Question

Any tips on how to learn Quantum Mechanics effectively?

Answer 1

The mathematics involved in Quantum Mechanics is fairly simple. However the main challenge lies in understanding the subject. We are not talking here about the interpretation of QM which itself is now a very hot research topic. One should start with the old QM stuffs like photoelectric effect, blackbody radiation, Bohr model etc before going straight to the Schrodinger's formalism of QM to really get a flavour of where it all started. Start solving problems to gain confidence of your understanding. Once you are done with the old QM pick up a good book to study the Schrodinger's formalism of QM. Topics like uncertainty principle, one dimensional potential problems, Hydrogen atom, angular momentum and spin, perturbation theory, variational principle etc should be studied in depth with proper understanding as these topics are really very very important. Griffith's "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" is a great book for beginners. There are other very good books like "Quantum Physics" by Resnick & Eisenberg, "Introductory Quantum Mechanics" by Liboff etc. You should definitely try to solve all the problems given at the end of the chapters. They test your skill and understanding. The internet can be of great help as you can get lectures and course materials from the best institutions across the world. My personal favourites are mentioned below:

1. Susskind lectures on Quantum Mechanics [Stanford University]

http://theoreticalminimum.com/courses/quantum-mechanics/2012/winter

2. Barton Zwiebach lectures on Quantum Mechanics I-II [MIT]

Barton Zwiebach. 8.04 Quantum Physics I. Spring 2016.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare,
https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

3. V. Balakrishnan lectures on Quantum Mechanics [IIT Madras]

http://nptel.ac.in/courses/122106034/

Hope this helps. Happy learning!