How to know that you have the required intelligence to study physics?

All it takes is the interest, passion and dedication to what you wanna achieve. Physics had always fascinated me since childhood, however when i actually studied it. I found it hard. This was because it consists of some very basic yet fine concepts which if unable to be grasped, leads to confusion and a massacred exam paper ;D (personal experience). However, since i was passionate about it and dedicated to it, i used to spend my extra time studying it from scratch refining my concepts and solving hard problems. The result, i aced my physics exams thereon. I give you this boring description of my experience since this has helped me a lot. So if you were to measure intelligence, you'd need zero % of it. However passion, dedication, interest, a 100%. Then you would need to chase excellence, and eventually Success would follow. Follow your dreams :D

Edison has been quoted as saying something like "Invention is the result of 10% inspiration (intelligence] and 90% perspiration [motivation and hard work]." So it is with any difficult endeavor, including physics. I was both lucky and unlucky in that I did very little homework and did very little study in physics and the sciences in high school because I was able to get by with "inspiration" at that level of study. I was lucky to have done very well grade wise and honor wise in HS without having to raise a sweat by studying. But when I got to college, I just about flunked out of my freshman year. I was totally overwhelmed because, as it turned out, I was unlucky in not having to study in HS. I had not developed the "perspiration" to tackle physics at the university level. But, to make a long story short, I finally learned to study. Over the next forty years, I've earned two BS's, one MS, and the Ph.D. My point in this short story is that if you've done well in AP because of inspiration, you are less likely to succeed in college than if you've done well because of perspiration. Your grades are good, but how are your study skills? That's the key to success in college... your study skills.

You will not know until you try. Go for it and see how far you get. Worst that can happen is you will hit a level of math or science that just does not click for you. At that point, you change majors. This is not a bad thing. You will have more experience and see other fields. I started in Chemistry, transferred to Physics and discovered from my room mate my Junior year that what I really wanted to do was Engineering Mechanics (what turned out to be my niche) It is not uncommon for engineers to accept the reality of phenomena that are not yet understood, as it is very common for physicists to disbelieve the reality of phenomena that seem to contradict contemporary beliefs of physics - H. Bauer It is fun being an engineer, we are the least rigorous of the math and science community. That opens up whole new worlds of things that are possible. True story from my Grad School days: My professor of Numerical Analysis was doing a proof used for Finite Element models. At one step a math major stopped him with, " Professor, you cannot do that! You cannot prove it is true for all cases." The professor stopped, thought for a minute, and said, "You're right. Never the less it is true." Then he continued with the proof.

You will not know until you try. Go for it and see how far you get. Worst that can happen is you will hit a level of math or science that just does not click for you. At that point, you change majors. This is not a bad thing. You will have more experience and see other fields. I started in Chemistry, transferred to Physics and discovered from my room mate my Junior year that what I really wanted to do was Engineering Mechanics (what turned out to be my niche) It is not uncommon for engineers to accept the reality of phenomena that are not yet understood, as it is very common for physicists to disbelieve the reality of phenomena that seem to contradict contemporary beliefs of physics - H. Bauer It is fun being an engineer, we are the least rigorous of the math and science community. That opens up whole new worlds of things that are possible. True story from my Grad School days: My professor of Numerical Analysis was doing a proof used for Finite Element models. At one step a math major stopped him with, " Professor, you cannot do that! You cannot prove it is true for all cases." The professor stopped, thought for a minute, and said, "You're right. Never the less it is true." Then he continued with the proof.

Edison has been quoted as saying something like "Invention is the result of 10% inspiration (intelligence] and 90% perspiration [motivation and hard work]." So it is with any difficult endeavor, including physics. I was both lucky and unlucky in that I did very little homework and did very little study in physics and the sciences in high school because I was able to get by with "inspiration" at that level of study. I was lucky to have done very well grade wise and honor wise in HS without having to raise a sweat by studying. But when I got to college, I just about flunked out of my freshman year. I was totally overwhelmed because, as it turned out, I was unlucky in not having to study in HS. I had not developed the "perspiration" to tackle physics at the university level. But, to make a long story short, I finally learned to study. Over the next forty years, I've earned two BS's, one MS, and the Ph.D. My point in this short story is that if you've done well in AP because of inspiration, you are less likely to succeed in college than if you've done well because of perspiration. Your grades are good, but how are your study skills? That's the key to success in college... your study skills.

Einstein couldn't even do simple math. Intelligence I would say doesn't matter, if you love it, have a passion, and most of all get it then the average Joe doesn't matter. You can be amazing in history, but horrible in English. High school is measuring your overall ability, so a subject that your not good at can bring your average down. If physics is what you understand then you should be able to do it. Knowing math and enjoying it will really help with physics (as I'm sure you know).

My friend, you must discover something himself and somewhere.It mean someone must give you theme or task (phD take for granted). Or you need to be head of device of science organisation but in any case put into shape your ability to be director. In such string time you really to be phD if you don't die on such job or serving.It is just your way (second) that is really hard.

Physics is probably the broadest subject we humans have ever developed - after all it ranges from medical scanners and computer chips to the creation of black holes and the expansion of the universe! I'm a firm believer that everyone has talents and skills that aren't exploited or developed in our secondary-level system. It's only when you get to college do you really see where those talents lie. I had a friend who was studying physics. He wasn't the most academically gifted, and struggled with exams. He thought about dropping out of his college course altogether. And then he hit the later years and suddenly had experimental projects to do. He was a fantastic experimentalist and ended up with a PhD despite not being fantastic at maths. The point is, physics is one of the last areas of study that still rewards hard work, dedication, interest and is broad enough for people with different skills, talents and aptitudes to succeed in. We tend to define 'genius' in terms of 'mathematical excellence' but physics is a lot more than simply being good at maths. Often, the best physicists are the ones who don't get it, find a way of thinking about a problem that makes sense to them, and then find that by thinking about it in that way new insights appear. There are multiple intelligences. Some people will be better than you at maths. You might be better at understanding what equipment needs to be used and what results mean. That's the beauty of physics - it requires lots of people with different skills for us to make progress! Go do physics, get your PhD, and kick *** ...

Physics is probably the broadest subject we humans have ever developed - after all it ranges from medical scanners and computer chips to the creation of black holes and the expansion of the universe! I'm a firm believer that everyone has talents and skills that aren't exploited or developed in our secondary-level system. It's only when you get to college do you really see where those talents lie. I had a friend who was studying physics. He wasn't the most academically gifted, and struggled with exams. He thought about dropping out of his college course altogether. And then he hit the later years and suddenly had experimental projects to do. He was a fantastic experimentalist and ended up with a PhD despite not being fantastic at maths. The point is, physics is one of the last areas of study that still rewards hard work, dedication, interest and is broad enough for people with different skills, talents and aptitudes to succeed in. We tend to define 'genius' in terms of 'mathematical excellence' but physics is a lot more than simply being good at maths. Often, the best physicists are the ones who don't get it, find a way of thinking about a problem that makes sense to them, and then find that by thinking about it in that way new insights appear. There are multiple intelligences. Some people will be better than you at maths. You might be better at understanding what equipment needs to be used and what results mean. That's the beauty of physics - it requires lots of people with different skills for us to make progress! Go do physics, get your PhD, and kick *** ...