My Musings, Your Perusing

Physics: From Foe to Friend

Hey there! Today, I'm gonna talk about Physics. Yeah, I'm a Sci student as I already have mentioned in my bio. There are many things that goes on differently in India. So let me explain to those who do not know anything. JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) is a very competitive exam which all the Sci Engineering students are supposed to give to get into the country's best list of colleges named as IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) and has a little tougher portion. Most of the students work really hard for it. Also CET is one of the competitive exams but it is on a state level unlike JEE. Another term that you would come across is HSC (Higher School Certificate). It is a term used for twelfth grade and JEE students are expected to study for it at the end as it is much easier than what we study for JEE.

I was one of these Sci students and this is my journey with Physics with which I struggled the most.

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PHYSICS! The word, itself is enough to make the noses scrunch of almost all the Science students.

I was, with zero doubt, one of them.

According to me, most of the students hate Physics, because they don't understand it and consequently, don't even try to understand it. They don't try to solve the problems, or do research on the related topics, as watching videos on YouTube were more fascinating to them.

But that wasn't the case with me. It never happened that I didn't try to understand and solve Physics. I have always been an optimistic person, no matter what it is. And anyway, in the tenth grade, I was so comfortable with Physics and worried about Chemistry, maybe because there were many reactions and stuff. But, the course of JEE turned the scenario by an angle of one hundred and eighty degrees.

Chemistry was the easiest, not only for me but almost every other student. I considered Math to be mediocre. And, at the high extreme, came none other than the ugly Physics. I sucked at it.

My friend modified the name a little and replaced it by PhySUCKS. Funny, right?

But, I always believed that if you work for what you want, it will bring itself onto your feet. But that didn't happen! I used to stay an-hour-journey-by-train away. So I used to stay back in my college and solve the day's homework or even the backlog sometimes.

We used to have booklets for every topic and were expected to solve all the 120-150 questions of that particular topic. I used to sincerely sit, waste no time and solve them. You won't believe but I have had continuously sat for hours and solved the sums of Physics. I was always done with Chemistry booklets as they were the easiest for me, because I was able to solve the questions without any help. About math, I didn't worry much because I used to solve it whenever I had the mood to. But with Physics, I was bound to solve the sums, whether I'm able to do it, or no.

Even after sincerely solving the booklets, I used to get very low marks in Physics. Initially, I didn't understand what the matter was. I continued remaining sincere and tried maintaining a cordial relationship with Physics. But still, no change. I was consistently getting bad marks in Physics, sometimes in negative!

Do you now understand how bad my physics was?!

I was almost done with twelfth. The whole two years, we were expected to study for JEE and dedicate the last two to three months for the HSC syllabus because it was more or less the same stuff.

I remember it was December. I was almost done with the JEE stuff with an-apple-seed-sized expectation for Physics. I had now decided to study for HSC. So, on a good note, I decided to start with Physics. I don't know why but I had a strong hope, still beating, in that small corner in my heart, for Physics.

I started reading all the chapters, very sincerely. I solved the sums in the HSC textbook. I read some of them from the NCERT, as advised by my professors. Anyway, I felt that both were more or less the same. In fact, some of them were better explained in the HSC textbook.

I started understanding the things better. It was like a miracle. Very cliché, I know, but that was the truth. This boosted up my confidence.

Unlike the earlier times, I cared at least to read the questions in the Physics section. I wouldn't even read the questions in Physics, back then. I considered it as wastage of time. But, from that time onwards, I tried to solve them. I didn't get upset when I wasn't able to get an answer or I didn't understand the question. I was glad that I at least tried. I was no longer that person who would simply ignore Physics questions as if they don't matter, when they mattered the most!

And I was encouraged when I really saw marks under the Physics column. No, they weren't negative, not even once. I was gaining so much of confidence regarding Physics.

Physics was slowly, turning into a friend, a good one from a really ugly foe. I appreciated that and felt glad. That bad face was turning into a gorgeous one.

During JEE, I had an instinct that Physics will be more easily done from the three of them. And that was what exactly happened! Not talking about the marks, though!

In CET, I scored more marks in Physics, even more than Chemistry. Quite surprising, ain't it?

I know what you are wondering. How did I not score marks when I solved the booklets so sincerely and scored well when I just read a HSC text book?

Well, the answer is quite easy though.

When I used to solve the booklets, we were provided with the answer key as well as the solutions online. I used to already download the solutions from the site and store them in my phone while the answer key used to be printed on the last pages. We were expected to refer the solutions only after we had tried the sum and failed at arriving at the right option. Also, the answer key was provided so that we solve all the sums of that particular exercise and check the answers at the end.

But in my case, that wasn't what I was doing. I used to try solving a sum once, twice or at the most thrice and then rush to see the solutions as if my life depended on it. I wasn't passionate about solving them, which I really should have had. Those who loved Physics, yes they existed, solved the sums as if they loved nothing more than getting to the answers. They hardly referred solutions and they used to keep solving until they reached the answer.

Never do what I did. That's very wrong and you are risking a full section, in JEE.

Thankfully, I read the HSC textbooks, understood the simple language, and most importantly, I read everything with an interest, more like I wanted the knowledge of Physics and I wanted to know everything that is written in the damn book. I wanted my mind to hug Physics tightly and never let it go.

Now, Physics and I are very good friends. Partially because Chemistry ditched me in CET. Math always does, anyway.

I just want to say and convey to all the Physics haters, the ones who trend hash tags like PhySUCKS, that don't hate it, try it until you reach the peak of it, until Physics gets exhausted torturing you and comes running to you, asking you to hug it. It will never leave you. You will have the satisfaction that you tried and you succeeded.