And it begins..

by Rohan Kulkarni

last updated : June 8, 2024

Note: I assume you have up-to-date high school physics knowledge (not rusty from years ago) and have gone through the foundational mathematical preparation in the IPSP II post. This will be one of the longer posts you'll encounter on my blog. Let's dive straight into the logistics and some Do's and Don'ts.

Coursework

Every semester, you will be taking three mandatory modules,

And one elective. A total of 30 ECTS per semester is supposed to be your ideal workload.

Do #1: The weekly assignments, SOLVE PROBLEMS

Each course has weekly assignments (homework) that you must submit. Don't underestimate these—you'll have 3 assignments every week, which can be quite demanding. You need an average of 50% on these assignments to qualify for the final exam. While these assignment grades do not count toward your final course grade, there's a strong correlation between performing well on assignments and achieving good grades on the final exam. You might wonder why.

  1. Applicability: These assignments are usually designed to help you apply concepts learned in class. You can expect similar problems to make up most of your exam questions. The exam will also include more challenging problems—not necessarily harder than assignment problems, but different in variety—that test your ability to learn and apply new concepts while solving them. These problems help distinguish between students who are good at the subject and those who are really good at it.
  2. Similarity: Physics is a very objective subject. There may be multiple approaches to the same problem, but usually just one right solution. Because of this, the intersection of the Venn diagram of problems one can expect on these assignment sheets v/s the variety of problems one can expect on the exam is pretty large (Apologies for the tediously long statement; I guess you will have to get used to deciphering statements tenfold complicated in your physics career).
  3. Difficulty: Assignment problems are typically given a week to solve. You'll attempt them, fail, and consult resources—sometimes finding the solution. While this is perfectly acceptable in Germany (as long as you're not copying directly from classmates), it's not the ideal approach. The best scenario is persisting until you solve it yourself. In fact, when you can't solve a problem, let yourself become obsessed with it. This mindset will serve you well in research, where working on a single problem without finding a solution for weeks or even months is common.

Your first major challenge will be Theoretical Physics I (or "TP1" in IPSP)

You have never taken anything similar to such a course before. (My dataset for such a conclusion might be limited as the coursework slightly changes yearly. I make this comment based on the three iterations of this course. I have been a TA for two iterations and attended one iteration as a student). The upcoming advice applies to most first-year courses, not just this one, but TP1 is the one most people struggle with. This small section is just a headsup to pay extra attention and give more time to this subject as it might take some time to settle down with the concepts taught in this one.

Hmm, this sounds like a lot… What should I do?

The simple answer: You need to come prepared. Easier said than done, am I right? That is the exact reason for this post. I want to try to guide you in the simplest way to prepare well for a smooth start in IPSP and avoid the common mistakes I have seen people make during my years.