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yellowpig · 2004 March 15th, 06:41 AM

hi folks!

i'm planning on physics grad school for the fall of 2005 and will be taking the subject test in december 2004. my problem is that my undergrad was in math, and my graduate degree in finance/economics. the math presents no problems for me, but it's obviously going to be no cakewalk getting my physics up to par by test time. does anyone have any tips on how to best cut the preparation time in my case so that I can concentrate as much as possible on the most relevant topics for the test? i'm currently working through halliday/resnick/walker and will do tipler's book for the modern physics part as soon as i'm done with hrw.
any tips you have would be greatly appreciated!

mattlorig · 2004 March 15th, 11:06 PM

Halliday Resnick and Walker is certainly a good text to cover (however, there is no doubt that Halliday Resnick and Krane is the superior text

)

Anyway, the best time-saving advice I can give is find a copy of the ETS book that has 3 real physics gre's in it. Work through all the problems, and see which areas you seem to be lacing in. Then go back to HRW and find the relevent information about the questions you couldn't answer.

yellowpig · 2004 March 16th, 03:40 AM

thanks for the tip- that is exactly the strategy I plan on implementing- just study for the exam now, then REALLY study the physics intensely later on, once i'm in grad school. would that be the infamous "purple book" that you're talking about? if so, I have thumbed through it, and (please correct me if i'm mistaken) there really do seem to be an awful lot of mechanics problems at about the level of the problems in HRW- that actually kinda gave me some confidence, that it's definitely possible to do, but I certainly know what i'm in for, not having an official physics background! i've also found that there are a few problems in that purple book that actually only require knowledge of mathematics, so that's a good thing as well. have you tested already? where are you headed off to for grad school? what will you specialize in?

mattlorig · 2004 March 16th, 12:52 PM

I was not referring to the REA book (aka "the purple book"). To be frank, that book is totally misleading. The problems in it take way to long to do, and the material is not really all that similar to the actual test (for one thing, you can't use a calculator on the real test, and most of the problems in the REA book require the use of a calculator). The book I was talking about was published by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) -- they are the one's that actually make the test. The book is out of print, but you can sometimes find used copies on ebay or amazon.

I have not taken the test yet. I will take on April 4th. So I guess my test studying strategy isn't a proven sure-fire method. But I feel pretty confident, so I think I'm doing something right.

I have no idea what area of physics I want to go into. I definitely am leaning towards the theoretical rather than the experimental side of physics. But I couldn't tell you which subject area I want to go into. As far as where I'd like to go, I'm hoping to get into one of the better schools in California (berkeley, stanford, caltech). I used in live in Santiago, Chile and LOVED the weather there. I think california has a similar climate.

yellowpig · 2004 March 16th, 03:51 PM

oh, okay- I guess I got confused on the name of the book- I actually do have the one from ETS which is now out of print (3rd edition), i've just always thought that it was "the purple book" because of the purple border on the left side! I will definitely heed your advice on the preparation- I once had to study for an examination I took to be a derivatives trader, and it was exactly the same type of test and preparation- I had this humongous notebook full of actual sample questions from previous exams, and with only the answers to them but no explanations. I learned quite a bit studying that notebook (and of course with a couple of supplementary textbooks on the side) without any prior knowledge of trading or derivatives markets and ended up scoring in the 90th percentile on the exam. that method seemed to work well for me, so I certainly hope it'll do the trick come december!

from what i've done thus far I would say I like the theoretical stuff, but i'm not yet sure what I want to do. I do know that I enjoy the computational aspects of physics, however, so i'm sure it'll be a combination by the time i'm in school and ready to specialize.

geez louise, my hat goes off to you- berkeley and co. are some fantastic schools- you must be excellent at physics if you're sending them applications- terrific, I wish you the best of luck! I know it would be a waste of my money and time for me to apply to schools of that caliber at this point, but we'll see what happens after the masters degree- maybe then.

saifqau · 2007 November 2nd, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattlorig

Halliday Resnick and Walker is certainly a good text to cover (however, there is no doubt that Halliday Resnick and Krane is the superior text

)

Anyway, the best time-saving advice I can give is find a copy of the ETS book that has 3 real physics gre's in it. Work through all the problems, and see which areas you seem to be lacing in. Then go back to HRW and find the relevent information about the questions you couldn't answer.

mattlorig,
por favor, El Señor u snd me these test on my following email adrs
saifawan79@yahoo.com
por favor, El Señor hlp me thanks

lovesorrow1102 · 2009 August 19th, 10:29 AM

Thank you, for answering. But this method works for me only with .. In all other cases I get only strange results, like those below

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2004 March 15th, 06:41 AM	#1 (permalink)
yellowpig I JUST got here. Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 5	hi folks! i'm planning on physics grad school for the fall of 2005 and will be taking the subject test in december 2004. my problem is that my undergrad was in math, and my graduate degree in finance/economics. the math presents no problems for me, but it's obviously going to be no cakewalk getting my physics up to par by test time. does anyone have any tips on how to best cut the preparation time in my case so that I can concentrate as much as possible on the most relevant topics for the test? i'm currently working through halliday/resnick/walker and will do tipler's book for the modern physics part as soon as i'm done with hrw. any tips you have would be greatly appreciated!

2004 March 15th, 11:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
mattlorig I JUST got here. Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 5	Halliday Resnick and Walker is certainly a good text to cover (however, there is no doubt that Halliday Resnick and Krane is the superior text ) Anyway, the best time-saving advice I can give is find a copy of the ETS book that has 3 real physics gre's in it. Work through all the problems, and see which areas you seem to be lacing in. Then go back to HRW and find the relevent information about the questions you couldn't answer.

2004 March 16th, 03:40 AM	#3 (permalink)
yellowpig I JUST got here. Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 5	thanks for the tip- that is exactly the strategy I plan on implementing- just study for the exam now, then REALLY study the physics intensely later on, once i'm in grad school. would that be the infamous "purple book" that you're talking about? if so, I have thumbed through it, and (please correct me if i'm mistaken) there really do seem to be an awful lot of mechanics problems at about the level of the problems in HRW- that actually kinda gave me some confidence, that it's definitely possible to do, but I certainly know what i'm in for, not having an official physics background! i've also found that there are a few problems in that purple book that actually only require knowledge of mathematics, so that's a good thing as well. have you tested already? where are you headed off to for grad school? what will you specialize in?

2004 March 16th, 12:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
mattlorig I JUST got here. Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 5	I was not referring to the REA book (aka "the purple book"). To be frank, that book is totally misleading. The problems in it take way to long to do, and the material is not really all that similar to the actual test (for one thing, you can't use a calculator on the real test, and most of the problems in the REA book require the use of a calculator). The book I was talking about was published by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) -- they are the one's that actually make the test. The book is out of print, but you can sometimes find used copies on ebay or amazon. I have not taken the test yet. I will take on April 4th. So I guess my test studying strategy isn't a proven sure-fire method. But I feel pretty confident, so I think I'm doing something right. I have no idea what area of physics I want to go into. I definitely am leaning towards the theoretical rather than the experimental side of physics. But I couldn't tell you which subject area I want to go into. As far as where I'd like to go, I'm hoping to get into one of the better schools in California (berkeley, stanford, caltech). I used in live in Santiago, Chile and LOVED the weather there. I think california has a similar climate.

2004 March 16th, 03:51 PM	#5 (permalink)
yellowpig I JUST got here. Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 5	oh, okay- I guess I got confused on the name of the book- I actually do have the one from ETS which is now out of print (3rd edition), i've just always thought that it was "the purple book" because of the purple border on the left side! I will definitely heed your advice on the preparation- I once had to study for an examination I took to be a derivatives trader, and it was exactly the same type of test and preparation- I had this humongous notebook full of actual sample questions from previous exams, and with only the answers to them but no explanations. I learned quite a bit studying that notebook (and of course with a couple of supplementary textbooks on the side) without any prior knowledge of trading or derivatives markets and ended up scoring in the 90th percentile on the exam. that method seemed to work well for me, so I certainly hope it'll do the trick come december! from what i've done thus far I would say I like the theoretical stuff, but i'm not yet sure what I want to do. I do know that I enjoy the computational aspects of physics, however, so i'm sure it'll be a combination by the time i'm in school and ready to specialize. geez louise, my hat goes off to you- berkeley and co. are some fantastic schools- you must be excellent at physics if you're sending them applications- terrific, I wish you the best of luck! I know it would be a waste of my money and time for me to apply to schools of that caliber at this point, but we'll see what happens after the masters degree- maybe then.

2009 August 19th, 10:29 AM	#7 (permalink)
lovesorrow1102 I JUST got here. Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 1	Thank you, for answering. But this method works for me only with .. In all other cases I get only strange results, like those below

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