How to learn to solve problems in physics: advice from teachers. Tips for preparing for the exam in physics
Why is preparing for the Unified State Exam in Physics most often preparation from scratch?
The Unified State Exam in Physics is an exam that includes all topics: mechanics, thermodynamics and molecular physics, electricity, optics, nuclear and quantum physics. The USE version also includes elements of astrophysics.
The version of the Unified State Exam in Physics contains 32 tasks, and 5 of them require a detailed and well-founded solution.
It is not enough to attend school physics lessons to pass this exam. Requires special training.
School lessons follow the same pattern: learn a paragraph, tell it, and that’s where it all ends. Problems in schools, as a rule, are not solved. Or they are solved, but the simplest ones, at the level of “substituted the data into the formula, got an answer.”
All this is not enough to pass the Unified State Exam, because on the Unified State Exam in physics you need to solve problems. And these tasks do not come down to substituting numbers into a formula. In most of them, you also need to think about what to combine with what. To learn this, a high school student must solve quite a large number of problems on his own.
It is also important to understand what exactly you need to find in the problem.
This is a specific problem of the Unified State Exam in physics. Often high school students misunderstand the terms of the problem. Both ordinary schoolchildren and math school students do this - after reading the condition, they often begin to solve a completely different problem, doing something that is not required in the condition. And only with experience comes the ability to clearly and correctly understand what the author of the problem wanted.
So, preparing for the Unified State Exam in physics from scratch is, first of all, solving problems, and on all topics of the Unified State Exam.
In the 11th grade, the teacher at school follows a certain program. For example, in September-October they take electrodynamics, then optics. At the same time, material from grades 9-10, for example, mechanics, is no longer repeated. There is no return to it. Not to mention hydrostatics, which was completed in 7th grade, and the heat balance equation, which was completed in 8th grade.
It is often difficult for children to master physics because they have difficulties with mathematics. First, the problems are purely algebraic. If a student has poor command of the technique of algebraic transformations, it is difficult for him to express one quantity in terms of another, and he makes stupid mistakes. High school students are characterized by a completely poor command of trigonometry. And you can’t do without trigonometry on the Unified State Exam in Physics - because there will definitely be tasks on vibrations.
It is necessary to have excellent command of the topic “Derivative”, and on the Unified State Exam in physics there are tasks where you need to be able to take the derivative of a complex function - the same problems on oscillations. For example, the law of change of coordinates with time is given, but you need to find the maximum speed.
And the third problem is geometry. In problems in mechanics and optics, it is necessary to construct drawings, for example, the path of rays in lenses, the position of a body on an inclined plane, where forces must be placed and projected on an axis. And then it begins - I forgot what a sine is, confused it with a cosine, and the error is ultimately purely algebraic. Therefore, preparing for the Unified State Exam in physics from scratch means that you also repeat mathematics.
If you decide in 11th grade to prepare for the Unified State Exam in physics from scratch, what should you do?
The first is to eliminate gaps in theory. As long as you have theoretical gaps, there is no point in working on problems. This is typical for physics.
And then – problem solving techniques.
To fully master the physics course, we recommend you the textbook by I. V. Yakovlev “Physics. A complete course of preparation for the Unified State Exam." You can purchase it or read materials online on our website>>
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First of all, you need to assess your current level of knowledge and understand what you want to achieve. If by “from scratch” we mean complete ignorance of the subject, then before rushing to solve a bunch of tests from all sorts of FIPI books, you need to try to understand the processes and laws of physics themselves, in my opinion, understanding should be the main point that you need to pay attention to . Understanding will greatly help you when solving the part where there is a choice of answer (if there is one, I don’t know). And so, in order to begin to understand something, you need to take a textbook, open the sections of physics in order and read several times, you don’t need to think that reading once will be enough for you, you need to re-read it, so be patient. From books on theory, I would recommend the textbooks of G.Ya. Myakishev, only the profile level, a separate book is devoted to each section. But not for constant reading, but in case of discovering incomprehensible places and reading in more detail, the detail of the presentation often solves the problem of understanding. And for the basic study of the theory: everything is described there in a moderately concise and sensible manner. I don’t see the point in reading something fundamental like Landsberg, you’ll spend a lot of time, it’s not worth it for the Unified State Exam. Training videos can be an excellent option, but not at all. I STRONGLY recommend the videos of Mikhail Penkin (teacher at MIPT), there are a lot of them on the Internet and I don’t think you can find better ones. His videos may be able to replace all your textbooks; it will be even better if you start with them! Next, about cramming formulas, etc. Don’t cram formulas, try to solve problems where these formulas are used, over time you will remember them; learn to derive formulas yourself, knowing the basic laws, you can get almost anything. Of course, you say that it’s difficult, starting from scratch, but it’s still worth trying. As for solving problems with calculations and detailed answers: start with simple ones, and as soon as you can solve them, increase the level of complexity of the problems. To learn how to solve problems, first of all, you should analyze already solved problems from the sections of interest, because methods, approaches and, in general, an understanding of what to do will not arise on your own, no matter how long you sit on the problem. I recommend the books “Physics Tutor” by I.L. Kasatkina, a lot of analyzed problems, read and understand, try to solve a similar one. If you are ready to pay money, then I do not advise you to go to a tutor, but I recommend the portal http://foxford.ru/, this is not an advertisement. There you can take training courses, the teachers are unique. The most important thing is don’t give up, and don’t think that everything is complicated, as soon as you start to figure it out, you’ll realize that you want to figure it out further. I’ll warn you about the heaps of materials from the Internet, there may be errors everywhere, and a person who has just started is practically unable to distinguish good materials for preparation from the unknown, don’t take for granted the first thing you come across, try to figure it out, question everything, this is the key to progress. And so, if we draw a line:
1) try to understand
2) start with something simple
3) don’t get hung up on solving simple problems, if you understand, it won’t fly out of your head
4) don’t cram
5) use good sources (the ones I cited were personally verified by me)
It’s better that you understand and answer the Unified State Exam with confidence than memorize and solve problems. It is NOT possible to understand everything in a year, believe me, physics is not just an algorithm of actions. But you must have topics that you delve into in order to solve all of them, or almost all of them, with confidence. So, when you “go through” all the sections, you should especially pay attention to those that are better. Good luck!
Knowing physics means being able to see more in ordinary things than others. Knowledge in the field of physics allows you to better understand the laws of nature, to realize how interesting everything actually works in this world. Physics makes the world around us multifaceted, bright and full, and life is full of interesting discoveries. To know the basic laws of physics and be able to use your knowledge in life, it is not at all necessary to graduate from a university in this field. If you really want to, you can learn the basics on your own.
Anyone who wants to understand the fundamental laws of physics has virtually unlimited access to specialized sources of information. They can provide a lot of useful information and data to a person studying physics independently. modern popular science magazines, including their virtual versions, which can be easily found on the Internet. It is best to learn physics not from dry school textbooks and literature for higher and secondary educational institutions of the relevant profile, but from modern popular science magazines, in which even the formula is interpreted in the form of an artistic narrative, which greatly facilitates their understanding, assimilation and memorization. Learning physics from such publications is a pleasure. It is interesting, useful, develops memory and logical thinking, and also, undoubtedly, broadens one’s horizons and makes a person comprehensively developed, progressive, keeping up with the times.
When studying physics, the main thing is not to miss the moment when you need to move from theory to practice, since interest in “book” science will fade away sooner or later. If theoretical knowledge is not tested in practice, the student may very soon “burn out” and abandon the study of physics forever, never having learned the true mystery of this unique science. You can even practice at home, conducting some primitive experiments from the school physics course. This will not require large investments - all experiments are carried out using improvised means, inexpensive electronics and various tools that are found in every home. You can find recipes for physical experiments here on the Internet. On specialized portals and forums dedicated to physics and its laws, applied science and various practical developments, you can find many friends with similar interests and find out what experiments can be carried out at home, safely, and usefully for business. Here you can also find out where to purchase everything you need to test physical laws in practice.
We continue to prepare for the Unified State Exam. This time, the guys who passed physics with 90+ points are sharing their advice.
YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH A CALCULATOR
Roman Dubovenko, 98 points
I prepared for two months, and after the trial exams they predicted a maximum of 60 points for me. I can give some advice to graduates: you solve a book with 30 options - this is for part A. Just do each number 30 times, sort out the mistakes, watch how the compilers catch the children inattentively.
Now part C.
There are certain models and methods for solving problems, each section has its own. You receive a task, remember the topic, related formulas, a drawing and express the value that is asked. In physics, it is best to do alphabetic expressions and use the calculator only once (you get rid of errors and mathematical errors). Physicists also love to see the final formula.
Therefore, you need to be able to work with a calculator. And be sure to check the batteries, the numbers should be clear on the display - this is the easiest way to find out how it works.
You monotonously analyze the approaches, but there is always a drawing in the approach, remember this.
I went to the exam with full confidence that I would pass, because I ruined the result in mathematics due to my own stupidity and understood that I would not make a detailed mistake in physics. The entire part A was similar to the one I solved during the year, only three tasks were new. Part B is easy. In Part C, always check C5 with bated breath - quantum or electrodynamics. Because the most difficult section is electrodynamics. There I made a mistake, incorrectly giving the co-function of the angle. Well, what can you do? I was incredibly happy about the points, I was only upset because I didn’t give my teacher 100 points.
EVERYTHING TURNED OUT MUCH EASIER THAN I EXPECTED
Anna Kharchina, 96 points
Let me start with the fact that until the 10th grade I didn’t understand physics at all. But when we were asked to choose a major at school for grades 10-11, I had no option other than physics and mathematics. According to the program, we had two hours of physics per week + four hours of electives. In regular lessons we looked at theory, but in electives we delved deeper and solved problems. I am very grateful for my preparation to my school teacher, who taught the theory in a very accessible and systematic way.
In addition to schoolwork, I had two hours a week of tutoring. With him, we basically consolidated the given theory and worked on problem areas. At home, I worked through the problem book from cover to cover on my own.
I would like to advise you to keep careful notes on the theory so that everything is immediately sorted into shelves in your head. Get a notebook with formulas (a thin notebook for foreign words will do): write the formula and unit of measurement there, write all formulas by section (mechanics, molecular science, thermodynamics, etc.). The fact that all the formulas are in one place will help both in solving problems and in directly preparing for the exam.
Solve problems from resources on the Internet (but sometimes there are problems that are not included in the school curriculum). Solve not by options, but by problem numbers. For example, you choose the first task, choose a topic, print all the problems on this topic and solve it. If there are no particular problems with parts A and B, then they can be solved as a whole option, but in part C, I recommend solving problems by task numbers (for example, this month I am only doing task 27).
Have a good calculator (costs ~800 rubles) that calculates trigonometry and everything else. It is very important to buy it in advance and learn how to use it! If you learn all the functions of the calculator, you will be able to perform calculations at the click of a finger.
During the exam itself, start with the test, and if something doesn’t work out from there, leave it and move on. Before part C, I advise you to take a break, eat chocolate and the like - give your brain a break. If you cannot solve something in part C, then draw pictures and write the entire theory that relates to this problem (this way you can get two points out of three for the problem). Don’t forget that there are no problems on the Unified State Exam that are not from the school course, and in principle, everything should be within your power.
Physics was the most important subject for me. And most of the time was spent on preparing for it. As a result, physics turned out to be the easiest subject of all that I took (Russian, mathematics major), and it was in this subject that I scored the most points. I would like to say that due to the abolition of answer options, the organizers made part C simpler in order to avoid blockages. That is why everything turned out to be much easier than I imagined. I had one mistake in the test and one in part C. All the problems from this part were familiar to me and had already been solved by me before, except for one (number 28), and I could not complete it.
If you are well prepared, do not be afraid of anything, believe in yourself and in your success. Treat the exam as a normal option. As you sit down in class, mentally say to yourself, “This is just an option that I need to work hard on right now. I will succeed".
And if you are not very prepared, then you still have enough time to fix it.
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Everything that happens in our world happens due to the influence of certain forces in physics. And you will have to learn each of them, if not at school, then certainly at college.
Of course, you can try to memorize them. But it will be much faster, more fun and interesting to simply understand the essence of each physical force and how it interacts with the environment.
Forces in nature and fundamental interactions
There are a huge number of forces. Archimedes force, gravity force, Ampere force, Lorentz force, Coreolis force, rolling friction force etc. Actually, it is impossible to learn all the powers, since not all of them have been discovered yet. But this is also very important - all forces known to us, without exception, can be reduced to the manifestation of the so-called fundamental physical interactions.
There are 4 fundamental physical interactions in nature. It would be more accurate to say that people know 4 fundamental interactions, and at the moment no other interactions have been discovered. What are these interactions?
- Gravitational interaction
- Electromagnetic interaction
- Strong interaction
- Weak interaction
Thus, gravity is a manifestation of gravitational interaction. Most mechanical forces (frictional force, elastic force) are a consequence of electromagnetic interaction. The strong interaction holds the nucleons of an atom's nucleus together, preventing the nucleus from decaying. The weak interaction causes free elementary particles to disintegrate. At the same time, electromagnetic and weak interactions are combined into electroweak interaction.
A possible fifth fundamental interaction (after the discovery Higgs boson) are called Higgs field. But everything in this area has been studied so little that we will not rush to conclusions, but rather wait to see what scientists from CERN tell us.
There are two ways to learn the laws of physics.
First– it’s stupid to learn meanings, definitions, formulas. A significant drawback of this method is that it is unlikely to help answer additional questions from the teacher. There is another important disadvantage of this method - by learning this way, you will not get the most important thing: understanding. As a result, memorizing a rule/formula/law or whatever allows you to acquire only fragile, short-term knowledge on the topic.
Second way– understanding of the material being studied. But is it so easy to understand what (in your opinion) is impossible to understand?
There is, there is a solution to this terribly difficult but solvable problem! Here are a few ways to learn all the forces in physics (and in any other subject):
On a note!
It is important to remember and know all the physical forces (or learn the entire list of them in physics) in order to avoid awkward misunderstandings. Remember that the mass of a body is not its weight, but a measure of its inertia. For example, in conditions of weightlessness, bodies have no weight, because there is no gravity. But if you want to move a body in zero gravity, you will have to influence it with a certain force. And the higher the body weight, the more force will have to be used.
If you can imagine how a person's weight can change depending on the choice of planet, you will be able to quickly understand the concept of gravitational force, the concepts of weight and mass, acceleration force and other physical forces. This understanding will bring with it a logical awareness of other processes taking place, and as a result you will not even have to memorize the incomprehensible material - you will be able to remember it as you go. It is enough to simply understand the essence.
- To understand the electromagnetic effect, it will be enough to simply understand how current flows through a conductor and what fields are generated, and how these fields interact with each other. Consider this using simple examples, and it will not be difficult for you to understand the principles of operation of an electric motor, the principles of burning a light bulb, etc.
The teacher will primarily be concerned with how well you understand the material you have studied. And it’s not so important whether you remember all the formulas by heart. And in case of solving tests, laboratory problems, practical work, or they will always be able to help you our specialists, whose strength lies in knowledge and many years of practical experience!
