Hey everone!

Okay, so its time to review Physics 1B03. I took this course this past year as an elective (I think!). This is also the course that...

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Hughes is excellent. She gets to know everyone personally and asks very good questions, and is constantly demanding student feedback. If she notices you have a confused look on your face, she'll ask you what's confusing you.

Personally however, since I didn't need all that extra help (physics is/was one of my strong suits), I was very bored in the classes and didn't participate much...and she kind of talked down to me a bit, as if I was either a troublemaker of some sort, or I wouldn't understand a thing because I wasn't putting in the effort she expected.

I heard Hughes was amazing.

1B03 wasn't that difficult, but it really depends on your strengths.

You said it got hard when you reached Waves, Interference and Fluids, was that because its more in depth than high school stuff that you did? Or you didnt cover that?
Cause I did everything you mentioned in gr12 but im wondering if thats only sort of 'skimmed the surface' you know?

Originally Posted by Melanieee

You said it got hard when you reached Waves, Interference and Fluids, was that because its more in depth than high school stuff that you did? Or you didnt cover that?
Cause I did everything you mentioned in gr12 but im wondering if thats only sort of 'skimmed the surface' you know?

The fluid dynamics taught in 1B03 only skims the surface of fluid dynamics (1 week). I wouldn't consider it hard but it's different. As for waves and interference, you go pretty in-depth (Approx 1 month)... There were a lab or two on them. It'll definitively require more work than on the other parts of 1B03.

I was wondering if there was anyone willing to sell the physics 1b03 textbook. if you are, i would be interested in buying it ( along with the solution guide) as I need it for next semester.

Thanks!

Has anyone heard if Professor Sills is a good prof?

Is buying the solution manual a good idea?

I have sills and he seems to be pretty good, although for some reason, his iclicker questions were challenging xD maybe cuz i couldnt get my iclicker to work lol

Originally Posted by Ryan V

Physics 1B03 looks and sounds much easier than Physics 1D03 which is what the engineers take. They cover the exact same material but with 1D03 CAPA is worth 2.5% and the final is worth 50% and there are long answer questions on the final and the midterms. There were 2 midterms worth 10% each. Class Participation was 5% and the labs were 15% while the tutorials in which there were quizzes were worth 7.5%. With engineering physics there is integration in the first year.

There is definitely integration in the physics / chemistry course (1BA3). We're introduced to it in 1B03 as well.

Dr. Sills, Hughes, and Rheinstadter are all good professors I would say, and thus it's hard to go wrong no matter the teacher in this course.

Dr. Hughes when teaching alone makes the midterms far more difficult than when Dr Sills and Rheinstadter are involved, and they also give hints/question breakdown for the exam and midterms, making it easier to study for.

I would give the easiness 8 for when all the teachers have a section, but a 10 if Hughes is teaching alone - her second midterm and exam were extremely difficult and students had only 1 hr / 2 hrs for them.

The material is relatively interesting if you like physics, but nothing special.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

I would give the easiness 8 for when all the teachers have a section, but a 10 if Hughes is teaching alone - her second midterm and exam were extremely difficult and students had only 1 hr / 2 hrs for them.

Wait.. isn't 10 = very easy and 1 = very hard?

Originally Posted by pinkpiggydoe

Wait.. isn't 10 = very easy and 1 = very hard?

ye.. i was thinkin that too.. lol

Ok, sooo here are my thoughts:

The course overall was pretty good, took a lot of work though!! But it’s definitely ok and you can get a double digit with some effort.


Units covered: Forces, energy, momentum, kinematics. (Those are high school review) and Simple Harmonic Motion, Waves, and a tiny bit of fluid. (these are new)

Test 1: Forces and motion. 15 Qs sound a bit crazy cuz every Q is worth 1 percent, but it wasn’t bad. The mark distribution for the test was a bit ridiculous, as 20% of the class (I only know my class) got perfect.

Test 2: Momentum and Energy. They purposely made this test harder, to balance out the first test, and it was hard. Mostly conceptual Qs, but the average on this test was around 55%.

Exam: Culmulative, difficulty was ok, I think (marks aren’t out yet), a few tricky Qs here and there, but its ok. First time we get tested on SHM and waves, but the Qs were fair.

Lab: they were a bit annoying at the end…cuz the lectures were failing behind and it was the new stuff, and we had to read like a unit before the lab to understand it.

Prof: I had Ken Sills, and he was awesome! Explained stuff very clearly, and was funny! He has these quick quizzes (iclickers), and I end up doing all of them before the class, cuz I cannot think under pressure lol,
Requires a lot of effort to do well in, but a 12 is reachable!  Don’t be too scared of physics! (I’m not a physics person, so I can say that haha)

I enjoyed this course a decent amount - I had Dr. Rheinstadter as my professor, and I liked his presentation of the material. I found lecture to be quite interesting, even though the material was review of grade 12 physics on a base of calculus.

There is a discrepancy between the pace of the math used in the physics courses and taught in the math courses. This course (offered in 1st semester) introduces integration very early on (very basically), and requires computation using partial derivatives (they never tell us that it does, though ). The justifications for particular concepts require math that was not taught in 1A03 / X03 / LS3 (differential equations, for SHM and partial differential equations for waves).

The reliance of 'just believe these equations are true' was probably the only downside in the way this course was taught.

The labs usually covered material from the week of lecture - they would normally take most of the 2 hours required. You'll find that you want to spend 2 hours (hell, why not all day?) with Alex anyway.

The midterms were fair, and the final was as well. I didn't like the style too much, but that's because the course still relies very much on 'plug-and-play' physics, as most of the test problems can be solved by just doing as many problems from the text as possible (perhaps I should have done that...)

I found the workload to be minimal - CAPA was usually very easy, and as long as you attend lecture, you should do alright on the assessments. Even if you don't like physics (or math), you can do well in this course. If you do like physics, then you should find this course decent.

For anyone who's done both Phy 1L03 and Phy 1B03, how much more difficult is 1B03?

Is it tough to score well in this course?

Originally Posted by pat2010

For anyone who's done both Phy 1L03 and Phy 1B03, how much more difficult is 1B03?

Is it tough to score well in this course?

Physics 1B03 was my most difficult course out of both semesters. It significantly dropped my average.

However, I would still recommend taking Physics 1B03 because you're required to complete by the end of second year for most upper year programs.

For some programs (Honours Bio) Physics 1L03 meets the requirement.

It depends on which program you are planning to go into in second year.
If you're not sure, I would do it in summer school (since you have to do it anyways for most upper year programs).

Here are the lectures, http://www.physics.mcmaster. ca/~ksills/Phys1B03/pdfs/

Good Luck, I hope whichever decision you make, ends up being the best one