[Ownaginatios]

Physics 1D03 is a physics course mandatory specifically for first year engineering students. Roughly 60 to 70 % of it's content is review of high school physics with some stuff on torque and simple harmonic motion thrown in. If you had good teachers in high school, you should be pretty set for this .

The breakdown of this course is as follows:

- Two tests worth 10% each
- 4 in class Labs worth 3% each (Additional 3% deduction for each lab missed without a good reason - means a total loss of 6%! :o)
- 5 tutorials worth 7.5% total
- One exam worth 50%
- 5% in class participation (through "i>Clickers")
- 2.5% for CAPA problem sets

The only thing I found really difficult in this course were the labs, mostly due to the fact that unlike Physics 1E03, where everything is electronic, these labs were all mechanical... which meant you had to do a really good job to get reasonable measurements. The TAs (at least a lot of them) mark pretty easy though, so it's not a big deal in the end.

i>Clickers, in case you're wondering, are little $40 remote control like things that you buy with all your first year text books. Basically part way through the lecture the professor will put up a single question multiple choice quiz and you press button on the i>Clicker to submit your answer. You only have to answer 85% of quizzes to get the full 5%. Some professors try to make it 2.5% participation, and 2.5% whether or not you get it right. Be hopeful that you don't get one of those professors.

CAPA problem sets are basically a set of problems you're given each week with a set of around 18 questions or so. You have 10 chances to get each on right before the computer gives up on you. There is normally lots of help through the forums on WebCT though in case you're stuck.

Other than that... all I can say is study hard for the exam at the end. It is worth 50% of your mark, so it can easily make or break you depending on how hard you study.

My advice for this course is DO NOT buy the text book. This is actually one of the worst text books I've ever read... the example problems are so drawn out with BS steps like "conceptualize" and "analyze" that you forget what you were doing by the time you get to the end of the problem. Also, the solution manuals only cover the absolute easiest problems in the back.

As long as you do the CAPA problem sets, and understand them, you should be set for this course. A lot of the test and exam questions come from there. Also, make sure you read the multiple choice really closely on the tests/exam. They tend to like to throw in small words that you miss if you read the question too quickly. Questions regarding labs do not appear on the exam.

Good luck future Engineering 1 first years

Agree with everything above except that I found the textbook extremely helpful. For first year Engineer students this textbook is used in both of your 1st year physics classes, 1D03 [mechanics] and 1E03 [electromagnetic]. If you buy it new you also get a solutions manual which walks you through many problems. Some test/CAPA questions come directly from the solution manual.

i got the 6th edition of the book for free
is that good enough, or do i have to buy the newest edition?

Originally Posted by lmasud

i got the 6th edition of the book for free
is that good enough, or do i have to buy the newest edition?

It depends what edition the professor decides to use. It's a lot easier to follow when you are using the same edition as the professor because you just turn to the pages he/she tells you to read. If you are using a different edition, the chapters may be mixed up and the pages won't correspond to the same material in the edition being used. There may also be some newer content in the newer editions.

So it depends on what you want to do. You can easily go through the old edition to find the pages that correspond to the pages in the newer edition. But for convenience sake and being up to date, I would suggest going with the same edition the teacher uses.

you can use any book you like, this material is always the same. i bought but never opened my book (money well wasted). there are books in Thode basement that cover basically everything (found out of curiosity). i just used provided formula sheet, my notes and did all CAPAs and sample tests. worked fine for me. i think the only areas where some students have struggled a bit, was friction and angular momentum. there was way more question in second term (about magnetism and waves).

Any professors advice?

KLEIMAN, R
MCKAY, NL
OKON, W

Okon!!!!!!

Is Kleiman really that good? he got a 5.0 on rate my teacher, but I wanna go with okon cause it makes my schedule look nicer

does the 8th edition have a solution manual?

I had Okon as my prof last year and he was really great. He taught well, made the class interesting and was always helpful with questions.

The material in the course was as the OP said 60-70% from highschool. Only new stuff was torque and they went indepth in a bit more stuff.

Both midterms followed the same format of 9 multiple choice (2 marks each) and 4 short answer problems (3 marks each - requires full solution). 99% of the problems were directly from CAPA. So if you do those you should be set. The multiple choice were a bit tricker as per the wording on the questions. A few were from CAPA and a LOT of them tested on what seems to be trivial knowledge.

The labs were alright as well. My TA's were pretty leniant and marked the labs easily. Reading the lab before you get there helps a lot so you dont waste time during the lab.

The tutorials were easy and fun to do. The quiz would be a random question from the previous weeks CAPA, (free marks if you do the CAPA). The in tutorial questions were fairly easy as well. Most tested just concepts and you are allowed to do them in groups.

Overall this course isnt that bad. As long as you do the CAPA's and attend the lectures (for the easy 5% i clicker marks) you should be fine.

does anyone know if Dr.Okon looks at the those iclicker question if you got right or wrong or is it just participation he looks at?

Thanks
We had our first demo, he is so funny, this what he said when he was setting up the gun for the monkey....."I want to hit right at his heart and decapitate him".....lol he tore a paper from the textbook to show us a demo lol...cool teacher

I-Clicker is just for attendance. It's free marks.

CAPA assignments are a good way of practising and I do recommend doing each one even though they are worth next to nothing.