BCLG'S Physics Lessons

[Sidhe]

I'm doing a-level physics. It's hard, but mostly because I haven't learned to formulae off by heart.

I had heard that most of the formulae are given in the exam and whilst I figure this is then testing your ability at maths rather than rote learning, I think it's best to learn any formulae you can to speed the process of calculation, so you can focus on the troubling areas.

I regret not studying physics at A' level I did a science course and focused on the physics blocks, but this is not the same as doing pure physics by any means.

memorise quadratic fromulae and things like (a+b)^2 = a^2+2ab+b^2, as well as the physics fromulae, it's amazing how much the little rules help later on, forget them at your peril, I forgot the second one and integrating was a real pain because of it(still is a bit, but practice makes perfect) The sad thing is you can work this out quite easily, but when they plonk an extra couple of numbers in a formulae for seemingly no reason it's good to know why Things like cos^2 + Sin^2=1 are invaluable too.

Do you intend on going to university to study physics btw?

 

[nonconformist]

option??? we didnt get any choice in the matter its a Synoptic exam-im going to come out crying following that. What are you doing?

Tomorrow I'm doing Forces Fields and Energy, Unifying Concepts of Physics, and on the 22nd I'm doing a Materials paper.

 

[col]

Forces Fields and Energy is the toughest of the modules.

 

[nonconformist]

Forces Fields and Energy is the toughest of the modules.

Do you think so?
I'm rather more intimidated by the Unifying Concepts paper, simply because of the huge scope it covers.

(I thought you lectured at university lvel, Col? )

 

[col]

Prefer to work at a Sixth Form College.

The unifying concepts paper is more open but good students find it OK. Weak students on the other hand get cleaned up by it.

I enjoy the paper. I think the examiners are quite creative.

 

[Sidhe]

Could you link this paper col, it sounds interesting?

 

[BCLG100]

erm im doing, waves fields and nuclear enerygy module tomorrow as well as Nuclear Instability-turning points in physics.

Next week i got Synoptic paper

 

[Truronian]

Anyone else doing Cosmology? I found the synoptic challenging, although I thought the content wasn't as advanced as the Module 4 (Forces, Fields and Energy I think). The synoptic tended just to ask questions in a more creative manner.

 

[BCLG100]

Anyone else doing Cosmology? I found the synoptic challenging, although I thought the content wasn't as advanced as the Module 4 (Forces, Fields and Energy I think). The synoptic tended just to ask questions in a more creative manner.

havnt seen the jan module 4 paper but id assume synoptic would be harder to revise for due to the immense amount of info you've got to know but depending on the questions could be easier.

 

[nonconformist]

Did it!
The Unifying Concepts was a doddle, but I found Forces, fields and Energy a bit harder than I'd expected.
They didn't even have any questions on exponential radioactive decay

 

[blackheart]

I took college level Physics this year, and I and a little ashamed that I have very little understanding of what is going on in this thread. But it is probably because our teacher covered only formulas and not concept.

 

[Sidhe]

Sounds like a bad teacher, maths without application is as bad as application without maths, physics is maths' beyatch and we all know it.

Seriously acceleration formulaes concepts become more revealing when you know how it is derived, it almost becomes obvious, but then that's the Genius of Newton and calculus. If you just know the formula and someone fails to explain with real world examples it's also fairly dry and fails to inform.

 

[Truronian]

Some maths though... I'll be interested to see how it factors into the real world. Of course, maths for its own sake is just as fun. (Unless its furthur Pure 3 I just majorly flunked that)

 

[nonconformist]

Some maths though... I'll be interested to see how it factors into the real world. Of course, maths for its own sake is just as fun. (Unless its furthur Pure 3 I just majorly flunked that)

Oh, I disagree; I find nothing more relaxing than working out resultant forces!

 

[Truronian]

Oh, I disagree; I find nothing more relaxing than working out resultant forces!

Mechanics 2 has destroyed this simple pleasure for me.

 

[Sidhe]

I found out a universal truth today, maths is a bastard to learn but when you understand it finally, it's a pleasure to do it over and over again just to really express your sense of achievement. The ends always justify the means, at least so far, if it stops becoming fun, then I'll study biology methinks

 

[BCLG100]

Did it!
The Unifying Concepts was a doddle, but I found Forces, fields and Energy a bit harder than I'd expected.
They didn't even have any questions on exponential radioactive decay

i nearly cried during that unit 4 thing, multi choice went ok but i just went so slowly through the rest of the paper that i left 2 of the last 3 pages blank i think i might have got what i did right though.

 

[nonconformist]

Wait....you get to do mullti-choice questions?

 

[BCLG100]

Yer we do AQA-A, module 4 consists of 2 papers, a multi choice (15 questions) and a normal test paper (5 questions) the multi choice are actually really hard though, just benefeit is even if you dont know the answer there is the chance of taking an educated guess.

 

[BCLG100]

Well good luck tomorrow chaps, after doing all the exams and resits i feel a bit more confident for the Synoptic paper so i dont think ill be needing your help this time col, just been doing past papers today