Tips for doing your WebAssign homework.

start early

Do not wait until the night before homework is due to start on it. This gives you the opportunity to re-read the book, seek out help, or come back to exercises you had difficulty with.

work solutions out on paper

Do not just sit at the computer punching numbers into your calculator.

work out complete, clearly labeled solutions

This makes it easy to go back over them—to figure out where you made a mistake, to get help from your teacher or another student, or to review for a test. You may want to keep them all in a notebook.

use a good, systematic problem strategy

GOAL is the main one we use in this class, but there are other similar strategies around. Some problems are easy enough to solve with out one, but think of them as practice for those problems you can’t solve without a strategy.

start by identifying the physics involved

Identify equations to use based on the physics principles that are applicable to the problem.

work out an algebraic solution before getting out the calculator

Algebraic solutions make it easier to understand the physics of the problem, to find your mistakes, compare with your fellow students, and review later.

check your work before submitting your answer

Make sure your answer is a reasonable value and has correct units. It is faster to check it right away then to come back and figure out what you did wrong.

work with other students

You can improve your understanding by learning how other students solved a problem and explaining to them how you approached the problem.  Your focus should be on the problem-solving process and not just on getting the right answer.  This is why the values are randomized in WebAssign numerical problems.