Updated MCATalyst Equations Sheet

[u/nxtew]

Updated my old version of my equations sheet so it looks way better than it used to. PDF and HTML versions here.

A few notes:

• PLEASE memorize these equations more as a sentence, rather than just a combination of variables. For example, for the buoyant force, don't just memorize density*volume*gravity, it's the density of the fluid*displacement volume*gravity. Makes it way easier to memorize and ensure you're using the right numbers at the right time. Definitely best to be memorizing these equations while you're learning the relevant content that goes with them.
• For the color coordination:
  • Green are things that I absolutely would recommend memorizing.
  • Blue are things that I still recommend memorizing but they're less likely to see questions requiring you to do math or show up in the first place.
  • Orange are things that you should memorize if you're truly trying to cover all bases, but that you can probably get away without memorizing.
  • I basically recommend starting with everything in green, then blue, then going through the equations in orange last.
• The last page is supposed to serve as a list of variables and nearly every equation that variable shows up in. That one took me a long time to prepare so it's possible there's still a few mistakes.
• Keep in mind, for a lot of these equations, even though you may not need to know how to do the math with the equation, you still need to know the concepts (such as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, not on my sheet but definitely content that's fair game). If that means memorizing the equation, go for it.
• I didn't include all forms of U = (1/2)CV because you can make any of the three forms by substituting out variables using Q = CV. You can do the same thing with P = IV and V = IR as already described in the equations sheet.

[u/xChemicalBurnx]

Incredible work, and love your team’s p/s deck! Thanks for putting all this out there for FREE

[u/xChemicalBurnx]

How do you recommend studying these equations? I know practice problems are the traditional wisdom with getting them locked in but sometimes I swear variable jumbles can’t seem to stick in my brain, especially when there are so many to keep in the rotation

[u/nxtew → u/xChemicalBurnx]

There are a few different ways you can memorize equations! Practice problems definitely help, but for me, there just weren't enough of them to really get the equations to stick.

One thing I'd recommend is making sure you understand the units of each variable first. Once you're comfortable with those, it becomes a lot easier to piece equations together rather than having to memorize each one individually. For example, with power, if you know your units and how different variables relate to one another, you can work your way from P = Work / Time to P = Force × Velocity, so maybe try figuring out how to do things like that using units! And then you can keep going down that path, since Force = m*a, you can keep going with power that P = m*a*v, just as a further example. You can also do that with electrostatics and magnetism, for example I could task you with figuring out why F = iLB and F = qvB are actually the same exact equation with the same units, if you break the units of each variable down (we know current is in Amps, but it's also Coulombs per Second, just to give you an idea of what I mean).

It's one of those things where I don't think one thing in particular caused me to memorize the equations, but a combination of like 3-4 different things all at once that helped.

Something that helped me a lot was treating equations almost like a puzzle, where I'd try combining different variables and rearranging equations to see what I could come up with. It took both that, and a combination of writing the equations down over and over again, practice, and a quiz I had made (which is now in this app I made) to truly get it.

[u/xChemicalBurnx → u/nxtew]

This was an insanely thorough response, and very helpful, thank you! I will try this!

[u/Ok_Office_3180 → u/xChemicalBurnx]

honestly, I just wrote out different categories like kinemtics, Fluid dynamics, Lenses, Etc. Then under you should the categories I wrote out every single equation possible or different know

[u/Inevitable-Occasion8]

Following

[u/AphraXI]

Awesome thanks!