Some of you have been asking about how to get a little more help. Here's what I wrote to one of you, with some suggestions:
The summer goes very, very fast, and I don't like it much more than you do, honestly. But, there are few things you can do to get some help, and things I can do to try and help:
Besides that, I think one of the best things to do is just read & do as many problems as you can. The worked examples in the book are nice - cover the solution, see if you can do it yourself, and then read through their solution. The more you can practice problems, the more it seems to help you 'get' things in the end. Reading the text is also good, obviously, but doing that without sitting down to work practice problems isn't as effective.
One more, you can also check out Dr. Harrell's fairly-extensive PH101 notes from 2007. He put quite a bit of work into them, and they may help out. They correspond to a different textbook, so the chapter numbers are different, but the material is the same. He also has example tests with solutions and other useful materials.
Lastly, don't freak out too much yet - in the beginning it is a lot of material that is all very weird and difficult, but it reinforces itself as we go on. Lots of time left, and we'll do what we can to help you get through it. We don't like giving out bad grades any more than you like getting them!
The summer goes very, very fast, and I don't like it much more than you do, honestly. But, there are few things you can do to get some help, and things I can do to try and help:
- I'm managing to keep the schedule I set right now, which is 'padded' by a couple of lectures. If all goes well, we will be able to spend Mon or Tues reviewing what we've done so far - take a step back and go over a few things more slowly.
- I can try to do some more problems with numbers in them, and hope over the weekend to post some example problems completely worked out along with some extra notes.
- I've talked to the TAs about office hours, and I think what we'll do is reserve the last hour of the lab period or so for questions & tutoring - most of the labs will only last 2 hours or so (maybe less), so we can use part of that period to go over material again that's giving trouble and solve some additional problems.
- I'm available myself for whatever questions you have the hour before or after class, or any time after 3pm in my office in the Bevill building. I'm usually around until about 6pm on campus, so any time you want to drop by Bevill in the afternoon/evening is fine.
- I'm going to see if any of the physics major undergrads around over the summer are interested in doing some tutoring. The upper-level PH majors do this during the semester, and a few of them might be game for doing it now.
Besides that, I think one of the best things to do is just read & do as many problems as you can. The worked examples in the book are nice - cover the solution, see if you can do it yourself, and then read through their solution. The more you can practice problems, the more it seems to help you 'get' things in the end. Reading the text is also good, obviously, but doing that without sitting down to work practice problems isn't as effective.
One more, you can also check out Dr. Harrell's fairly-extensive PH101 notes from 2007. He put quite a bit of work into them, and they may help out. They correspond to a different textbook, so the chapter numbers are different, but the material is the same. He also has example tests with solutions and other useful materials.
Lastly, don't freak out too much yet - in the beginning it is a lot of material that is all very weird and difficult, but it reinforces itself as we go on. Lots of time left, and we'll do what we can to help you get through it. We don't like giving out bad grades any more than you like getting them!
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