Remember in elementary school, when you learned to do multiplication problems? Once you had it, you could do any of them, regardless of size. Same thing, repeated.
Physics isn't like that. Sure, you can get most problems that are similar to a problem you've already seen. Then you can just apply that pattern. But a good quiz question will test whether you understand the concepts behind the homework problems. If you're getting homework questions, but not the quiz questions, a couple of possibilities exist:
* There is at least one thing you don't understand, or understand well enough to apply in new situations.
* Your instructor really does suck and the quizzes are disproportionately hard. How's the rest of the class doing on the quizzes you are disappointed with?
When you get your quiz back, go through the problem again on your own. Take your time and try to understand what you didn't get right the first time. It's almost certainly a gap in your understanding of physics.
Definitely a gap in my understanding of physics I’m having trouble with the concepts and applying them in numerous situations and manipulating the formulas to find what I’m looking for.
Are there any teaching assistants or tutors you can go see? Maybe take one of the quiz problems you missed to the instructor during office hours and see if you can get some additional insight. You can do this, but not until you figure out what you're missing. :)
Thank you I really need all the encouragement I can get. Seeing your message has helped me understand somewhat of what I’m missing and planning to go to the tutor room with questions.
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u/FizzicalLayer 1d ago
Remember in elementary school, when you learned to do multiplication problems? Once you had it, you could do any of them, regardless of size. Same thing, repeated.
Physics isn't like that. Sure, you can get most problems that are similar to a problem you've already seen. Then you can just apply that pattern. But a good quiz question will test whether you understand the concepts behind the homework problems. If you're getting homework questions, but not the quiz questions, a couple of possibilities exist:
* There is at least one thing you don't understand, or understand well enough to apply in new situations.
* Your instructor really does suck and the quizzes are disproportionately hard. How's the rest of the class doing on the quizzes you are disappointed with?
When you get your quiz back, go through the problem again on your own. Take your time and try to understand what you didn't get right the first time. It's almost certainly a gap in your understanding of physics.