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I firstly apologise if this question is off the topic.

I am a first year undergraduate student and the required textbook for the course Advanced Physics is Fundemental of physics by Halliday. This textbook is huge and to be honest I was scared when I saw the size of the textbook. There are too much text to read and there are many exercises at the end of each chapter and I do not think that I would have time to do every single problem at the end of each chapter.

So with this information, what is the effective way of studying physics? what to read and what not to read? what exercises should I do? should I try to do all exercises? any other advice that I should do to be successful in physics is also appreciated.

If you need also some information about my background: I am a first year combined bachelor of electrical engineering and bachelor of mathematics and I have good knowledge of math but did not do any physics in highschool.

Qmechanic
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  • There is a difference between being successful in physics and being successful at university :) If You want to be successful at physics, I don't think reading too much can hurt You in any way. If You want to be successful at university with little effort, try asking second, third year students. – Wojciech Feb 27 '14 at 12:13
  • I am keen to be successful both at physics and at university. –  Feb 27 '14 at 12:14
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    Taking shortcuts and reading only selected material is not a good way to acquire comprehensive knowledge on physics, and to have a deep understanding of physical processes. My advise is: don't waste Your time, read everything, make all the exercises or at least as many as possible. – Wojciech Feb 27 '14 at 12:26
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    also this might be helpful – Wojciech Feb 27 '14 at 12:40
  • I'd advise to do as many of the odd-numbered problems in each chapter as you can because the numerical answers are in the back of the text (so you can see if you did it correctly). But basically Wojciech is right: do not take shortcuts if you want to learn physics correctly. – Kyle Kanos Feb 27 '14 at 13:45
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    It is your professors job to help you navigate through the textbook, so don't get to caught up in trying to do this by yourself. Moreover, Halliday is a pretty big textbook that is typically not covered in its entirety in even 3 semesters at most US schools. – DJBunk Feb 27 '14 at 14:06
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    Lastly, you will simply not have time to do even half the problems in the back of each chapter. So again just put some faith in the the instructor as its his/her job to help you navigate through all this. Definitely do all the problems assigned and ask you professor if there are extra problems they might recommend. This way you can maximize the number of problems you are doing while keeping on pace with the class. – DJBunk Feb 27 '14 at 14:07
  • Hi slow-witted. Welcome to Phys.SE. Advices on how to study tend to be primarily opinion-based. I'm closing this as a duplicate, not because it is an exact duplicate, but to guide you in the right direction. – Qmechanic Feb 27 '14 at 14:16

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