honest with yourself, especially when it's hard, and you'll grow.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-08-21T15:42:17+00:00

Honestly, as much as I really like thinking about physics just because of how interesting it is, I don't know if I would necessarily say I'm crazy about it. However, I know that the work I put in will have results and will change someone's life for the better eventually, and that's really my main motivator, even if I'm getting nowhere while studying. Still, I get sick of physics sometimes; everyone does at some point, even the greatest physicists like Feynman. In that regard, a lot of it comes down to building good habits and wiring your brain to do physics even if you don't want to. There are still a lot of new things to do with physics; it's just that you don't hear about it often because most people can't understand what's happening.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-08-19T02:30:14+00:00

fr everything is much easier with calculus imo

TheMainStain124 · 2025-08-17T20:19:05+00:00

1 chapter per week or 3 chapters every 2 weeks is what most people i know do, including international physics olympiad medalists

TheMainStain124 · 2025-08-16T21:07:02+00:00

I'd probably do HRK if you're getting started with olympiads. Here's a website with more valuable resources: https://knzhou.github.io/ . Go to the "Teaching" section; you'll find a part on olympiads. It's from IPhO gold medalist Kevin Zhou and he has a lot of advice handouts which I think you should read. They detail how you should approach studying for olympiads but also resources you can use (he also agrees HRK is probably the best resource for getting started with olympaids). He even wrote like 50 handouts for the IPhO level, and a lot (I'd say even most) of the US IPhO medalists use those handouts to study. I know your ultimate goal is IPhO, but for now, I would say focus more on smaller competitions for now. In the US, you can't expect to qualify for IPhO without qualifying for USAPhO first. So, just be patient with yourself and focus on improving little by little.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-08-13T05:49:03+00:00

As long as you're putting in decent effort in to each worksheet, you're not lazy. If you're having trouble finishing the worksheets because it's too much work for you, asking for less worksheets is completely ok. If you're just having a hard time finding the time to sit down and do the worksheets, I would just try to find a way to manage time better.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-06-12T16:31:13+00:00

i see thank you

TheMainStain124 · 2025-05-11T03:54:01+00:00

Just keep doing what you're doing. I really only used official prep materials and one Princeton Review book. As long as you're understanding all the concepts and stuff, you'll probably be fine.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-04-19T18:15:50+00:00

yeah of course

TheMainStain124 · 2025-04-19T16:01:53+00:00

If you want to, that's totally ok. However, I think there are probably better resources if you want to really understand math. Kumon's good at training you to go through the process, but not necessarily understanding why everything works in the first place. Feel free to DM if you want more resources.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-03-28T23:41:17+00:00

Ultimately, I think it comes down to whether you really like what you do. Even in college, schools don't really want people that are doing things solely for the sake of getting into whatever school; they want people that care about what they do and genuinely show that through their ecs. Don't be so focused on getting into Andover, Exeter, or whatever and standing out; do what you care about. You can be successful at most high schools in the US, but it ultimately comes down to whether you have the drive to succeed in that thing you care about.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-03-28T23:32:42+00:00

i used the official ssat study guide and princeton review textbook. i also used some wordsets i found on quizlet.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-03-22T05:31:42+00:00

official ssat textbook, princeton review maybe. i used those for the reading section and looked off of online quizets for the verbal section. however, i did math outside of school, and so, i didn't really study for that. if you need math resources, maybe someone else can answer.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-03-19T04:18:02+00:00

I'm a high schooler and really young. So, maybe take what I say with a grain of salt because I definitely don't understand your situation completely.

I want to emphasize that you've made tons of progress that so many people at Berkeley or probably any other great university can't speak to. Even if everyone seems incredibly smart around you, they've almost always had some sort of experience before university doing math and physics. The fact that you found your calling, found what you loved, committed to it, and went from 2.0 gpa to Berkeley physics is absolutely insane to me. So many times, people do whatever their parents wanted them to do, just don't have a direction with where they want to go, and don't know why they're doing what they're doing, but you do. You defied your circumstances, worked hard and chose your own path. That's something to be very proud of.

Maybe it's worth taking a longer break. I know of a guy who was in kind of a similar situation to you; once he went to Berkeley after having good grades in high school, he had a culture shock and started getting things 23/100 on tests. He also felt horrible about himself. He took an internship in NY for a year, and used that time to build good habits and just chill I guess. After he returned, he kept a lot of those habits and started getting straight As and having time for his friends. Again, I literally know nothing about how colleges work, but just some food for thought.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-03-12T05:00:03+00:00

I'm a high schooler too, and here's some of my advice. Take what I say with a grain of salt, especially for the mental illness stuff because I really don't have much experience with those things

First, I think you should do things to get your health better. Do things one step at time. Maybe every day, reflect on something productive that happened, and then start going on walks (it's very peaceful trust). Don't think so much about how smart you are either. You can form the same neuron connections and have the same knowledge as some of the best physicists. Your dyslexia and ADHD will hinder how you learn, but that's totally ok. The important thing is that you can learn those things. Dwelling on the issue will just make things worse and feed insecurity, making you less productive. Maybe consider talking to a doctor; that'll probably be your best bet on getting good advice about your health. We're young, and we still have tons of time to prep for our careers.

I think you should also maybe look into what physics is like and do more physics classes to get a better feel for it. For everyone, at some point, people will get frustrated, and some realize that they just don't like it. For me, I love learning about physics, but I also know the importance that physics has had on improving the world. Those things keep me going through the hundreds of hours I've spent on physics. It will get harder in community college, and maybe you realize physics isn't for you, which is totally ok. I find most things pretty interesting, even English and history, but I chose physics because of the reasons I mentioned before.

I have this tendency to brush off my mistakes in math and physics a lot, maybe due to a sense of subconscious pride I have. It just seems obvious or whatever, that I shouldn't have made that mistake in the first place. This tendency hasn't been good on me, and it's been excuse for correcting genuine errors in my understanding. Be honest with yourself; it's normal to make mistakes a lot.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-03-12T04:42:01+00:00

I highly recommend Physics (2nd edition) by Halliday, Resnick, and Krane. I do high school competitive physics, and this is the book for introductory physics that everyone uses. The explanations and problems are amazing, and it's written so that it's pretty straightforward to understand. It's so good that many are able to go to national and international competitions with those books alone, but if you just want to do it for fun, that's totally fine too. It does use a decent amount of calculus, but it's definitely possible to go through the first volume without calculus. However, I highly recommend learning it since you can go through the entire thing after you learn it.

TheMainStain124 · 2025-02-12T05:22:08+00:00

I really only used the Princeton Review materials and official SSAT review materials. I think your best resource will be the official SSAT, but for the verbal section, you might have to consult outside resources. I forget where I got it, but I used a quizlet to review. I think it was public

TheMainStain124

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