Why Cambridge Made Me Dislike Physics

[@teacupcakes2739]

Even Einstein said he felt like studying at school made him lose interest in the subject. He would often skip classes to do his own learning in physics, and would borrow his friend's notes to study for exams. I liked physics but studying it for exams just makes me burnout.

[@alrightydave]

I agree with physics exams being based on past papers and memorisation rather than understanding concepts - was really obvious after I got my a level physics mock back that I felt smart going into the exam after reading savemyexams but in reality they just wanted some simple key words. Same at gcse except I did play that memorisation game for sciences That’s why I prefer maths and further pure since you’re much more likely to get the marks if you understand the concept. Not just exam success but I enjoy just doing maths more, same at gcse too as well as AL

[@Tom-vu1wr]

Bro uni is totally different

[@Tom-vu1wr]

There is not a significant difference in how much memorisation and past paper grinding is required for maths v physics at uni

[@noonedndn]

@@Tom-vu1wryeah, I was about to say surely at the undergrad level for physics an understanding of the concept is really important for you to do well much more than memorisation.

[@peeper2070]

If you get into your dream uni to study and you end up hating it because of the school system, not the uni in general, then you will also end up hating it if you settle for a backup uni. It's good to be an optimist, but its also good to not fall into a fallacy. Maybe it wouldn't be better if you didn't have the amazing opportunity of getting into a uni you were excited for (not you, but anyone in general).

[@SecretAgentDharun]

Damn, that was brutally honest. Thanks for sharing your brave opinion out there, man. Must've been tough to do but I appreciate it a lot

[@crypitc]

Do you mind sharing what uni you go to?

[@dohanara]

Hey ray hope you’re doing well I randomly clicked on this to watch and it was really interesting to hear your perspective. The last vid I watched from you was one of your first ones. You seem so much more self-assured and confident now, it’s so nice to see :) wishing you success in the future! You should be very proud of your achievements! This podcast-style video is really cool btw!! May Allah bless you

[@AcrabatX]

Wow, crazy how cambridge ruined your huge passion. I watched your favourite physics book video as well.

[@RAmjad]

Ya! I'm still really grateful for the friends I made and all the interesting folks I got to meet though 🌟💖

[@rohannuckchady2900]

at least this confirms oxford> cambridge :3 Edit: Lab reports same thing as you, lecturers some weren't great but we had a few excellent one. ( Blundell, steve for GR etc), problem sheets had some 5-10hour questions but I found those fun, but exam experience was different - Questions were generally first 5-6 marks bookwork /proofs/definitions/ next 8 marks standard problem solving at the level you might get on problem sheets but not the same questions and not repeated through years, last 6-7 marks unseen/harder that is hard to get unless you are really familiar and comfortable with the material conceptually/mathematically. I also dropped physics for maths now, I dropped physics basically because in 4th year I found theoretical physics became just really shady and didn't have any good rescources to learn from for that level, and I couldn't actually get intuition for it. So i thought, if quantum field theory isn't gonna let me relate it to anything physical easily and won't be mathematically rigorous, I might as well go do pure maths - which is what I did

[@anonymous99923]

oxford lectures are even worse

[@stareyedstudygirl]

Hey Ray, this was really informative. Do you know whether the Engineering dept is similar teaching wise?

[@rajivnailadi905]

Not Ray but yh as an engineering student at cambridge this all mostly sounds familiar. Didn't have any mistakes in exam papers but the stuff about teaching, exam qs etc. is all similar from my experience

[@omicrontheta38]

Hi Ray, I didn't meet my Cambridge maths offer, so I'm studying at Edinburgh. This has really shaken me, as I had set my heart on Cambridge for a very long time. Part of me is upset that I'm missing on the college experience, the supervisions, and the prestige, but another part of me is happy that I will have opportunities to take courses from other subjects, that I will have more spare time to enjoy uni and engage with societies, and that I would realistically be able to get a first at Edinburgh. I was thinking of applying to Oxford and joining their first year after completing a year at Edinburgh, as Oxford has lighter Maths requirements which I have met. This feels a bit off to me though. I would love to hear your thoughts and wisdom having been through Oxbridge.

[@thevoidfish]

forget the prestige, when you’re in a prestigious place, everyone you know is prestigious, so the self esteem hit won’t last. supervisions are genuinely good though. if you’re sad to miss out on supervisions, maybe try to find friends who you can talk through homework with? it’s not a full replacement for talking to staff, but people in your year can be really valuable too.

[@Sce45rays31]

Thanks for the brutal honesty

[@deren4375]

That hurts damn cuz i have seen your previous vidoes every vids i mean ❤ ..knowledge is everywhere these days no matter where you go and keep learning.. ❤❤ loved your work 🎉 always ..keep going through Ray..

[@Ocean-z9x]

Hi Ray, I'm taking further maths and want to get into Cambridge to study medicine. Do you think taking further maths is advantageous as a subject, and would it say it made you more appealing when you applied to Cambridge? Thanks.

[@RAmjad]

Hey! I think applying for medicine is a little different. From what I heard from medic friends, many universities don't see maths and further maths as two separate A-levels but instead as one subject. Some chose to drop further maths for another science instead. But I'd recommend asking some of the current Cambridge undergrad medic KZbinrs like Rosia Li. They may have a better answer :)

[@stareyedstudygirl]

Take physics instead, will be useful for the BMAT

[@lucaspfirrmann9973]

I might be Talking shit here because I haven’t started my bachelor but to me some things he said where already clear such as the teachers doing less teaching but more like doing presentations on topics. Again I have no experience but in my opinion if you choose to study physics you should do it for the sake of the knowledge and love for the field and not to get in to a prestigious university also I have the impression you won’t get through your studies successfully or at least happily if you don’t truly love physics and are willing to maybe suffer a bit in the process due to physics being so hard and demanding. Although I think he’s right about the impact studying physics at Cambridge might have for his future i think he chose his path fore the wrong reasons. I want to make clear that this is my personal opinion and I don’t know what the situation in Cambridge is actually like. Those are just my impressions I got from watching videos and talking to people I know that studied physics. I did this ‘’research’’ prior to my own choice to start studying physics soon too.

[@drneutro369]

Hi Ray, I’m in year 13, taking maths, chemistry, physics, further maths, I’m struggling with further maths do you know how to improve from a C/D to an A*?

[@alrightydave]

Further maths can be a tricky one not bc of the difficulty but bc of the sheer magnitude and diversity of content between the other optional modules besides pure. Make sure your management is excellent so you can finish revision but you might need to improve the effectiveness/quality of your revision if you’re not hitting A/B’s in pure. TLMaths jack brown is awesome so would recommend him as a first step

[@sahithibathala5001]

This puts it into perspective that the name and fame of the university don't necessarily reflect its teaching and the student's satisfaction. I appreciate your honesty. It made me think of picking my future university based on student happiness, not because it's in the top 10 or for some similar reason. Thanks for the honest opinion Ray, it was really insightful! 🙂

[@edwardhudson815]

There's no way the next Einstein is going to come out of the traditional university system from what I've seen it seems to crush most people's enjoyment, he or she will just be someone who loves maths and physics to the point where they pirated all the Uni textbooks from the internet, did every problem in existence and watched all the online lectures and just generally thought super deeply about it and studied exactly what they were interested in when they wanted to because they were passionate about it, all while having some regular job

[@RAmjad]

Ooo maybe, I think the next Einstein will be some AI hooked up to a humanoid robot body!

[@knw-seeker6836]

Did you ever think about distance learning like Open University?

[@RAmjad]

Nope, I never considered it so I don't have any thoughts on it

[@takdirsaiful628]

Hi bro can u plz make a video for year 13 students who are stuck in life? (like not knowing what career to choose or maybe not sure about what unis to choose)

[@RAmjad]

That sounds like an awesome idea! I'll have a think about what I can do

[@koifishes]

I dont believe physics has a bleak future lol. Just like you said, now is the peak of cs, just as 20th century was physics most recent peak. You can't expect there to be grand research discoveries every year, these things take time. Just like how 10 years ago AI basically didn't exist, its very possible that 50 years or less into the future there might be a lull in cs research. But i dont think we'll ever be fully be done with research in science of any kind. The particle research that seems insignificant to you now may be the reason for a big discovery in physics in years to come. So its cool that your interests shifted but shitting on physics and the research that is currently being done is not it lol

[@RAmjad]

You might find Sabine Hossenfelder’s thoughts interesting in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYuam6qbq7-VmJY and her book

[@Zen_AlSeed]

Thank you Ray, you made me rethink my choices as a Y13 student.

[@RAmjad]

I have a few more videos coming up on my thoughts on universities so do hold fire. Some of it is based on this podcast which I really enjoyed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/laSUqayQgpJlfdk But feel free to DM me if you'd like clarification on anything I mentioned in the video. My inbox is always open :)

[@Zen_AlSeed]

@@RAmjad I messaged you in Y12 I think, if I have any questions about university you will definitely be the one to ask, thank you.

[@j5studies344]

So the grass isn't always greener on the other side....

[@RAmjad]

Sadly not 😔 but I don't think it ever is in life. Wherever you go, you just have a different set of problems to deal with. It's probably then a case of deciding which problems to care about and devote your time towards.

[@can.of.beans101]

you have such a calming voice

[@user-xi1gm6de7c]

I'm starting Comp Sci at Cambridge in October, and this video was comforting as until now I assumed I would automatically get a third cos I'm not particularly passionate the subject

[@mfr-247]

same! (but i’m starting at Oxford)

[@vqrtex4910]

This was insightful!

[@moustafaalbatran5304]

Thanks for being honest

[@rahanlol]

Can i ask what level degree you were awarded with?

[@RAmjad]

Ah I got a BA as I only spent 3 years there Cambridge, by tradition, have most of their undergrad degrees as BA instead of say BSci (even for something like computer science!)

[@ok-hd4ir]

Very insights video, its brave of you exposing Cambridge despite the potential flak you may receive like being ungrateful and making it there because of your socioeconomic background etc. I hear exactly what you say about how stem subjects are almost romanticized when in reality you are just filling in worksheets instead of actual creativity, innovation and discovery. But I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason every prior event formed the exact present person you are now. Don't ever think you wasted 3+ years of your life.

[@RAmjad]

I don't think it's so much exposing Cambridge. I just think sometimes the incentives that academics who are teaching and the needs of the students wanting to learn there are misaligned. And that leads to a suboptimal experience for the students. I imagine some lecturers put little effort into their lectures just because they feel some "imposter syndrome" in the department. Some of their fellow researchers are probably publishing paper after paper and they want to catch up or devote more time to research because they feel they're "falling behind" but have to still fulfill their teaching obligations so teaching well is just a low priority for them. The same happens when marking work or writing exam papers without mistakes. But I think that's true, everything happens for a reason and shapes the person you become! 🌟

[@farjanasarkermayesha6427]

Any tips for a level physics? I can barely understand when i read the book?

[@RAmjad]

I thought my A level physics textbook was trash! I think most A level textbooks are pretty low-quality but most students don't know it because they haven't seen what a good textbook looks like (unlike university students who have much more options for textbooks -- many good and others bad). I'd suggest just using videos from KZbin instead, there are lots of kind teachers explaining things well on KZbin :)

[@farjanasarkermayesha6427]

​@@RAmjadThank you! I always felt books were made to help you and if you read properly you can understand it. As I really don't understand this one I started blaming myself for not reading properly. Thanks again, Ray! Hope you have a great day, for making mine better 😊

[@RAmjad]

Yup, I made the same mistake during A level. I thought I was stupid for not understanding the textbook. That was until I went to university where you can find like 5 different textbooks on one course like Special Relativity and by comparing them, you understand what a good textbook looks like and what a bad one looks like. The trouble with A-level is that few people care enough to write high quality textbooks (and I think it doesn’t pay as well as writing a university textbook does?) so they end up being low quality. And there’s usually only one unlike the 5-10 you can pick one for each course at university

[@ok-hd4ir]

​@@RAmjadi think there's also an element where A-Level books have to cateor towards the specification even if the author didn't learn the subject through that way they still need to forcefully explain it a way for the exam board to endorse their book.

[@cerennira6]

Do you thing ethz a good university? Maybe Europe (Germany or Switzerland) better opportunity for physics ❤

[@RAmjad]

I have no idea. But I think usually the best way of finding out is to ask students who've been there for their thoughts. If you can find KZbin videos by them, that's good but you may find some active on Twitter or LinkedIn that you can reach out to and ask :)

[@hamzahali9940]

Thank you for fulfilling my request

[@RAmjad]

Yay, hopefully it was interesting :)

[@Rebeccadxviss]

Really well said!! I’m about to begin my second year doing physics at Cambridge. I scored the worst in physics out of all my modules in first year but it’s what I’m most passionate about🥲 Do you have any textbook recommendations for the second year content? very nervous about starting soon haha

[@RAmjad]

Hmm, I'd usually look at the recommend list of the textbooks for each course then use them as reference material when I was confused on something in the handout and couldn't find a solid explanation on KZbin. But actually, since I use ChatGPT's GPT-4 everyday when it comes to programming, I'd recommend trying out ChatGPT? I have a medic friend who uses it sometimes to explain complicated things in medicine. Or she'd just copy and paste confusing parts from the textbook or handout and get ChatGPT to explain it better. I'm actually jealous of those in university these days who have ChatGPT. I'd suggest trying it out in second-year or using a too like pdf.ai/ where you can upload a PDF of the handout or textbook

[@mik6189]

very good and insightful video!

[@azaansiddique3868]

bro how are you. I wanted to ask something that how did you manage co curriculars with acaedemics in A Levels. Its been my first week and Im Really Overwelmed of how to manage everything. I have soo Many thoughts and goals to do But I cant Take an Action. Love yur vIdeos May Allah Bless you

[@RAmjad]

Hey! I think it takes a little bit of time to settle into A-levels and get into the routine. Everyone takes a few weeks to settle into the rythmn and style of things after a few weeks. And super-curriculars isn't something you'd have to be doing every day (depending on what it is). Some folks do it just in the summer after Year 12 (like summer programs) but keep an eye on which applications to submit during the year (often November, December, January). But for something like olympiads, you may want to put more consistent effort in everyday (which can often be 30 mins - 1 hour to begin with). For most of the super-curriculars I wrote about on my personal statement (besides olympiads and math competitions), I did in the summer after Year 12 but before Year 13. As for extra-curriculars, I'm not sure. I didn't really do any.

[@azaansiddique3868]

Thank you Bro. it really helped me.@@RAmjad

[@thevoidfish]

I also liked physics because of hearing about cool observations and experiments, but it turns out that keeping up with university physics is fucking hard. I found that I can get the “cool idea!” kicks much more easily from biology, lots of neat experiments going on there.

[@RAmjad]

Ya. I had many kicks from solving interesting physics problems before university. But I think as you get older, what you get a "kick" out of changes. I think that nowdays, I get a kick out of making useful apps and website that help people solve some problem they've been having :))

[@studysinead7804]

Wow this is so interesting

[@nihanth9145]

I think your sooo wrong about physics. teaching i cant say anything as I haven't been to Cambridge. BUT YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG ABOUT THE EXPERIMENTS. there is no need to know you are right to wrong, its an experiment it is what it is. you just need to be able to explain what you got with math, and argue out the reason you got something other than what you expected is it because you modified something, you let other factors influence too much etc. And physics had good development , and NO ppl shouldn't just go into Ai thinking there is nothing left in physics

[@RAmjad]

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics is more related to AI than it is to Physics. That’s sufficient evidence for my argument.

[@user-gi3yr1gl7j]

Very interesting

[@H1289-h8o]

Your hair looks good

[@AZearafel]

🖤🖤🖤

[@j5studies344]

First!

[@RAmjad]

Ahah, that was early!