Physics Required Review Course (PHYS 202 Foundations of Physics) Information
All incoming physics graduate students are required to take the one-semester review course PHYS 202: Foundations of Physics in their first fall semester to review undergraduate knowledge of classical mechanics (CM), electromagnetism (EM), and quantum mechanics (QM). The course PHYS 202 can be found on the Office of Registrar website (https://registrar.ucmerced.edu/ ). The students will be assigned previous preliminary exam problems as homework and discuss the solutions and concepts during the class. There will be an opt-out written exam on the three subjects at the beginning of the course. The opt-out exam is not mandatory, and it consists of three two-hour exams on each of the three subjects. Students who pass a subject in the opt-out exam can waive the corresponding subject in the course. The grade is S/U with S being equivalent to getting B+ or higher in the three corresponding undergraduate courses (CM, EM, and QM). If a student prefers to take the full undergraduate course(s) instead of the review course, please discuss it with the instructor of PHYS 202 and the physics graduate program chair
