My recommendation is that if you want to even begin to understand stuff like string theory, you really need a solid background in the basics of physics and calculus. I took two courses in college with a large quantum physics component (College level physics II and physical chemistry) and I will say none of it made any sense at all until I just put aside my intuition and just followed the math, and that was just the basic stuff. I still can't understand shit like string theory even though I got pretty good at basic quantum physics, but I can at least follow some of the discussion because I have that foundational knowledge.