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MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:06 am
by adil89amin
all right .. so now im aiming for the November test. though iv thought out most of my strategy ....i still have some questions
1. ill do fundamental of physics -resnick ,halliday ,walker
2. then grifths e&m, grifiths qm, mordern physics -beiser(is there a better one for this??)
all the while also reviewing some questions from the 3000solved probs

now here are my doubts
which textbook should i use for mechanics(we have not been taught lagrangians so..) is taylor good enough(have done most of klepner already)

also for optics,thermo is resnick good enough or do i have to go through some other higher level book( if i do im thinking of the schaum series here)

and same for stat mech

help and thanks in advance

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:11 am
by golick2000
Can give you a piece of advice based on my experience.
I was preparing for 2-2.5 month for PGRE. I did all fundemental Physics by Halliday 2 times. That is enough.
For Mechanics I would recommend Landau's book, but if you are American then Goldstein will be easier to find and read.
That's the plan how to get 960;)
good luck!

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:37 am
by adil89amin
umm . thanks . anyone else????

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:37 pm
by satyad18
@adil89amin: The books you listed are enough. I'm retaking the exam, and I'm using the same.

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:31 pm
by adil89amin
^^
how much did you get the first time???
see,im sure im going to do these atleast. the help that i wanted was -which books to use for mechanics & stat mech, and whether resnick was good enough for optics and thermo.
see i d ont want to leave any stone unturned..being an international student and all.

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:40 am
by CKtalon
golick2000 wrote:Can give you a piece of advice based on my experience.
I was preparing for 2-2.5 month for PGRE. I did all fundemental Physics by Halliday 2 times. That is enough.
For Mechanics I would recommend Landau's book, but if you are American then Goldstein will be easier to find and read.
That's the plan how to get 960;)
good luck!
Goldstein is overkill! It's a graduate level textbook!

A good choice would be Classical Mechanics by Taylor is a good book for Lagrangians, or the standard Marion and Thorntorn for intermediate Classical Mechanics.

I don't recall there being many stat mech questions. Whatever you need to know is probably in Griffiths' QM. For thermal physics portion, the intro books like Resnick is enough.

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:43 am
by satyad18
CKtalon wrote:
golick2000 wrote:Can give you a piece of advice based on my experience.
I was preparing for 2-2.5 month for PGRE. I did all fundemental Physics by Halliday 2 times. That is enough.
For Mechanics I would recommend Landau's book, but if you are American then Goldstein will be easier to find and read.
That's the plan how to get 960;)
good luck!
Goldstein is overkill! It's a graduate level textbook!

A good choice would be Classical Mechanics by Taylor is a good book for Lagrangians, or the standard Marion and Thorntorn for intermediate Classical Mechanics.

I don't recall there being many stat mech questions. Whatever you need to know is probably in Griffiths' QM. For thermal physics portion, the intro books like Resnick is enough.
I agree.

Re: MY PGRE PLAN:suggestions also needed

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 4:02 am
by golick2000
well, in my university (in Ukraine where Landau actually worked) we study Classical Mechanics by Landau in the second semester of the second year and the first semester of the third year. That is why I recommended Landau and Goldstein, which is easier. Nevertheless, first paragraphs of the books will be enough and I did not mean to go through the whole book. Nevertheless, if there are simple books in Classical Mechanics- go for it!
In Russian there are only Landau and Goldstein which correspond to the US graduate level