Studying Honours Physics and Honours Economics.

Limerick Dude

Hey everyone i would just like to ask if anyone could give me study tips on these two subjects.

For physics im doing honours and im only doing it because i want to get more points. In 5th year we did mechanics, light, heat, sound and so far in 6th year we have done electricity, radioactivity, magnetism and all that jazz(most of the course done). Anyway i can remember fcuk all from 5th year so i really have to study all the stuff ive done from then. Whats the best way to study physics? Exam papers? I need some serious help with this subject!


For economics im pretty ok with it, in terms of understanding it, its just that the is SO MUCH of it!!!! Reading that little chunky book makes me want to jump off a bridge! Reading all that text makes me fall asleep and i then get distracted too easily. So whats the best way to study economics. We have nearly all the course done at this stage. Im a C student at Economics but with the correct studying techniques i could be a B or dare i say it an A student! :eek:

But yeah...All help apppreciated!!!!!

Sean.

md99

Not all of what's in the book comes up... in fact quite a miniscule fraction does come up. My best advice for you is to notice the pattern of those questions which have come up frequently for example

Banking -
How does a bank balance between its liquidity preference/customers desire for cash?
How do banks create credit?
Functions/Uses of Money
Functions of the CB
Monetary Policy Controls of the CB
etc...

There are about 5 or 6 main areas to each course. A lot of the course is content which never comes up... We have the book but never used it, we learn our teachers notes instead, which are a lot shorter and more exact.

That book is suicide!

Schlemm

If you've most of the course done at this stage ur prob ok..it's just a case of knowing the stuff!

First of all make sure u know all the formulae. They may haunt you for the rest of your life but there's nothing worse than being stuck in the exam not knowing them!! Write them all down on a sheet and just learn them by heart...there's no easier way unf!

Second, make sure u know the SI units cos u loose marks if ur units are wrong.

Third, know the experiments! It's not hard to predict which ones will come up, and look through past papers. Know your graphs as well because they love graphs in LC physics. Eg, know what goes on each axis and what formula to use, etc.

Fourth, if ur doing honours, do the option question. When I did my lc it was either particle physics or nuclear physics. The particle physics stuff is usually easier. So that's one worth knowing.

Finally, know your calculations! Work through past papers and the textbook for these. Just keep at them and get confident working them out. Past papers are brilliant cos the questions in the papers can be a bit different from the ones in the book. Again, try to predict what may come up...not always accurate but at least it's an incentive to learn stuff! If there's anything that you've done at this stage that you don't get, now's ur chance to sort it out.

Best of luck!

:|

Schlemm wrote:

Fourth, if ur doing honours, do the option question. When I did my lc it was either particle physics or nuclear physics. The particle physics stuff is usually easier. So that's one worth knowing.


Best of luck!

Definitely agree here, even if it seems difficult the questions are much much easier, and there's less material to cover too

poobum

make physics
make a list of every definition and formula and si units, and learn da fukker off! eriously you get so many marks this way! i remember doing my lc(got b1) der was few questions i couldnt remember what the formulas were for, then i just looked at it a different way, odds are you will be given all the figures for only 1 of the formulas to work for. so even if you forget what the formula is for it mitnt be end of world...however this is terribly risky, just learn em off! oh and do particle physics! its a joke! they are basically handing you the marks for nothing!
as for experiments look at past papers you can usualy work out a small number that wont be likely to come up, so its best if your stuck for time to payy less attention to these(but till give them some just in case althought its better if you have time to give them all great attention)
hope this helps

JC 2K3

Schlemm wrote:

First of all make sure u know all the formulae. They may haunt you for the rest of your life but there's nothing worse than being stuck in the exam not knowing them!! Write them all down on a sheet and just learn them by heart...there's no easier way unf!

Well, there is a slightly easier way tbh. Just think of what the formulae mean. Understanding what you're learning is so much easier than learning off a load of random letters and symbols. I mean once you understand what you're doing then formulae such as "v=u+at", "m1u1+m2u2=m1v1+m2v1", "P=W/t" etc. are extremely simple to learn. Of course there are a few ones that are a bit of a bitch and you simply have to accept and learn them, but it's best to make things as simple as possible.

In any case, this will make life easier for anyone studying physics:

Physics Formulae: Page 1, Page 2

Now, print out those two sheets and grab your maths tables. Flick to the Applied Maths page and cross out any formulae on those sheets that are in the tables, then tick off the common ones you already know.

Doesn't seem as difficult as you thought anymore does it?

Schlemm wrote:

Third, know the experiments! It's not hard to predict which ones will come up, and look through past papers. Know your graphs as well because they love graphs in LC physics. Eg, know what goes on each axis and what formula to use, etc.

I'd like to emphasise this, I'm naturally logical and find the comprehension and mathematical side of physics fairly easy, however I lose loads of marks in these. You really need to learn them. There's 28 AFAIK.

Insect Overlord

Limerick Dude wrote:

Hey everyone i would just like to ask if anyone could give me study tips

For economics im pretty ok with it, in terms of understanding it, its just that the is SO MUCH of it!!!! Reading that little chunky book makes me want to jump off a bridge! Reading all that text makes me fall asleep and i then get distracted too easily. So whats the best way to study economics. We have nearly all the course done at this stage. Im a C student at Economics but with the correct studying techniques i could be a B or dare i say it an A student! :eek:

But yeah...All help apppreciated!!!!!

Sean.

I dunno if this works for everyone, but what I do is take each chapter and write out notes on the most important parts (i.e. definitions, lists, examples, etc). It helps get the information into my head. And the stuff we did in school for revision before Christmas was pretty helpful, just answering questions from past exam papers.

I'm only a 10 minute walk from your house anyway Mooch, so if you wanna do some shared revision all you gotta do is ask.

madgal

O for physics your sorted with Rapid Revision Physics. It lists all the definitions and formulas for each chunk 'light, heat, mechanics etc.
Its really detailed and has like an example and answer of a few exam questions. Good checking list for the definitions. If you know your definitions, work at all the formula questions coz they change while asking a definition doesnt.

Limerick Dude

Thanks everyone for the advice! Keep it coming though as i could do with all the help i can get!

Rozabeez

I got a big hardback economics copy and kept all my notes in it, it's handy and helps me keep track of things....however I've recently realised that I'm allergic to the crappy paper in the copy.

Time Magazine

Somewhere, far far away, hidden in the Boards database, is my advice for Leaving Cert Economics. If you find it, fair play to you, it will be useful.

Know where all the formulae are in the log tables for Physics. Go over the labs again and again, they're quite easy.

Nehpets

I hate physics

Just thought I would throw that in.