Physics at durham - applicants and discussion

I thought you went to a terrible school with ten stabbings a week where you could only do well if you had a tutor because all the teachers were one-eyed drug dealers.

The weekly problems are fine, otherwise I wouldn't have averaged 95% on them in my first year.

I actually go to the library and look for my own books. Tipler is all you need for first year so I don't see what the problem is.

If you find physics difficult you shouldn't have taken a course in it. You aren't supposed to understand everything at every single lecture otherwise everyone would get firsts.

Even for mechanics? No way.

The weekly problems are a waste of time - and frankly having one summative deadline a year is enough, let along more than 20 of them.

Tipler does not have everything in it by a long stretch - and when it does have something in it, they fail miserably at conciseness and explaining it properly.

Physics was my best A-level, but then I actually had half-capable teachers back then.

As for the books they reference - totally inadequate.

Yeah - I should have to make my way around a stack of inept lecturers who are probably unable to help me...

So why are some of them signing up to "lecture" in the first place

You take the weekly problems far too seriously. For a start, they aren't ALL summative, the department picks and choses a few of them and marks those ones summatively, the deal is you just don't know which ones, and FFS its worth 10% of the module. The department generally doesn't care if you work with other people on the answers, so long as you don't submit identical ones.

They do pretty well for everyone else.

If you don't understand the course, and don't want to fail then yes you should.

Probably because they heard you were taking the course and they all have a grudge against you.

They're considering changing textbook from Tipler for next year anyway... xxx

Tipler is a bit naff and they are changing the course book next year anyways. It makes a good weapon or door stop though.

All the lecturers say tipler is naff then go on to recommend pages from it.

Not true

=)
Basically just that they give you tons and tons of information that they expect you to learn before you do the weekly problems, and it's just physically impossible if you want to eat/sleep/breathe as well! haha. The lecturers don't explain the information that well, and we get roughly 3 or 4 problems every week on top of our 4 other modules' work - some of which take a lot of time to work through!
Hmm and the feedback on the problems is less than helpful.

edit: and only one tutorial a week for a double module - maths gives us two.

I know exactly what you mean. If you want to have a life then expect not to hand in some work. And feedback on my work is usually an exclamation mark or some sarcastic comment from a postgrad.

I quote the Palatinate (I nicked a copy at the open day):
"This year's Palatinate survey tells us a lot which we thought we knew already (Maths students aren't getting a lot of sex), and reveals a little which we really didn't suspect (Physics students are)."

But my, the rest of this thread is sounding a little bitchy... I don't think I'm too put off - I'd expect it to be hard at a top university like this. And there's all that student support (that they like to boast about) if you're having problems.