Reconsider if you’ve decided it would be great learning physics or not to learn about it. There are many things to be informed about, and you don’t need to know everything.
If you want to heed my instructions, question yourself about a thing you’d enjoy learning in physics. What’s the feeling? Is it good for you?
Yes? Then my assumption is wrong. I apologize. You will get something that catches your attention, and you will start going through books, articles from Wikipedia, and calculating exercises.
No? Then may I direct your focus to that feeling that stirred your interest in physics? How does it feel not knowing about the subject?
Physics cannot be learned in a lifetime, not to mention one day. Actually, the more you learn about it, the more you realize you don’t know it.
We regard the physics foundation to be Newtonian mechanics. Studying Newtonian mechanics and calculus for two to three years might have you where physics was 300 years back. That’s only the surface, though.
After another half a decade, you might be able to grasp classical physics. It has magnetism and electricity, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, Hamiltonian formalism and Lagrangian, and wave mechanics. You’ll be somewhere around 1905 or so.
With those basics, you can now start on modern physics. It begins with quantum mechanics and special relativity. It then proceeds with particle physics, general relativity, renormalization theory, quantum electrodynamics, quantum field theory, cosmology and astrophysics, grand unified theories, the standard model, and string theory.
Even if you dedicate your entire life to the single aim of studying modern physics, you will never learn all of it.
If you want to learn physics this year, you will need to understand theories first. Grasp the well enough to explain them in a simple language to anyone. You can move on to math after that. Understand that math does not replace physics; it only supplements it. A tutor who hurls formulas, theorems, and proofs, and a bunch of equations without elaborating on the concepts has no value. You’ll be better at reading on your own.
After knowing what to expect from a teacher, get replies to these questions;
What was the reason for the invention of calculus? What’s the reason for the tangent line to the initial graph? What’s the purpose of limits of functions?
Grasp the theory of pure numbers
What is the difference between distinction and length? What is the difference between temperature and heat?
What’s a force and its equation? Why does it work with energy changes?
A great idea is learning basic algebra and the principal solutions of inequalities. From that, you can move on to an introductory book dealing with Newton’s laws.
Starting to read pages on Wikipedia and doing a follow-up on links is always my instruction. It will give you a direction on the topics that interest you and an outline of the main topics.
The danger of self-teaching physics
Once you misinterpret a few things, you get to a point where everything doesn’t add up. The only way is to take courses.
If you cannot take a course, find books with answers at the back and work the questions. Not testing yourself can make you think you grasp more than you do.
Physics is a vast topic that whole life is not enough to complete, particularly with new concepts discovered constantly.