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Recommended Practices

Make a weekly schedule:
Make a schedule to organize when various assignments are due and when you plan to work on them. Setting aside study time relative to instructor’s and TA’s office hours allows you to ask them questions if you are confused about anything.

Do not let confusion on a topic accumulate:
Understanding the foundation is important for understanding what comes next, so contact your instructor or TA if you are confused about a topic.

Read the textbook before lecture:
Schedule time to read the relevant text sections before lecture. That way you will be ready to apply what you have read during lecture and to ask questions about a topic in a timely manner.

Work with fellow students:
You can learn by listening to your peers, but you can also learn by expressing your own ideas. You can work in small groups and can also post or answer questions on the class discussion board.

Practice problems:
It is common for students to understand what the textbook is saying but not to be able to solve problems. This ability comes with practice. Practice solving problems provided by your instructor with your peers. Also, to prepare yourself for taking exams, set aside time to practice solving problems alone with only the notes or equation sheet that you would have during the exams.

Understand the physics concept:
Start a problem by understanding the physical principles and concepts in that problem. Then try to apply those concepts to solve the problem. That way, when you encounter a new problem that uses the same physical principle, you will be able to recognize it and solve it. If you simply try to memorize the steps to solve a problem, you may not be able to apply these steps when you encounter a new problem even if it uses the same concept.

Learn from your mistakes:
If you did not know how to solve a problem on an assignment or an exam, be sure to get feedback and try solving the problem again.

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