How to get good in Physics

Hello Veeky Forums, I have been accepted to study at a top uni. What is the best way to get a "leg up" on my peers once I arrive? I am building a strong math base now and plan on picking up physics on the fly once there. Is this the best way to do it?

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Physics is concerned with explaining experiments. If you're going the theory route, getting a good outlook of your field of specialization within physics, meaning the different "hot topics" in the area (and "not-so-hot" but still experimentally relevant models), is essential. Don't be a memester unless you can really swing it working on the relevant mathematics. Keep it simple and focused on experimental results or predictions. Even then, within theory you can solve things analytically, or do computational models, which is itself a big split in specialization.

If you're just looking for intro or graduate level establiahed physics, I would say just go to your classes and read the book. Get gud at math.

Thanks man, any books you could recommend? Not sure I dig the Feynman Lectures, wouldn't mind a bit more on the topics

>physics undergrad
That only makes sense if you're looking for something where undergrad degree doesn't matter. eg: programming, finance, highschool teacher, family business, or law/medical school.

Double up with math or engineering.

just accept the fact that half of your uni are autists who think in 4D and will always outperform you without any effort
that's how I deal with it

Matrix Algebra, Programming in C++/Python, Maple/Mathematica, LaTeX

Depends on what specialization you want. Established stuff like quantum and classical mechanics, stat. mech. and EM there are a lot of well-known options. I do condensed matter, so some good books beyond a QM book like Shankar would be the Kittel and Ashcroft-Mermin books for broad overviews. Those build on your QM, stat. mech. and EM knowledge though.

Everything I've said only applies if you're wanting to do research. Others here have better recommendations than I do for books on the undergrad/core subjects you need. If you're just going to do engineering or something that's all you need anyway.

I'm thinking Condensed matter as well, will take note of those.

Well on my way for these, guess I'm headed the right direction

Focus on getting a solid foundation. Physics builds on itself continuously and a weak foundation will cripple you in the long run. There are many aspects to doing physics, one being straight up problem solving. One of the major difficulties undergraduates have when solving a problem is that either don't fully understand the physics of the problem or that don't know how to properly convert the problem into mathematics, from which it is usually straight forward to solve. Seriously, look at any of the problem sets from say, Harvard or MIT, for the most part the actual solutions are a couple of lines and easy to understand, but that only comes from being able to understand physics and using the relevant techniques. This may seem obvious, and it is, but many times the obvious is overlooked, this being one of those times. People frequently want to dive into "hot" topics like GR without having a strong basis and then get confused when they don't understand jack. Books and resources that will help you with getting a strong foundation in basic physics are Irodov's text (soviet book, lots of tough problems but it'll make you sharp), Walter Lewin's lectures (pretty good stuff for a beginner, only assumes basic calculus), the feynman lectures if you're into that sort of thing (It's not bad imo, it's just basic material and lacks problems. It could be condensed substantially but that would go against the point. It has a lot of relevant magisterial but I feel it's better as a supplement than anything). After you get a good foundation the next step is branching out and learning the relevant mathematics for the material ahead, this will typically include linear algebra, Cal 3, diff q, PDE's, and complex analysis for starters (pretty standard stuff). Taking a class in probability ahead of time might also help with quantum and thermo. Also learn how to program, it'll come in handy, a lot people use python, mathematica, maple, matlab, or C++.