Taking PGRE but haven't had Classical Mech yet

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MaxWhale
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:33 pm

Taking PGRE but haven't had Classical Mech yet

Post by MaxWhale » Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:02 pm

I am taking PGRE in october, but I will be taking classical mechanics only in my final semester and I am struggling on most of the classical mech problems. I can solve some basic problems related to linear motion, circular motion and stuffs but pendulum and stuffs are quite new to me. Can anyone suggest me any kind of special tricks, matra or whatever to ace on it ?

Gooroo

MaxWhale
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:33 pm

Re: Taking PGRE but haven't had Classical Mech yet

Post by MaxWhale » Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:22 pm

somebody please help

cato88
Posts: 420
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:46 am

Re: Taking PGRE but haven't had Classical Mech yet

Post by cato88 » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:57 pm

What do you mean by classical mechanics? Lagrangian/Hamiltonian Mech?

MaxWhale
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:33 pm

Re: Taking PGRE but haven't had Classical Mech yet

Post by MaxWhale » Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:23 pm

Not just L/H mech but also some other especial topics not covered in my freshmen mechanics classes. Like rocket equations and simple harmonic motion problems.

mhazelm
Posts: 193
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:33 pm

Re: Taking PGRE but haven't had Classical Mech yet

Post by mhazelm » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:46 pm

I would get a book (either Taylor or Marion/Thornton) and breeze through a bit (skim chapters, but don't waste time reading things you already know) - you need to at the least be able to do some simple Lagrangian problems with pendulums and such. It's actually not a very hard technique for most of the GRE questions - the mechanics questions aren't generally too bad.

My class used Taylor's book for mechanics and I think the explanations are fairly clear. He also covers rockets and drag, though I can't remember seeing either of those on the GRE from an advanced point of view. Then again, I didn't do great on the PGRE but I think it was more my lack of thermal and quantum problems than anything else...

just remember it is probably better to know most topics very well than to try to learn every possible topic (and not to know each one very well). You can skip the mechanics problems altogether if you can ace the other subject questions.



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