All of undergrad quantum mechanics at MIT

May 2023

The midterm went... worse than expected. I learned my score over spring break: 39%.

For years I've said, "Take classes because of what you'll learn, not to get a good grade." In freshman spring, I took 8.05 (Quantum II) without 8.04 (Quantum I) after a friendly senior beat this advice into me. Now here I was taking 8.06 (Quantum III), the last semester of undergrad quantum physics at MIT---and I'd gotten the worst score of my life. I wondered whether I'd taken a step too far. I felt awful for a short time over spring break.

When I returned to MIT on April 3rd, I woke up surprisingly early at 5am and was filled with inspiration.

In a notebook, I penned the words, "The April Challenge: Back to the Basics." I drew up a checkbox for every day of the month, and I resolved to read one chapter per morning of our textbook, which covers 8.04, 8.05, and 8.06, until I had loaded all of undergrad quantum mechanics into my brain.

The notes below are the result. I scored 100% on the final exam.