He has a new syllabus (I'm pretty sure all boards are changing), so they won't be anywhere near as helpful as for previous years.
That said, old papers will still be helpful, and there should be some example papers issued by the board.
A-Level Physics?
- Thread starter JoeWed
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He has a new syllabus (I'm pretty sure all boards are changing), so they won't be anywhere near as helpful as for previous years.
That said, old papers will still be helpful, and there should be some example papers issued by the board.
Go for it mate. Physics, like all 'hard' subjects just means that you have to work hard!! Unless you are gifted then i doubt you will get much out of the course unless you practice the stuff from books. Examples are the calculations for a-level physics books, excellent in my opnion 
I don't believe it can ever be beneficial to hear something like an A-Level in physics is "easy". If it is genuinely easy, then the qualification isn't worth having. If the qualification isn't that easy, you'll feel very low if you begin to struggle.
Take it as it comes, and work hard. The internet is an excellent source of information and there are lots of online student-based communities where you can ask for help, should you get stuck.
Take it as it comes, and work hard. The internet is an excellent source of information and there are lots of online student-based communities where you can ask for help, should you get stuck.
it's fairly easy to grasp if you are gifted at sciences.
if you're a monger, then you'll find it impossible.
Nothing wrong with A Level Computing, the changes to the course are making it far far more technical, from what we've been told.
Did AS computing over year 10 and 11 and am doing A2 in the first year of sixth form. I enjoyed it, although that might have been due to our teacher, who basically left it up to us to do the work, and was a generally nice guy. Get my results for it next week, but with unit 1 I already had a very high A (3 marks of 100%), unit 2 first time I got 1 mark off an A, but have retaken (best grade goes through).
My unit 2 retake and unit 3 went very well, so looking foward to the grade.
AS Physics was tempting to me until we did the GCSE physics exam; which with the exception of a geography paper, went the worst for me, which has put my chances of an A* in this science gcse down a bit.
Did AS computing over year 10 and 11 and am doing A2 in the first year of sixth form. I enjoyed it, although that might have been due to our teacher, who basically left it up to us to do the work, and was a generally nice guy. Get my results for it next week, but with unit 1 I already had a very high A (3 marks of 100%), unit 2 first time I got 1 mark off an A, but have retaken (best grade goes through).
My unit 2 retake and unit 3 went very well, so looking foward to the grade.
AS Physics was tempting to me until we did the GCSE physics exam; which with the exception of a geography paper, went the worst for me, which has put my chances of an A* in this science gcse down a bit.
How enlightening.
I just finished A levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Computing, get results next thurs. Hoping to get all A's but need AAB for Bsc Maths and Physics at Warwick, (masters if i like it enough/am good enough to do it)
AS Physics is pretty straight forward, just remember stuff and be alright with maths. A2 gets harder considerably and the class size reduces quite a bit lol, but still, grasp the concepts and then all you have to do is memorise stuff. Try do further maths if you can, its more of a challenge than normal maths
and computing is toss, you get to write a program (that could be done a million times easier in access as its only a simple database), but then you have to do the whole project like the design and evaluation and other boring stuff, then you have to remember a load of useless crap for the exams that you can learn in a few days before the exam, and forget it all after the exam. Pointless imo, but hey, its another A level in the bag.
lol
Universities like you having further maths, if you intend to go to a good one id advise you to do it, it usually lowers the entrance grade from AAA to AAB in places like Warwick and Manchester. And it means you get an easier first year at uni if you put the work in now, which means more party time!
btw, any questions you need answerin feel free to ask
AS Physics is pretty straight forward, just remember stuff and be alright with maths. A2 gets harder considerably and the class size reduces quite a bit lol, but still, grasp the concepts and then all you have to do is memorise stuff. Try do further maths if you can, its more of a challenge than normal maths
and computing is toss, you get to write a program (that could be done a million times easier in access as its only a simple database), but then you have to do the whole project like the design and evaluation and other boring stuff, then you have to remember a load of useless crap for the exams that you can learn in a few days before the exam, and forget it all after the exam. Pointless imo, but hey, its another A level in the bag.lol
Universities like you having further maths, if you intend to go to a good one id advise you to do it, it usually lowers the entrance grade from AAA to AAB in places like Warwick and Manchester. And it means you get an easier first year at uni if you put the work in now, which means more party time!
btw, any questions you need answerin feel free to ask
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No one questioned that. Sadly, sarcasm doesn't translate well through this medium of communication. Yes, gifted people can find exams easy, stupid people can find exams difficult. I have an inkling that the OP was already aware of these facts.It's the truth
I did my a-level in Physics and maths a few years ago. I would highly recommend doing Maths with Mechanics rather than statistics as there is cross over and helps you understand a lot of the concepts much more easily. Especially useful if going on to do Physics at uni as you'l have a sound grounding in the basics.
Not strictly true. Saying different people put in different hours to the same result, is much fairer.
I should really have said artsy English Language types will find it impossible. it depends on your natural skill set.
Nite, some people I know just couldn't grasp some of the concepts, which others grasped straight away, no matter how hard they tried. As I said, it depends on what you're naturally good at.
I did Maths, Physics, Electronics & Computing.
Maths was stupidly hard, i did OK after retaking virtually everything and using all the scores from the second sittings of the exams, but i wouldnt do it again.
Physics was surprisingly easy, it was like an easy version of maths. Doing maths alongside it definitely made it easier as the maths classes would throw similar questions at you but in much more detail.
Computing was utter nonsense, we had to make a program in Pascal and write all about it. I couldn't be bothered with any of the computing side of it, but the final mark was about 90% in favour of the write-up so i still got a B without doing ANY programming. I made the front end pictures for the write-up in paint
Maths was stupidly hard, i did OK after retaking virtually everything and using all the scores from the second sittings of the exams, but i wouldnt do it again.
Physics was surprisingly easy, it was like an easy version of maths. Doing maths alongside it definitely made it easier as the maths classes would throw similar questions at you but in much more detail.
Computing was utter nonsense, we had to make a program in Pascal and write all about it. I couldn't be bothered with any of the computing side of it, but the final mark was about 90% in favour of the write-up so i still got a B without doing ANY programming. I made the front end pictures for the write-up in paint
Another world-beater.
Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm certainly willing to put the work in so I think I'll go for it.
About the Further Maths some people have suggested, originally I wanted to do that but I got told I wouldn't be able to without first having an AS in Math...
I can however, if all is going well after the 1st year do a 1 year AS in Further Maths. Not as good as a full/proper 'A-Level' but still something
Thanks again!
About the Further Maths some people have suggested, originally I wanted to do that but I got told I wouldn't be able to without first having an AS in Math...
I can however, if all is going well after the 1st year do a 1 year AS in Further Maths. Not as good as a full/proper 'A-Level' but still something
Thanks again!
If you're good at maths then physics should be OK for you too.
A lot of it is basically applied maths and like maths it doesn't require much in the way of 'learning' - more understanding the concepts and being capable of applying them. Definitely a respectable A-Level to have.
A lot of it is basically applied maths and like maths it doesn't require much in the way of 'learning' - more understanding the concepts and being capable of applying them. Definitely a respectable A-Level to have.
At best, see if you can do the 4 core modules of maths and then M1 and S1(over the two years, so S1, C1, C2 in AS and then M1 C3 C4 in A2), as we did, so you don't have to get into the harder modules of the mechanics and statistics.
Physics for us (AQA) was quite easy maths wise since it is a less hard version of the maths A-level (and mechanics section). However, the quantum physics parts can be quite hard to understand.
Put work in, and do past papers (regardless of whether the syllabus has changed, you'll still find relevant questions, just not all of them will be), and you should be fine.
Physics for us (AQA) was quite easy maths wise since it is a less hard version of the maths A-level (and mechanics section). However, the quantum physics parts can be quite hard to understand.
Put work in, and do past papers (regardless of whether the syllabus has changed, you'll still find relevant questions, just not all of them will be), and you should be fine.
When i did physics at A level it was all maths. Hated it. Everything was an equation. And then you had to bring in other equations to sort out other ones. Most people that did well were also doing Maths A level, so number logic was in their brain and they loved it.
For me working out the coefficient of friction and such like made me pass out.
For me working out the coefficient of friction and such like made me pass out.