Coursework#

Every semester, you will take three mandatory modules:

• Theoretical Physics
• Experimental Physics
• Mathematics for Physicists

You will also take one elective. A total of 30 ECTS per semester is the ideal workload.

Do #1: The weekly assignments, SOLVE PROBLEMS#

Each course has weekly assignments (homework) that you must submit. Don’t underestimate these - you’ll have 3 assignments every week, which can be quite demanding. You need an average of 50% on these assignments to qualify for the final exam. While these assignment grades do not count toward your final course grade, there’s a strong correlation between performing well on assignments and achieving good grades on the final exam. You might wonder why.

1. Applicability: These assignments are usually designed to help you apply concepts learned in class. You can expect similar problems to make up most of your exam questions. The exam will also include more challenging problems (not necessarily harder than assignment problems, but different in variety) that test your ability to learn and apply new concepts while solving them. These problems help distinguish between students who are good at the subject and those who are really good at it.
2. Similarity: Physics is a very objective subject. There may be multiple approaches to the same problem, but usually just one right solution. Because of this, the intersection of the Venn diagram of problems one can expect on these assignment sheets vs. the variety of problems one can expect on the exam is pretty large (Apologies for the tediously long statement; I guess you will have to get used to deciphering statements ten times as complicated in your physics career).
3. Difficulty: Assignment problems are typically given a week to solve. You’ll attempt them, fail, and consult resources, sometimes finding the solution. While this is perfectly acceptable in Germany (as long as you’re not copying directly from classmates), it’s not the ideal approach. The best scenario is persisting until you solve it yourself. In fact, when you can’t solve a problem, let yourself become obsessed with it. This mindset will serve you well in research, where working on a single problem without finding a solution for weeks or even months is common.

Don’t #1: Do not give up on a subject because you don’t understand that “one concept.”#

As a former TA for many IPSP courses (and not only at IPSP, but also at Heidelberg and Queen’s), I have seen one mistake often. People start dropping out of a course, saying they will take it next year or so because “they didn’t understand everything 100%.” They strongly believe that not understanding 100% equals being a bad physicist in the future. Of course, it is essential to have a strong foundation when aiming for a career as a Physicist, but this certainly does not mean that you will be able to understand every damn concept the first time you attempt to learn it. There will be challenging and non-challenging parts of a course.

Solution? Try to stick to the rule of thirds: you should be breezing past 1/3 of the material, doing well on 1/3, and possibly struggling with 1/3. As long as this is true, you are doing about average. If the ratio is off, there are generally only a handful of scenarios (excluding the extremes):

• Scenario A (Good): You find a big chunk of the course too easy? That’s excellent. Use this opportunity to go in depth and do more challenging problems (This is always true for Physics; you can almost always find a more complex problem to work on). Maybe try to help some of your colleagues who are struggling? While helping them out, you might realize there are some gaps in your knowledge here or there.
• Scenario B (Tough but manageable): Most topics seem hard, but you are still hanging on, maybe lagging a few lectures behind as you try to catch up (as in, the prof is on lecture 7 and you are still trying to figure out lecture 6). Honestly? You can still catch up pretty quickly by being disciplined and putting in just a little more effort.

If your situation is worse than this, it might be time to re-evaluate your priorities and put everything you have into the ongoing course material and foundations. There is a small chance that you will have to restart some of the subjects.

Slow but steady wins the race. Take one step at a time; if you feel you have moved one step backward, focus on moving two steps forward (in order to catch up with the pace). No more, no less. Don’t give up and keep hacking at the problem/s at hand.

Do #2: Be as unbiased as possible with your coursework#

This is an important point, and I cannot emphasize this enough. Most of the students I talk to (including myself at a time) are in a rush to reach the “cool” physics; it’s usually either Quantum mechanics, Relativity, or Astrophysics for many different reasons. Thinking, “Oh, I want to be an astrophysicist; when am I going to need this bizarre mathematical tool, or how AC currents work?” is extremely wrong. It is wrong because you don’t know better yet. Let me give you two examples of my own.

• Example 1: I had a thought as an early undergrad (this became better as I started climbing the ladder). The thought goes, “Oh, I want to be a theoretical physicist; it is alright if I slack more on the experimental side.” Honestly, I do not use experimental techniques in my day-to-day research. But Physics is, was, and always will remain an empirical science. Theory and experiment are so tightly bound to each other that one cannot survive without the other. I work on the quite theoretical side of dark matter, but dark matter is also the target of some of the most significant experimental searches in physics. To contribute any new models or ideas in this field, I need to be aware of the current experimental bounds and setups. I am also the theorist on an experiment my supervisor proposed. Am I setting up the equipment? No. Am I going to perform the experiment? No. Then what am I doing on this thing? I am the one who is supposed to be monitoring “what we are trying to look for in the experiment”, “how could we maybe use the same setup to look for other things?” I need to know the experiment really well to get the most out of its potential.
• Example 2: This is from my Theoretical Physics II or III course; I cannot quite recall which one. There was a section on waveguides from Jackson. I was honestly struggling to understand parts of it. I thought to myself, hell, when will I need this? Guess what? One of the first projects I took on as a master’s student needed me to work on something to do with dark matter detection in an environment where these waveguide equations became very relevant. The project did not see the light of day because we had to scrap it (which happens too often in science), but the point is, I regretted assuming I was not going to need something in the future.

These are two of many, many more examples. Of course, it is tough to have everything you learn in your undergrad up your sleeve. But you do owe it to your future self to give it your best. Don’t believe me? Here is a nice quick thread on Twitter (or X, sigh) on how Quantum mechanics mimics most of the fundamentals of Classical mechanics, just in a different domain (of course, you see this in books, too, as you take courses, but it is important to know that your foundations can matter). https://twitter.com/Kaju_Nut/status/1562921965597249536?s=19.

You cannot be the judge of what topic is important and what isn’t. Do your best to understand everything. Try to be as unbiased as possible in your learning.

Don’t #2: Do not fail a subject#

I will try to be as blunt as possible because this is crucial. Failing a subject will get you into an extremely weird loop. In this loop, you are always preparing for exams from multiple semesters simultaneously. This is not ideal, as you will lack depth both in the subject you could not pass in the previous year and in the one you should be learning right now.

What are the major causes I’ve seen of people failing multiple subjects (besides actually preparing and, unfortunately, falling short on the exam)?

• Excessive part-time jobs: If you read this before applying to IPSP and plan to support yourself entirely by doing jobs, I would warn you upfront that it will be very difficult. IPSP can get extremely demanding at times. Demanding is an understatement. I think it can be manageable if you plan to support yourself only partially. It won’t be easy, but it’s manageable.
• Excessive partying: I think this is a self-explanatory one. Don’t expect to get an A just by doing the assignments and attending classes. You will have to put in the weekends, the Friday nights, and whatnot when it comes to that. If you are unwilling to do that, I would seriously reconsider doing IPSP. I mean that. (I am also not saying I do not have fun; I enjoyed my undergrad and am always reminiscing about my days in Leipzig. Although I am not a party person, I did my fair share of recreational activities. I was not at my desk 24/7). There needs to be a good balance between the work you do and everything else. (IMO, this is true if you want to succeed in anything - not just IPSP).
• Poor mental health: There is no point in ignoring the elephant in the room. This is not specific to IPSP, but just in general. If you are not in a state where you can take care of yourself, even the simplest tasks can become herculean. On top of that, being in a new country and starting a new life, often without speaking the language, can be a recipe for depression, anxiety, etc. From what I know, your health insurance does give you access to mental health care. I am not a trained professional, so maybe take the following advice with a grain of salt. One of the best ways to avoid feeling lonely and depressed while tackling this course is by surrounding yourself with a good and robust support system - friends you can trust and know will be there for you. Choose your friends wisely, see if your goals align, and have fun learning together one of the most beautiful subjects out there :)

Caveats

• What to do if you fail a subject even after trying hard?
  • It’s alright, these things happen. The best thing you can do is go for the retake (re-exam), usually at the start of the next semester. Ask your seniors currently in IPSP to give you a better idea of how this works. But do not, and I mean do not, postpone it to the following year.
• I had to postpone the re-exam to the following year; now what?
  • Alright, we have more or less reached the final scenario. In this case, I strongly suggest postponing the subject in the same course sequence that you are supposed to take this semester (e.g., if you have to retake TP1 in your third semester, do not take it alongside TP3). If you must take both together, prepare A LOT upfront (before the semester starts) so that you can give your full attention to TP3 while the semester is on.

TIP

Try your best to avoid falling into a complete loop. One bad grade doesn’t define you. But don’t let a single bad grade cascade into fear and failure.

All in all, I think this post is 80% complete. I still may want to add some finesse to it eventually. I have held on to this post for long enough; it is time to post 😄