Recommendation for math and physics college textbooks for a highschool senior/trying to prep for phys gre

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SciGuy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:06 pm

Recommendation for math and physics college textbooks for a highschool senior/trying to prep for phys gre

Post by SciGuy » Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:15 pm

  • My name is Christian Im a senior in high school and also graduating soon I aspire to get into a very good masters and phd program for physics and have already declared a double major in Electrical engineering and physics for my college
  • My highest level of mathematics is precalculus and my highest level of physics is AP physics 1
  • I was wondering what math and physics textbooks should I use to prepare for the gre physics exam if I start studying now I'll have a really big advantage since by the time I'm in junior year of college I can focus all my efforts on practicing using practice problems (it's pretty easy to dig around for practice mc problems)
  • Thank you to anyone who answers this.

CosmicSans
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:17 am

Re: Recommendation for math and physics college textbooks for a highschool senior/trying to prep for phys gre

Post by CosmicSans » Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:16 am

As with any exam, if your main goal is to "prepare for the Physics GRE" (which is quite different to just learning university level physics in general), I'd recommend Conquering the Physics GRE + solving past Physics GRE problem sets which are released online.

The book also has some recommendations on other textbooks per subfield (CM, EM, QM, SM etc.), so you could choose from those recommendations to go beyond the scope of the GRE.

SciGuy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:06 pm

Re: Recommendation for math and physics college textbooks for a highschool senior/trying to prep for phys gre

Post by SciGuy » Tue Apr 04, 2023 11:18 am

Hi again thank you for replying I looked at some of the physics textbooks recommended by the book and there really advanced which is really exciting of course I'm looking forwards to learning physics at a university undergrad level I just want to be prepared for both things to the best of my ability starting now.
  • Im using Classical Mechanics by John R Taylor and Goldstein to supplement the Hamiltonian stuff (Im only focusing on CM rn) in the future (as of rn its out of my comprehension I intend to build my math skills first before I get into the theory of physics
  • If you have any recommendations on math textbooks given my current level I'm going to need to use for both the gre and well my full undergraduate year for physics that would be really cool and helpful
  • If this seems very tedious can you by any chance point me to some sort of college curriculum I should follow to master undergrad physics
Again thank you for replying I know how unactive this sight is everything really helps.

CosmicSans
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:17 am

Re: Recommendation for math and physics college textbooks for a highschool senior/trying to prep for phys gre

Post by CosmicSans » Tue Apr 04, 2023 7:02 pm

For math textbooks I'd recommend
Mathematical Methods for Physicists: A Comprehensive Guide (Arfken) or
Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences (Boas).
But speaking from my experience, I wouldn't use these books directlly to study their content. They handle a broad subject and it is easy to get lost. My professors would recommend me to use them as a kind of wikipedia, where you look up the math when you're stuck on a subject where you don't know the math.
For example, I would use the book when group theory would come up during QM, or when special polynomials like the bessel function would show up during EM.

As for college curriculum, I would just stick to the one your soon-to-attend college provides. While there might be slight variations, what really matters is getting the four basics of CM, EM(usually 2 semesters), QM(usually 2 semesters), SM. You can worry about other advanced subjects like condensed matter physics, particle physics, relativity, etc. once you're done with the basic 4.

Also, as you are only beginning your degree. I would recommend to not rush it too much. A typical curriculum would require at least 3 years to finish the basic subjects, so no need to try and finish them in one year or so.

SciGuy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:06 pm

Re: Recommendation for math and physics college textbooks for a highschool senior/trying to prep for phys gre

Post by SciGuy » Wed Apr 05, 2023 7:52 am

THIS REALLY HELPS THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! :D :D



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