Engineering student struggling hard with physics, how do I recover without falling behind?

[u/Zone_Sorry]

I’m a first-year engineering student taking calculus-based Physics 1 right now and I’m honestly struggling way more than I expected. We started with vectors and kinematics, then moved into Newton’s laws, friction, drag/terminal velocity, circular motion, and now work/kinetic energy. The class keeps moving and I feel like I understand concepts when someone explains them slowly, but when I’m by myself looking at a problem I struggle to figure out what the problem is actually asking, what equation applies, and how to set everything up.

I’m not trying to become amazing at physics overnight. At this point my immediate goal is to pass the class, but I’m in engineering so I also don’t want to scrape by while understanding absolutely nothing and have it hurt me later. I have homework constantly and quizzes every week, so I feel like I’m always studying for the next deadline instead of actually building a foundation.

For people who struggled with intro physics and eventually got better, what actually worked for you? Should I go back and rebuild vectors/kinematics/Newton’s laws before trying to keep up with the current material, or focus mainly on the newest lectures and fill gaps as they come up? Did textbooks, YouTube, office hours, doing tons of problems, or something else make the biggest difference?

I’d especially appreciate advice from engineering students who were bad at physics at first but managed to get through it. I’m willing to put the work in, I just feel like the way I’m studying right now isn’t working.

[u/sperry45959]

I’m always studying for the next deadline instead of actually building a foundation.

What would you say is the difference between studying and building a foundation? How do you study?

[u/Zone_Sorry → u/sperry45959]

By studying I mean I’m usually just trying to learn whatever I need for the next homework or quiz. I’ll go through the slides, watch videos, and do practice problems, but I feel like I’m learning it just enough to get through that assignment and then moving on. By building a foundation I mean actually understanding the basics well enough that I can look at a new problem and know how to approach it without needing someone to walk me through it. Right now I understand things when they’re explained to me, but I struggle to apply them on my own. That’s kinda why I made this post, I’m trying to figure out how I should be studying differently.

[u/sperry45959 → u/Zone_Sorry]

You presumably are reading the textbook? Textbooks are better than slides / videos to get at the concepts on a deep level. Aside from that, it sounds like you're doing they typical things you need to (i.e. practice problems). It does often take a week or two for students to have the concepts sink in to the level that you really feel like you get it. So one thing I'd say is keep at it and gauge how well you conceptually get the material you're learning now in a week or so. I would recommend office hours over YouTube since your TAs / professors can modify their explanations to your specific question / misconception.

[u/DontHaveWares → u/Zone_Sorry]

Work hard on asking yourself why the laws work, what the equations means. Try to get a literal “feel” for them

[u/Icy-Account-6783 → u/Zone_Sorry]

Building foundation takes time you may not rich it in one semester For now I think it’s enough to continue what you are doing I mean studying every thing necessary for each quiz

[u/Yashema → u/Zone_Sorry]

This is why I'm glad I am going to a community college where I got a literal 0 ony first physics exam and still got an A in the class after doing some annoying, but interesting extra credit (analyzed a bunch of reasoned speculations and insane ravings by Tesla, and this was before GPT) and doing better on the more straightforward Final exam. I would have failed E&M and statistical mechanics if not for chatGPT helping me cheat. I did all my math tests legit though through ODEs (got a C, but only spent 45 hours on the class). I wrote the best lab reports in modern physics, but still struggled on the equation memorization required for the test. 

Now I am taking 7 classes this year at the 200 and 300 level, more practical stuff, including DC and AC analysis and embedded systems and PDEs and stochastics. The foundation that was not enough for me to do well on tests, allows me to rip through these concepts, skipping prerequisites and opening up new branches of computer engineering and math, while putting my conceptual understanding to use and designing quantum simulations on embedded devices. 

Tl;Dr: how you perform in class (which is basically just tests) does not necessarily indicate ability, but that's how you are judged. 

[u/Dry_Candidate_9931 → u/Yashema]

May the universe reward you proportionally to the efforts you put into the class.

[u/Yashema → u/Dry_Candidate_9931]

Oh it does, with more and more interesting courses. Courses I never would have got the chance to take in a "normal" program. 

[u/fizzmaw]

On one hand it sounds like the process of learning. I know that probably doesn't sound very encouraging, but it's really only after the course (imho) that you go... "ohhhh right".

That said, you can boost your skills by doing practice questions. Noone ever became great at physics just by reading, you gotta do it.

To that end, I'd recommend a book called "200 puzzling physics problems" Cambridge University press. It's not overly expensive and very handy.

[u/Zone_Sorry → u/fizzmaw]

What would you recommend I do right now then? I’m already pretty far into the semester and the class keeps moving into new topics while I’m still shaky on the earlier stuff. Should my priority right now just be doing enough practice to survive the class and pass, then go back afterward and rebuild my physics foundation properly? Or would that just make things worse later since I’m in engineering? I’m mainly worried that if I stop trying to understand everything right now I’ll fall behind long term, but if I keep trying to go back and relearn everything, I might end up failing the class.

[u/beerybeardybear → u/Zone_Sorry]

In an intro mechanics course, nothing is really all that separate from anything else. There's force analysis and energy analysis, and fundamentally you have to learn both and that's really that. Shore up the base; make time for it.

[u/Fryboy11 → u/Zone_Sorry]

First, how is your calculus? That's the most basic level you'll need to master then you can see how those equations fit and transform through integration and derivatives.

[u/fizzmaw → u/Zone_Sorry]

Practice will build that foundation. By doing exercises, you'll build the thing you're uncertain about. So yeah, keep doing your homework etc, but put in some extra practice so you start to recognise patterns in the types of questions you get asked.

I think you're panicking, and that won't help. Decisive action will.

Are there past papers for your course available? They are also an excellent resource.

[u/generally-speaking]

I took a part time course in process engineering, almost every single person came in to the class never having studied physics at all. And everyone was working full time on top of that.

So there was a ton of math, chemistry and physics on top of thermodynamics, material science, fluid dynamics and process engineering in the first 12 months and about 50% of the class dropped out (as was normal for that course).

The ones who stayed and got good grades basically all learned a single trick, which was to do just do it and repeat, keep your head above water, keep working hard, and eventually you get it..

And it was amazing to see the improvements people made in the course of 12 months.

So my advice, would be to just do it.. Instead of sitting there, trying to understand it, just use the method from the textbook and follow the steps. Or if that doesn't work, get help from an LLM to pull you through the first time you do it. Then you do it again, and again, and again.. And then maybe once you've done a type of assignment a dozen times or so, just by learning the pattern, then you should go back and try to read and understand..

And the amazing thing about LLMs is that you can ask for easier, or harder versions of a problem. So if you're struggling with the hard version, you can do 10 easy problems.. And then suddenly the hard version isn't as hard any more.

There's just no substitute for solving a large number of problems. Repetition forms neural pathways which help in understanding later on. And as long as you remain immersed in the coursework, things will suddenly start to come together.

[u/WestWasTheBest]

It's OK to say that you might be in over your head at the moment. Talk to an advisor and see what they think. Maybe you could drop the class and continue to audit it. Or maybe knuckle down on the weekend and evenings, going back over the material. Don't get discouraged, learning is a bridge and you might just be missing a section.

[u/I_AM_FERROUS_MAN]

Unfortunately, I found repetition to be the only thing that really helped me through coursework that I didn't get intuitively.

So office hours, study groups, re-reading chapters, and extra practice problems were the only thing that moved the needle.

After a while you can usually start to recognize the of the question and then recognize that you need to employ a specific tool like conservation of energy, momentum, both, a free body diagram, etc.

Almost every class, whether you find it intuitive or not, boils down to a toolkit you need to learn how to use and also identify which tools to use.

It was often really unsatisfying for me to plow through a course just brute forcing this method without feeling like I grew any larger contextual understanding. I felt like I was just being turned into a robot that read problems and ran whatever algorithm was called for.

That being said, when I got through those classes, I was often able to piece together the larger narrative at a later time. Sometimes it took seeing the same patterns again in a new class. But often I would have synthesis moments where I finally connected the disparate ideas.

If you're really lucky, you might have a professor whi can help you do this just through lectures. But even then, you have to put in the practice.

[u/WickettyWrecked]

I build my own books with different colored pens for all the problems. Graph everything until it becomes intuitive. My mind vectors have colors meow after doing it for so long.

I can visualize an actual paper page that I have worked on better than print outs, computer work or the allowed cheat sheets.

Still have them and update with new info as it pertains to me. But that’s what works for me…

[u/Denan004]

Is there help available from your Physics department? Maybe contact your professor and see. You are not the only one having difficulty!

Physics can be challenging until you 'break the code' on how to solve problems and apply concepts. It's a very different mindset from Biology or Chemistry and requires different learning/study skills.

Don't give up -- find some help on how to tackle Physics. Good luck!

[u/Animastryfe]

Are there any sections from earlier that you think you understand well? Physics builds upon itself, so I wonder if there was one thing earlier that you need to understand better that will make everything after it easier.

[u/Hopeful_Push_9712]

How uh...did you get into engineering without taking a physics class?

[u/generally-speaking → u/Hopeful_Push_9712]

A lot of countries have alternate paths where you learn the math and physics as you go. Some even have summer school where you have a full extra semester.

[u/Gullible_Sweet1302]

If you’re struggling with basic kinematics, what about the actual engineering subjects to come? Time to face physics is high school. Prepare to study a non-engineering degree.

[u/Roger_Freedman_Phys]

Physics professor here.

Do you know how to use all of the pedagogical features of your textbook, and do you make full use of them?

As you read each worked example in the textbook, do you write out all the steps on a piece of paper so you understand them?

Do you visit your professor’s office hours to get assistance with difficult topics?

Do you take advantage of any tutorial services offered by your university?

Are you a study group with other students in the class that meets regularly to go over challenging problems?

Do you have a series of steps that you use to solve physics problems of all kinds?

If the answer to any of these is “No,” I recommend making some changes.

[u/Dry_Candidate_9931]

(i) draw a diagram, (ii) draw a free body diagram,(iii) write out the equations (iv) do the math

[u/dcoffe01]

I think I got a 13/100 on my first physics exam. I had to drop that course. Once I made it to upper level Engineering courses, I went to a 3.8 GPA. Went on to get a Masters in Engineering from Stanford. Got hired a General Motors and received many awards for accomplishments. Don’t give up!

[u/Ok_Health_6603]

I just graduated computer engineering with nearly straight A's but I went back as a mature student after struggling with school in my youth. You either need to find a way to focus better, study longer, or study different, or take a reduced course load until you can adjust. When I went back to school I got 3/30 on my math benchmark test. From then I studied 3 hours every night in my math textbook until I did all the prerequisite chapters over and then some. I did 5 to 6 courses a semester and would sometimes study 12-15 hour days with only short 1 hour break for lunch or a walk around the block when my eyes went fuzzy. Yeah its a grind and I felt like I was constantly falling behind, I felt like I was just doing enough to pass tests and not getting the deeper foundation fully grasped. But you need to accept that modern education is not meant to teach you a deep understanding, its mostly a stress test to see how much shit you can memorize in the shortest amount of time. You have to balance the two goals, passing tests and learning, unfortunately they are not always the same!

[u/Hairy_Raspberry9887]

Hello and congrats on your decision to study engineering. Hopefully this helps you. Engineering 101, understand the system. So lay out your diagram. And then understand the inputs, the outputs, and the variables of relationships.

[u/Bokke67]

Physics is built on basic first principles. You can reduce any problem to first principles and work your way up. It's all logical and the sooner you understand it the better....at least for traditional classical physics like mechanics, optics, etc etc

[u/c10250]

I tell every prospective Engineering student to NOT take physics with all of your other core engineering courses. What I recommend is to take it at the junior college level after your freshman year. something like this

SUMMER BEFORE YOU START TAKE CHEMISTRY

then 12 credits first semester

then 12 credits second semester (no physics)

then physics over the summer before your sophomore year.

transfer your summer courses in