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What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:35 pm
by InquilineKea
Appropriate for PGRE preparation?

Many people say that the Griffiths books are REALLY good for test prep, since Griffiths is on the PGRE test-writing committee and there have been similar questions between the PGRE and the exercises on Griffiths.

But on the other hand, most Griffiths exercises are far too long and complex for the PGRE. Only a small fraction of the exercises in the books are really suitable for the PGRE.

Re: What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:13 am
by WhoaNonstop
InquilineKea wrote:Appropriate for PGRE preparation?

Many people say that the Griffiths books are REALLY good for test prep, since Griffiths is on the PGRE test-writing committee and there have been similar questions between the PGRE and the exercises on Griffiths.

But on the other hand, most Griffiths exercises are far too long and complex for the PGRE. Only a small fraction of the exercises in the books are really suitable for the PGRE.
Understanding the long and complex questions help you better grasp the easier concepts. True, there aren't going to be PGRE questions in Griffiths, but the material is relevant for the PGRE itself. I'd say the first 8 chapters of EM and the first 5 of QM are pretty important as far as the GRE is concerned.

-Riley

Re: What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:55 am
by physicsworks
InquilineKea wrote:since Griffiths is on the PGRE test-writing committee
really? I thought he was there from 1994 till 2000 as his personal page suggests.
and there have been similar questions between the PGRE and the exercises on Griffiths.
it's true. I have faced with at least 10 similar or almost the same questions from Griffiths' books on the last two PGRE. Not too much, but as Riley said problems from Griffiths' books really help you to solve other relatively "easier" problems on the PGRE.

Re: What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:15 am
by InquilineKea
it's true. I have faced with at least 10 similar or almost the same questions from Griffiths' books on the last two PGRE. Not too much, but as Riley said problems from Griffiths' books really help you to solve relatively "easier" problems on the PGRE.
Oh interesting. By "similar", do you mean that they might have been similar to a particular 4.54b rather than all of 4.54? In other words, are they similar to all sorts of Griffiths problems (including the really hard multipart ones?) Or just to the easier ones?

Re: What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:16 am
by physicsworks
InquilineKea, by "similar" I mean that you must use the same trick or the same "idea" or just do the same set of operations to solve the problem. So, once you've faced this in Griffiths' book, you will definitely solve a similar problem on exam.
For example, lets take a problem 2.10 from Griffiths' EM book. There was almost identical problem on the last PGRE with regular tetrahedron instead of a cube :lol: "Different" problems, different answers, but the same idea you will never forget if you've seen it before.

Re: What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:36 am
by WhoaNonstop
physicsworks wrote:InquilineKea, by "similar" I mean that you must use the same trick or the same "idea" or just do the same set of operations to solve the problem. So, once you've faced this in Griffiths' book, you will definitely solve a similar problem on exam.
For example, lets take a problem 2.10 from Griffiths' EM book. There was almost identical problem on the last PGRE with regular tetrahedron instead of a cube :lol: "Different" problems, different answers, but the same idea you will never forget if you've seen it before.
That's exactly the example I was thinking of!

-Riley

Re: What % of Griffiths textbook exercises are appropriate?

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:14 pm
by InquilineKea
Oh cool I see. Thanks!