The other comments are great! Great resources and points.
I think what is crucially important is to have someone to talk to. To engage with another human being in a discussion, at every step of the learning curve.
I studied physics in Germany 2005-2010, an then did my PhD 2010-2015.
In hindsight, I must conclude that being forced to discuss things with other people at every step was what taught me the most, was long-term the most rewarding.
About my own level of understanding, about judging my abilities, about how to actually solve problems.
Examples from my time studying:
- discussion among two people: trying to grasp and crack the same exercise
- discussion in the larger study group (5 people): when helping each other out, having to admit not having understood a certain thing, and specifically trying to address the "wait, I don't get this yet"s everyone has.
- discussion in exercise class (20 people): presenting "your" solution in a concise way, seeing other solutions, discussing caveats, pros, cons, elegance, deficiencies
- discussion in seminars: presenting "old" concepts to each other, discussing them and their historical relevance
... and so on.
In hindsight these countless discussions in smaller and larger study groups were _priceless_ towards understanding what physics is about. I mean it! After all, physics is science, and in science you can only contribute in a meaningful way when you understand the mental model of your fellow scientists reasonably well, when you "speak the same language".
I understand that this might be in conflict with "self-studying physics". If it is then it's important to be aware of it, possibly to try really hard to compensate for it (to find someone to do this together with, maybe!).
I think what is crucially important is to have someone to talk to. To engage with another human being in a discussion, at every step of the learning curve.
I studied physics in Germany 2005-2010, an then did my PhD 2010-2015.
In hindsight, I must conclude that being forced to discuss things with other people at every step was what taught me the most, was long-term the most rewarding.
About my own level of understanding, about judging my abilities, about how to actually solve problems.
Examples from my time studying:
- discussion among two people: trying to grasp and crack the same exercise
- discussion in the larger study group (5 people): when helping each other out, having to admit not having understood a certain thing, and specifically trying to address the "wait, I don't get this yet"s everyone has.
- discussion in exercise class (20 people): presenting "your" solution in a concise way, seeing other solutions, discussing caveats, pros, cons, elegance, deficiencies
- discussion in seminars: presenting "old" concepts to each other, discussing them and their historical relevance
... and so on.
In hindsight these countless discussions in smaller and larger study groups were _priceless_ towards understanding what physics is about. I mean it! After all, physics is science, and in science you can only contribute in a meaningful way when you understand the mental model of your fellow scientists reasonably well, when you "speak the same language".
I understand that this might be in conflict with "self-studying physics". If it is then it's important to be aware of it, possibly to try really hard to compensate for it (to find someone to do this together with, maybe!).