How hard is PHY 9A really?
I'm ok at calculus (my test scores are usually above the upper quartile and always much higher than the mean but I'm never setting the curve. I actually did set the curve once, but that was after studying for like 20 hours over two weeks). Calculus comes pretty easily with enough practice problems, but I'm skeptical I'll do well in physics.
I'm really bad at, like, imagining things in my head. I only took regular physics in 10th grade and I struggled hella because I couldn't imagine a piece of paper falling without gravity, or two different balls rolling at different speeds. Does that make sense? I struggle a bit with the more theoretical parts of chemistry, but because physics is entirely theoretical, I'm worried this will hinder me greatly.
At the same time I also struggled with algebra in high school. I'm hoping I was just a very dumb high schooler.
Needless to say, I'm terrified for PHY 9a. No class has been particularly difficult yet and this is the weeder for my degree (engineering). In hindsight it's probably a bad idea to pursue engineering if I struggled in regular high school physics. Idk I'm just doubting myself so much and I'm not even in the class yet.
How should I prepare over the summer? I'm already planning on taking the fall quarter off from my job so I can spend all my time in the AATC/TA/library. In the meantime I was going to complete the Khan Academy AP Physics courses just to familiarize myself with the basics but my upperclassmen friends said they would be entirely useless for PHY 9A because it's calculus-based.
What to do? Any tips/insight would be appreciated. I'm taking it with Dina Zhabinskaya.
