Astrophysics textbooks as study?

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InquilineKea
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Astrophysics textbooks as study?

Post by InquilineKea » Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:21 pm

Has anyone else felt that their astrophysics courses/books were helpful for the Physics GRE?

I've felt that the first quarter of astronomy (http://www.astro.washington.edu/courses/astro321/) really solidifed my foundation on gravitation, for example. Not so sure about the other two quarters though. And most astrophysics books tend to have physics at a lower level - a level quite appropriate for Physics GRE type questions (i'm definitely seeing this in the "Particle Astrophysics" book) - while most 4th year physics books are overkill.

negru
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Re: Astrophysics textbooks as study?

Post by negru » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:08 pm

I think the only astronomy stuff you need to know is the telescope formula, dopler effect, nuclear reactions in stars, newton's law, and kepler's laws.

vesperlynd
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Re: Astrophysics textbooks as study?

Post by vesperlynd » Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:33 pm

Trust me on this (I'm not joking with you or being sarcastic) - know Hubble's Law.

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InquilineKea
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Re: Astrophysics textbooks as study?

Post by InquilineKea » Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:41 pm

Oh interesting. What about concepts from chemistry? Physical chemistry has A LOT of overlap with modern physics. And chemistry books have more "solve this in 1.5 minutes" problems than physics textbooks.

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WhoaNonstop
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Re: Astrophysics textbooks as study?

Post by WhoaNonstop » Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:05 pm

InquilineKea wrote:Oh interesting. What about concepts from chemistry? Physical chemistry has A LOT of overlap with modern physics. And chemistry books have more "solve this in 1.5 minutes" problems than physics textbooks.
Take the 4 practice tests and go through them. Note what concept is being tested in each question and study each of these concepts. You don't need a specific book or any of that crap, and you definitely don't need to study an Astrophysics book or a Physical Chemistry book.

-Riley



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