rizkibizniz wrote:I want something higher. what's your strategy?
First of all, there is a new official test available:
GR0877. I typed my own solutions to this test and you can find them
here or
here.
I think to get a score higher than 900 you should master something more challenged than problems from officially released tests. The idea is simple: if you are able to solve more advanced problems, you will solve easier problems more quickly and less painfully. A good place to look for such problems is Griffiths' three Intro's books. There is a big question of what to study (
solely for the PGRE, if you want to be a physicist you should master all three books) and what to skip from these three outstanding textbooks. My own view of this is the following:
- Introduction to electrodynamics
1.
Vector analysis. I assume you are familiar with all concepts from this chapter. For the PGRE you
should be familiar with almost all, excluding, maybe, the Dirac delta function. I doubt there is much benefit (for the PGRE preparation) from solving each problem of this chapter. Just list them and make sure you know how to do this.
2.
Electrostatics. This is the basics. Master
all the problems excluding too "heavy" with lots of math.
3.
Special techniques. Master sections 3.1 and 3.2 entirely, skip section 3.3, from 3.4 master subsection 3.4.4. Do not solve problems with "!" sign (this applies to all chapters in this book), Prob. 3.4, 3.5, 3.7 and all problems after the chapter that correspond to the skipped sections.
4.
Electric field in matter. Pay attention to 4.3.1, 4.3.3, 4.4.1 and problems for this subsections. The rest of this chapter can be skipped entirely.
5.
Magnetostatic. Master all but section 5.4. Do not skip magnetostatic boundary conditions.
6.
Magnetic fields in matter. Easy reading. May be skipped entirely.
7.
Electrodynamics. Read all. Solve all but not too "heavy" problems.
8.
Conservation laws. If you are familiar with continuity equation that's all you need from this chapter for the PGRE prep.
9.
Electromagnetic waves. Understand the basics, skip 9.4 and 9.5, from 9.3 read "Reflection and transmission at normal incidence".
10.
Potentials and fields. Browse through the section 10.1 quickly and forget about the rest of the material in this chapter.
11.
Radiation. Do you know the Larmor formula? If no, read equation 11.70 and skip all the rest.
12.
Electrodynamics and relativity. This is the best preparation for the special relativity on the PGRE. Master all from this chapter excluding field tensor section.
- Introduction to quantum mechanics
Master chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5. Skip the analytical method in 2.3, do not even think about spherical harmonics from chapter 4 and skip all "heavy" problems as always. From chapter 6 read subsections 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 and solve the problems.
- Introduction to elementary particles
Read and understand chapters 1 and 2. Pay attention to problem 2.7. Chapter 3 can also be helpful.
P.S.
Of course, all depends on your skills. If you're strong in particular chapters, you can skip them. Furthermore, if a problem in question is really hard and has
nothing to do with the PGRE at all, just skip it.