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Struggling in Physics


Rigel

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Hello IB Survival, i'm struggling against a huge problem. It's Physics, because our teacher barely explains things to us, and i'm failing a lot of exams, and i need serious help. I'm currently at IB1, should i buy another book? I have the one by Wilson, Buffa, Lou, but it's horrible anyways. Thank you guys.

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I have the Pearson one as well, thankfully the school supplies them. I also have a massive one called Giancoli which I havn't really used yet, as well as Physics Course Companion which is an Oxford book, also haven't used that one yet but I think heading towards exams they will be useful!

I'd definitly recommend the pearson one, it explains things pretty well and has lots of example questions, a number of them from real IB papers. As well as having links to things on the internet :)

No idea what book you are talking about though :D

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The Pearson Baccalaureate book is great, as well as the Study Guide (red one) for revision. If you want more detailed explanation you can give the Cambridge Tsokos one a try (purple book), but honestly that book made me want to shoot myself. Sure, it's detailed. Too detailed. It goes WAY overboard with excessive explanations, and rather than making you understand things better you get even more confused. Only give this one a try over the summer, otherwise you'll waste too much time racking your brain over unnecessary details.

/rant over

Conclusion: get Pearson Bac + Red Study Guide.

Edited by CocoPop
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi!

I've throughout the whole course used a study guide (the orange one by Tim Kirk. It's been pretty good. But the best advice out there?

Do past papers :) I personally find that this helps a lot more than most of the books :) And use the internet as a source - after having studied intensely for my exams (yay for physics Wednesday and Thursday ;)) I've found that Youtube is a life-saver :) Good luck!

//

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Well ive faced the same problem... and would suggest the Tsokos.. .well its detailed, has a few challenging examples and offers solutions on its website.

It'll definitely prepare you for your exams.

Giancoli I think has a lot of unnecessary stuff... and is not written specifically for the IB, but its amazing to understand.

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  • 1 month later...

Everybody has different opinions but please, don't do Giancoli's. This book is too detailed, it is almost excessively detailed. Even though it is suppose to teach you things and make things easier, it is more a guide that will confuse you. Trust me, I started with it and changed inmediately after 4 chapter to Pearson Baccalaurate.

I'd recommend you to buy this one, it is pretty detailed too and gives you a lot of examples and includes questions from past IB Papers too that make you challenge yourself in a good way. This is a comprehensive textbook covering both the core material and all the options you might take as you study for the IB Diploma in physics at Standard Level.

Give me the opportunity to persuade you of buying Pearson Baccalaureate instead of any other (I'm not saying there are other good guides out there too):

  • Pearson has worked examples and it shows you how to tackle particularly tricky questions.
  • It includes practice questions with answears from past examination papers that will help you with exam preparation, what we all need!
  • It even has links to THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE throughout the book!
  • It provides guidance on IA's and EE's in physics.

And thaaaat's why you should buy Pearson's, let me tell you that it also has links of things in the internet, and yes... it covers all of the syllabus in a simple way :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Pearson Baccalaureate book is great, as well as the Study Guide (red one) for revision. If you want more detailed explanation you can give the Cambridge Tsokos one a try (purple book), but honestly that book made me want to shoot myself. Sure, it's detailed. Too detailed. It goes WAY overboard with excessive explanations, and rather than making you understand things better you get even more confused. Only give this one a try over the summer, otherwise you'll waste too much time racking your brain over unnecessary details.

/rant over

Conclusion: get Pearson Bac + Red Study Guide.

I just have to agree with this about Tsokos's Physics book. It made me to lose an interest in Physics. Now I've bought Campbell's and the entropy (disorder) in my brain has decreased, although entropy will always increase but we can just ignore that :console: Thus, Physics has become my favorite subject :wub:

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The Pearson Baccalaureate book is great, as well as the Study Guide (red one) for revision. If you want more detailed explanation you can give the Cambridge Tsokos one a try (purple book), but honestly that book made me want to shoot myself. Sure, it's detailed. Too detailed. It goes WAY overboard with excessive explanations, and rather than making you understand things better you get even more confused. Only give this one a try over the summer, otherwise you'll waste too much time racking your brain over unnecessary details.

/rant over

Conclusion: get Pearson Bac + Red Study Guide.

I just have to agree with this about Tsokos's Physics book. It made me to lose an interest in Physics. Now I've bought Campbell's and the entropy (disorder) in my brain has decreased, although entropy will always increase but we can just ignore that :console: Thus, Physics has become my favorite subject :wub:

I think most people who do physics loves it :P

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