Physics 1: Fundamentals (PHYC10005)

[anexpl]

Any one taking/taken or know anyone who took this subject? If so, what are your/their opinions on it? I'm a bit confused as apparently it's pretty bad - if so, what are your reasons for saying this?

I'm thinking of doing this as a science elective in my first year but given the general consensus I'm not sure if it's worth it.

[AngelWings]

Have you checked out the UoM subject review thread? If you haven’t, there’s 6 reviews on the very subject you’re looking for - just check it out here. It can be found under Science (N - Z).

[Hydroxyl]

Hi there anexpl!

I took this subject in my first year of university.

I would first like to ask - why do you want to do this subject? Is it a subject filler, or do you have a deep interest in physics and you were unable to get this experience at school?

Personally - this was my least favourite subject from first year. I can see that the lecturers really tried, but their explanations were often poor which left the vast majority of students confused. The lectures failed to work step by step with the students - especially considering that this is a class full of students who have no knowledge of Physics. The tutorials were not as helpful, as you often were left to figure the questions on your own (and the one hour dedicated time slot was not enough to cover all the questions and everyones confusion). Additionally, the pracs were time consuming and sometimes unrelated to what was studied - and if you are unfortunate to be in a practical class group that does the topics a week before they are presented in the lecture, you end up doing hours of research on a prac that you are assessed on but know nothing about. I found this very unfair and it often put an extra load on me to spend an inefficiently large amount of time prepare for the many 2.5hr pracs throughout the semester, whereas some others who did the prac in the week ahead of me could spend less time preparing as they were familiar with the concepts. The exam is only short answer and some questions were recycled from past exams in terms of format. This was my experience in 2018, but they may have listened to the feedback and changed it around. If you like Physics, then by all means go for it, but I would steer clear from it in hindsight. Many people had told me not to do it, but I had sent ahead with it and sadly regret that I wasted a subject on physics. However, it was definitely a learning experience!

Hydroxyl