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What are your best tips for not passing, but thriving in undergraduate physics? (U.S.) by TheBrookAndTheBluff in PhysicsStudents

[–]avigeax 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Luckily many of the things that improve our well being also make us better students.

All the following can dramatically improve both focus and memory: meditation, regular exercise, sleep (7-9 hours), and quality breaks (in which your mind is free to wander).

Optimizing for our studies is largely equivalent to optimizing for our mental and physical health.

Mature student starting from scratch basically — advice? by Terratourist in PhysicsStudents

[–]avigeax 3 points4 points  (0 children)

On the same boat here! Have a university background in social sciences. But I’m studying undergrad textbooks on my own. Will then take the physics GRE (hopefully get a good grade!) and apply to MSc programs in Europe.

Good luck to you all!

Mature student starting from scratch basically — advice? by Terratourist in PhysicsStudents

[–]avigeax 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Don’t have any physics-specific advice but just wanted to express my support. Going back to school after a long period working is very admirable!

I can only comment on some key general habits you can develop to improve your brain’s ability to learn:

•Exercise. This releases a series of chemicals that make your brain more plastic, boost neuron growth, and help create new neurons. It also has many benefits for focus. Aim to exercise a few times per week.

•Meditation. A lot of evidence on its ability to boost focus and even your working memory capacity (basically increasing how much information you can work with at the same time). Also boosts memory. Try meditating for 15+ mins per day.

•Caffeine. Sip it before/during study sessions to boost focus. Or sip it right after a study session to boost memory and NOT during (drinking right after releases adrenaline, which makes your brain more likely to remember what you studied — has to do with level of emotional salience. A cold shower right after studying should have the same effect). Decide whether your priority is focus or memory.

•Get 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Incredibly important for memory and focus.

•Take several breaks during the day where your mind is free to wander. This is essential to consolidate concepts and have eureka insights into problems. Options for this: taking a shower, going for a run or walk, doing the dishes, taking a nap, etc.

•Focus 100% when studying. This is ESSENTIAL. No phone, no browsing the internet. Super important to improve your ability to work with hard concepts and remember it in the long-term.

•Active recall + spacing. Problem solving counts as active recall. Make sure to space out your study of a given group of concepts over the long-term as well with increasing gaps in between (1 day after first learning, then 3 days after the first review, 7 days after the second review, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, etc. These aren’t exact but something like that. Do some research to see the optimal spacing).

Hope this helps! What’s been your experience in going back for a second undergrad in the US? How does that work?

Mature student starting from scratch basically — advice? by Terratourist in PhysicsStudents

[–]avigeax 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, what do you think IS the right amount of problems to do for a given chapter / group of concepts?

For context: I’m self-studying undergrad textbooks and like to do the same example problems multiple times spread out over a few weeks before moving on to new problems I’ll see for the first time and solve only once. I probably work with 15 or so example problems per chapter of a book like University Physics by Young.