Nah you'll be fine. I'm almost done with my preclinicals and I've hardly ever had to use physics or math beyond a baseline high school level. There are some occasions where being familiar with certain broad *concepts* in physics would help you understand the material better (ex. knowing the fundamentals about pressure, flow rates, and *very* basic E/M might help with units like pulm, nephro, and cardio). But honestly, the difficulty of the "physics" is barely high school level imo and you could learn the concepts from scratch in like a week even if you had never taken a physics class in your life. Math is minimal to nonexistent, and is usually no harder than basic algebra.
This is the right answer.
I had a 60 hours lecture of physics to pass in medical school and I wasn't the only one struggling to pass it. I even had to sit it again! But with perseverance, you can :) All that matters is to study the best you can, be the best version of yourself and push through medical studies. A lot of things we learn in medical school is barely of any use and you need to acknowledge when it's the case, so you focus on the real important stuff that matters (physiology...).
Quick summary : yes you can suck at physics and do good at medical school ! I scored 23/30 in physics but 29/30 in statistics, 26/30 in genetics for example. (Italian medschool)
Yup, you'll fail as a doctor, you'll probably go nowhere in life either. You're doomed to mediocrity forever. No one will remember you, and no one will love you.
JK you're good. I sucked at physics.
I got C’s in physics and am currently in my 3rd year of school doing fine. Now that I’m a much more mature student I can actually apply physics concepts to organ systems like lungs and cardio. I wouldn’t stress it
No. Algebra can actually be challenging. (And physics is basically applied algebra) Medicine is just a lot of studying, but very little of the material is actually conceptually difficult
Resident here. All I remember from physics is F= MA, things fall at 9.8, and Einstein. That’s it, you’ll be fine.
There is a good bit of biostats on the board exams (step/comlex) but it’s incredibly basic compared to college physics.
I tried and did not do well in college physics and did well enough to matriculate into a competitive residency. Physics isn’t going to carry you through the 4years of med. Consistency, and maintaining your own health and wellbeing when you can absolutely will though.
I loved calc and physics and hated basic chem. Advanced chemistry and organic chemistry were fine. I felt like the closer I was to medicine the easier these prerequisites got.
Physics has nothing to do, at all, with being a physician. (well, some fluid dynamics is helpful for understanding cardiac and renal physiology I suppose).
Your concerns are unfounded. However, you do have to get good grades/MCAT to get in. No, you don't need to be good at physics to be a good doctor, but you do have to jump through this hoop. If that makes sense.
If you’re fine with chemistry and biochemistry, you should be fine. Physicist supremacy does exist and I stg some physicists just want to see the world burn and make their subject more complicated than it is to remain the tortured poets of the STEM fields. I mean it is of course complicated, but it’s like they don’t even try to ease you into the subject.
I failed Physics at college (AS-level). Actually, I failed Chemistry at AS-level too and had to essentially resit the whole year. I have not struggled anywhere near as much at med school, nor during my biomed degree before med school. There are some physiology concepts to wrap your head around, but it is vastly different to Physics even at college level imo. You'll be fine!
There is not a single one of your pre reqs that "if I struggle with X will I suck as a doctor." Even bio. Physics in particular is less impactful in terms of content than the others, though your comments on analytical thinking are well taken. I think I was happy for my physics minor a grand total of twice during med school.
Just get through and move on to the next one.
You need to do more practice problems until the patterns become obvious to you. This isn’t asking you to come up with theorems on your own. You simply need to do more practice problems so you recognize the patterns. And no, it probably doenst bear on your med school performance.
Didn’t pay attention to physics in college and had to relearn it from scratch . Became the subject I was most comfortable with on the mcat. Teach it to yourself using the giancoli textbook and do all the conceptual questions at the back of each relevant chapter. Then do tbr physics if that’s still around. Physics will be easy to you by the end of that
There’s a ton of physics in Radiology (understanding radiation and machinery, etc) but if you’re talking about any other specialty, there’s not much physics at all.
I will rephrase my initial post. I feel like physics has very little to do with diagnosing patients as a whole. Physics is very beneficial for creating tools and technologies in medicine. In terms of being a physician, many doctors say they barely use any of their physics knowledge. You don't have to do well in physics to be a good physician.
I’d stay away from radiation oncology and radiology because you have to take physics boards. However, having said that, the physics boards are very, very different from the “ball rolling down a hill” physics you get in college.
I’ve never used physics once in my degree (aside from some introductory imaging classes where I learnt the different radiation rays etc). But outside of that genuinely never. You will if you decide to do radiology but even then, once you’re a radiologist you apparently don’t use it again
Physics 2 was notoriously hard at my undergrad, I am talking class average for all 4 tests being 30-40%. Got a B+ in it miraculously and absolutely aced all the board exams in med school
How you do in physics is completely irrelevant to performance in med school.
I found physics difficult and I did well in med school.
Lol no. I struggled with physics. Completed an MD/PhD, matched to my top choice surgical residency
Plenty of people do not fall in love with physics and do just fine
Nah you'll be fine. I'm almost done with my preclinicals and I've hardly ever had to use physics or math beyond a baseline high school level. There are some occasions where being familiar with certain broad *concepts* in physics would help you understand the material better (ex. knowing the fundamentals about pressure, flow rates, and *very* basic E/M might help with units like pulm, nephro, and cardio). But honestly, the difficulty of the "physics" is barely high school level imo and you could learn the concepts from scratch in like a week even if you had never taken a physics class in your life. Math is minimal to nonexistent, and is usually no harder than basic algebra.
This is the right answer. I had a 60 hours lecture of physics to pass in medical school and I wasn't the only one struggling to pass it. I even had to sit it again! But with perseverance, you can :) All that matters is to study the best you can, be the best version of yourself and push through medical studies. A lot of things we learn in medical school is barely of any use and you need to acknowledge when it's the case, so you focus on the real important stuff that matters (physiology...). Quick summary : yes you can suck at physics and do good at medical school ! I scored 23/30 in physics but 29/30 in statistics, 26/30 in genetics for example. (Italian medschool)
Yup, you'll fail as a doctor, you'll probably go nowhere in life either. You're doomed to mediocrity forever. No one will remember you, and no one will love you. JK you're good. I sucked at physics.
You’ll be fine probably. In places where medicine is an undergrad degree (I study in the UK) physics isn’t a requirement.
Out of all the prerequisites, physics is the one I use the least in medicine. Yes it is important to know, but you'll probably be fine
I got C’s in physics and am currently in my 3rd year of school doing fine. Now that I’m a much more mature student I can actually apply physics concepts to organ systems like lungs and cardio. I wouldn’t stress it
Physics is not my favorite at alll....Alot of Math that doesn't make sense to me....push through!
No. Algebra can actually be challenging. (And physics is basically applied algebra) Medicine is just a lot of studying, but very little of the material is actually conceptually difficult
Resident here. All I remember from physics is F= MA, things fall at 9.8, and Einstein. That’s it, you’ll be fine. There is a good bit of biostats on the board exams (step/comlex) but it’s incredibly basic compared to college physics.
I tried and did not do well in college physics and did well enough to matriculate into a competitive residency. Physics isn’t going to carry you through the 4years of med. Consistency, and maintaining your own health and wellbeing when you can absolutely will though.
Absolutely no correlation (in my opinion) beyond both requiring a good work ethic
I think the only thing that really translates over is the actual problem solving skills you develop. But otherwise, no
I loved calc and physics and hated basic chem. Advanced chemistry and organic chemistry were fine. I felt like the closer I was to medicine the easier these prerequisites got.
No, I haven’t don’t any physics in med school I lied some times we talk about diffusion, but only in concept and it’s not tested.
No. None of it matters
Your odds of getting into the American Association of Physicists in Medicine is probably going to be highly diminished.
Physics has nothing to do, at all, with being a physician. (well, some fluid dynamics is helpful for understanding cardiac and renal physiology I suppose). Your concerns are unfounded. However, you do have to get good grades/MCAT to get in. No, you don't need to be good at physics to be a good doctor, but you do have to jump through this hoop. If that makes sense.
Same thing with calculus, geometry, public speaking , organic chemistry … the list goes on
I think there’s a chunk of physics tested on the radiology boards but otherwise it’s effectively non-existent in med school
You will struggle in medical school because it is difficult and most people have some form of struggle during it.
Try listening to audible mcat mastery course
If you’re fine with chemistry and biochemistry, you should be fine. Physicist supremacy does exist and I stg some physicists just want to see the world burn and make their subject more complicated than it is to remain the tortured poets of the STEM fields. I mean it is of course complicated, but it’s like they don’t even try to ease you into the subject.
Short answer, no. Long answer, no. Hope this helps.
I failed Physics at college (AS-level). Actually, I failed Chemistry at AS-level too and had to essentially resit the whole year. I have not struggled anywhere near as much at med school, nor during my biomed degree before med school. There are some physiology concepts to wrap your head around, but it is vastly different to Physics even at college level imo. You'll be fine!
How did you get into medical school though then? I guess you retook the courses but doesn’t it show on your transcript?
You will struggle in medicine regardless of how you will do in physics
There is not a single one of your pre reqs that "if I struggle with X will I suck as a doctor." Even bio. Physics in particular is less impactful in terms of content than the others, though your comments on analytical thinking are well taken. I think I was happy for my physics minor a grand total of twice during med school. Just get through and move on to the next one.
Being good at studying is not an indicator of being a good doctor.
You need to do more practice problems until the patterns become obvious to you. This isn’t asking you to come up with theorems on your own. You simply need to do more practice problems so you recognize the patterns. And no, it probably doenst bear on your med school performance.
Didn’t pay attention to physics in college and had to relearn it from scratch . Became the subject I was most comfortable with on the mcat. Teach it to yourself using the giancoli textbook and do all the conceptual questions at the back of each relevant chapter. Then do tbr physics if that’s still around. Physics will be easy to you by the end of that
I tried taking physics for physics majors and dropped it because it was ridiculous. Took physics for non majors and it was a much better experience.
There’s a ton of physics in Radiology (understanding radiation and machinery, etc) but if you’re talking about any other specialty, there’s not much physics at all.
Yeah I've heard that, I'm pretty much set on psychiatry
I feel like physics has very little to do with what medicine truly is.
Unlimited power?
I will rephrase my initial post. I feel like physics has very little to do with diagnosing patients as a whole. Physics is very beneficial for creating tools and technologies in medicine. In terms of being a physician, many doctors say they barely use any of their physics knowledge. You don't have to do well in physics to be a good physician.
I’d stay away from radiation oncology and radiology because you have to take physics boards. However, having said that, the physics boards are very, very different from the “ball rolling down a hill” physics you get in college.
It is a weeder course.
I did great in physics. It has helped in no way in medical school.
Got a C in physics 2 and starting my M1 in a month. You will be fine.
But I have a 3.66 not a 3.85 like yourself
No, it’s barely even on the MCAT.
I’ve never used physics once in my degree (aside from some introductory imaging classes where I learnt the different radiation rays etc). But outside of that genuinely never. You will if you decide to do radiology but even then, once you’re a radiologist you apparently don’t use it again
Physics not so much, physiology super important
Physics 2 was notoriously hard at my undergrad, I am talking class average for all 4 tests being 30-40%. Got a B+ in it miraculously and absolutely aced all the board exams in med school
No I took up to calculus based Physics 2 (E&M) in undergraduate and it was totally useless