Studying electrodynamics problems Suppose an advanced undergraduate student has reached a moderate level of understanding on electrodynamics.
Where should he focus on, to sharpen his problem-solving skills?


*

*Practicing integrals and/or other mathematical tools.

*Studying theoretical results.

*Working on the physical meaning and applications of ED equations.

*Something else.


I understand this is a somewhat subjective question but please try to be as objective as possible: state what really works based on your experience as a teacher/TA for example
 A: In my humble experience, solving Griffiths problems gets you good at solving Griffiths problems, but not much more. Typically, they've already done/seen the math required, so I'd only work on the calculus part if they're really struggling. Studying theoretical results doesn't seem a great idea either; they'll pick that up along the way or in class. What I prefer is to study more 'extended' problems, i.e. a real life example for the (classical) literature, guide them through the development and finish with a comparison to experimental results. This way, they plough through the maths but also need to do a minimum of interpreting. However, if your goal is just to get them great at working Griffiths-like problems, this might be overkill.
A: If you're going to stay in physics, you're going to have to take the physics GRE. So why not study the E&M questions on the sample GRE tests? They're nice simple questions and test your understanding of physics, not your understanding of mathematics. You can get the sample questions here:
http://grephysics.net/ans/
