Course Description
This is the first physics course that you will take in UBC Engineering. The course is divided into three parts: Thermodynamics, Waves, and Oscillations.
The Thermodynamics portion covers concepts such as the Carnot Cycle, Thermal Stress & Strain, Volume Expansion, and Calorimetry.
The Waves & Oscillations portion covers topics such as kinetic and potential energy in simple harmonic motion, amplitude, frequency, damped oscillations, and vectors in simple harmonic motion.
This course has various types of assignments to keep on track of as well.
Types of Assignments To Expect
Reading Quizzes - Before a week's worth of lectures, there are assigned readings in the University Physics textbook and a quiz that follows afterwards. There are three attempts for each quiz.
Tutorials - These are for participation. Each week, you find a group to work with on physics questions to prepare for next week's homework. Almost everyone gets full marks on these because you don't have to obtain the correct answer for full marks, just show some work to gain marks.
Mastering Physics Homework - These questions are straight from the textbook assigned for this class.
Written Homework - These questions are based on previous sample finals. However, you don't realize that until the sample final exams are released.
Midterms - Multiple choice/select all that apply, numeric response, and written response questions.
Final Exam - The final exam for this course differs in structure compared to other classes considering that it emphasizes the earlier and intermediate content of the course just as equally as the later content of the course.
Advice/Study Tips
Use the textbook questions in preparation for written homework.
There are solutions to the textbook assigned for PHYS 157 and they are very self-explanatory, usually easy to understand, and can help with getting homework done faster. Just search up the textbook with the keyword "solutions". Use the textbook solutions to check for answers and steps after you attempt the problems yourself.
Always check your answers before submitting them for homework assessments and exams. You can also lose marks for submitting an incorrect answer for Mastering Physics Homework.
Practice midterms and final exams are very helpful for the actual midterms and final exams. Some of the questions are very similar.
For written response questions, be explicit with the formulas and steps used to obtain the correct answer. Oftentimes, you can lose marks for not showing a certain step. This is because this course allocates marks mostly based on the process (which shows your understanding) and not the answer compared to other engineering classes.
At the beginning of the course, create a formula sheet and organize it by each section of the textbook along with writing what each variable stands for.
Go to the homework help sessions to finish the mastering physics/written homework sessions.
Resources
1. This is the University Physics 1 textbook from OpenTextBC. Helpful for the waves and oscillations portion.
2. An Organic Chem Tutor video on periodic motion.
3. An Organic Chem Tutor video on Heat Engines and other content related to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
4. There is a theology professor that has a physics playlist that summarizes all of the readings into concise notes. I recommend watching if the readings take too long or if you would rather listen in a video format.
5. This is a video playlist from a former PHYS 157 professor (Mark van Raamsdonk). This is a very useful playlist if you are attempting to finish the written homework or didn't understand the concepts in class.
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