Physics GRE first time practicing -- Need advice for improvement

[sairoof]

Salam, I am practicing for PGRE and I noticed two problems
1- I'm too slow, I spent more than 3 weeks solving one practice test in my 2 month holiday and I'm still not done.
2- I'm too bad, I got 20 out 70 questions I solved so far.

It is a hard reality check, but I was expecting this since I didn't study for anything or practice physics after I finished my physics degree.
my next step is to do another test but with the help of the any resource I can find, which might take even more time for me to find solutions and reasoning to the problems I solve.
Any suggestions, motivation, questions are welcome.
-Ali

 

[WWGD]

Salam, I am practicing for PGRE and I noticed two problems
1- I'm too slow, I spent more than 3 weeks solving one practice test in my 2 month holiday and I'm still not done.
2- I'm too bad, I got 20 out 70 questions I solved so far.

It is a hard reality check, but I was expecting this since I didn't study for anything or practice physics after I finished my physics degree.
my next step is to do another test but with the help of the any resource I can find, which might take even more time for me to find solutions and reasoning to the problems I solve.
Any suggestions, motivation, questions are welcome.
-Ali

Have you looked up practice books for the PGRE? Princeton Review, has written a few.

 

[sairoof]

Have you looked up practice books for the PGRE? Princeton Review, has written a few.

the thing I'm solving is a practice book from ets.org (I think)

And this is my first time hearing about Princeton review, I checked the website and it seems like a good thing to do later when I'm more prepared financially.

 

[WWGD]

the thing I'm solving is a practice book from ets.org (I think)

And this is my first time hearing about Princeton review, I checked the website and it seems like a good thing to do later when I'm more prepared financially.

How about looking up problems here, try to solve on your own, ask if you have questions?

 

[sairoof]

How about looking up problems here, try to solve on your own, ask if you have questions?

That's what I'm planning to do, while I didn't mention physics forums specifically, I said I'll use resources to solve the next test. My first test (the one I'm currently solving) is going to be me alone without any help just to see how good I currently am.

 

[gmax137]

It is a hard reality check, but I was expecting this since I didn't study for anything or practice physics after I finished my physics degree.

I'm just curious, how long has it been since your degree?

 

[sairoof]

I'm just curious, how long has it been since your degree?

Almost two years now

 

[Haborix]

After grading yourself on a practice test, or any problems you work, your first stop should NOT be to look at a solutions manual. Mark the questions you got wrong and then work through the questions again. Figuring out the solution on your own, even if you need to open up your physics book to refresh material, is how you actually improve. You should also track what subjects you are weakest in and target those for further study. If you are good at mechanics questions and keep studying mechanics because you like it, then you are wasting time (at least as far as improving your score is concerned).

 

[Vanadium 50]

Let's take a step back. We need to face some unpleasant facts if you plan to move forward.

1. 20 out of 70 is truly terrible. No grad school that considers the PGRE will do anything but move you down in the rankings with a score that poor. Note that 20 is 6 more than you'd get by chance alone.
2. You are not going to get where you want to be (top third or better) by trying to study to the test. Your problem is almost certainly not the test; its what the test assesses.
3. Its harder to get into the US as an international. What might me marginal for a domestic student is a clear reject for an international.
4. Retaking the test with some "resource" - a crutch you will not have when you take the test for real, will not help.

I think you need to work a lot of problems. Thousands upon thousands. This will not be fast, that's for sure. But you have a lot of ground to cover, and test-taking hints alone will not get you from here to there.

I would start by getting copies of US textbooks, and go through their problems chapter by chapter.

 

[CrysPhys]

Almost two years now

How well did you perform in your undergrad physics courses?

 

[gmax137]

Almost two years now

That's a long time, especially in proportion to your undergrad time (what, 4 years). I agree with @Vanadium 50 , do lots and lots of problems. Then do some more.

 

[sairoof]

How well did you perform in your undergrad physics courses?

Decent

 

[sairoof]

Let's take a step back. We need to face some unpleasant facts if you plan to move forward.

1. 20 out of 70 is truly terrible. No grad school that considers the PGRE will do anything but move you down in the rankings with a score that poor. Note that 20 is 6 more than you'd get by chance alone.
2. You are not going to get where you want to be (top third or better) by trying to study to the test. Your problem is almost certainly not the test; its what the test assesses.
3. Its harder to get into the US as an international. What might me marginal for a domestic student is a clear reject for an international.
4. Retaking the test with some "resource" - a crutch you will not have when you take the test for real, will not help.

I think you need to work a lot of problems. Thousands upon thousands. This will not be fast, that's for sure. But you have a lot of ground to cover, and test-taking hints alone will not get you from here to there.

I would start by getting copies of US textbooks, and go through their problems chapter by chapter.

I understand where you are coming from, but I have to start somewhere, I believe a full test is a good way to track progress, and get me started on my physics journey even if it seems like I'm starting from 0 again.
1. Yeah I can tell (੭ ˊ^ˋ)੭
2. I honestly don't have an end goal for now, I just decided that I need to know how to do physics again. Yes i would like to get into a grad school and meet all these impressive people, but that's not what is on my mind right now.
3. (2)
4. Yeah, but I'm not going to take the real test until I get at least 90% on my own in a practice book.

I also have textbooks for maths and physics thanks for reminding me that I can still use them because they accumulated a lot of dust by now.

 

[CrysPhys]

Decent

How does that translate to a letter grade (A, B, C, ...) or GPA (4.0 max)? This is not an idle question. You are two years past your peak of freshness. The issue is how good were you at the peak of freshness. If "decent" = C, e.g., you have a lot more to do than just a refresh.

 

[sairoof]

How does that translate to a letter grade (A, B, C, ...) or GPA (4.0 max)? This is not an idle question. You are two years past your peak of freshness. The issue is how good were you at the peak of freshness. If "decent" = C, e.g., you have a lot more to do than just a refresh.

It's around 3 or B.

 

[sairoof]

Salam, I am practicing for PGRE and I noticed two problems
1- I'm too slow, I spent more than 3 weeks solving one practice test in my 2 month holiday and I'm still not done.
2- I'm too bad, I got 20 out 70 questions I solved so far.

It is a hard reality check, but I was expecting this since I didn't study for anything or practice physics after I finished my physics degree.
my next step is to do another test but with the help of the any resource I can find, which might take even more time for me to find solutions and reasoning to the problems I solve.
Any suggestions, motivation, questions are welcome.
-Ali

UPDATE: I just finished the first test and it's even worse, out of the 30 questions I solved only 4 were correct so my final score is 24/100 or 240
Here are some of my observations:

• there are a lot of concepts that I know about but do not remember exactly how to solve
• some of the questions never saw before or got to study
• my math skills weren't a big problem, maybe some areas need improvement but overall I think I'm good in maths
• I got the hardest question right (by percentage of people who got it right 19%), but I got it by chance
• I am slow, very slow in fact that it took me the entire 2 month vacation just to solve one exam

Also, I do not plan on getting a higher degree anytime in the near future, my goal is to get a good score in the PGRE, after that there is nothing.
My next step is to solve a test with the help of textbooks and the internet, to pinpoint exactly where I need to improve, then study these topics one by one.
I am also alone on this one, all my friends are either working or studying for their graduate degrees.
thanks everyone for your guidance and suggestions, I will (hopefully) improve and keep you updated.

 

[WWGD]

Richard Feynman had a " funnel" method for learning: For a given topic, try to write an account of it. If you can't do so clearly, do your best and identify where/why you're stuck. Then do your own reading/research around the reason why you're stuck. Then read again and write down your understanding after the first correction, and so on. After doing this a few times, it will start becoming second nature.
Take , for instance, any of the questions you didn't answer correctly: where, why, specifically, are you stuck, etc.