I think I ****ed my Physics practical

SaBBz · 12 Jan 2007 at 18:11

DaveF said:
[Edit: And surely a slope of length l and height h gives theta = arcsin(h/l). Are you sure you were really prepared?]

I think he means horizontal length l?

DaveF · 12 Jan 2007 at 19:17

SaBBz said:
I think he means horizontal length l?

Even then, what he's said would still be wrong (should be arctan(h/l) = theta).

I don't mean to kick the man when he's down, but it seems at the moment there's several threads going on with people saying "I can't do my exam/homework/coursework" while taking very little personal responsibility for their situation.

I don't want to be the "old git" moaning about kids of today, but I read these threads and I'm despairing about what's happened to education. There's no question the exams are dumbed down and the students seem to expect to be spoon fed. This practical sounds like the kind of thing I'd have done at O level, for example. (And at that, it's not as bad as the Java project thread. I was writing better code in primary school!).

ArmyofHarmony · 12 Jan 2007 at 19:18

glad i didnt have a physics practical exam, hate practicals...

doing a physics degree now though, dreaded lab since day one... almost over now!

Vertigo · 12 Jan 2007 at 19:19

What strikes me about the OP's experience is that he obviously knows his stuff or he'd not realise that he screwed it up. I think this quite aptly demonstrates why there should be far more emphasis on coursework throughout the year than on individual high-pressure exams performed against the clock where simple mistakes can have serious consequences.

Amp34 · 12 Jan 2007 at 19:41

Vertigo1 said:
What strikes me about the OP's experience is that he obviously knows his stuff or he'd not realise that he screwed it up. I think this quite aptly demonstrates why there should be far more emphasis on coursework throughout the year than on individual high-pressure exams performed against the clock where simple mistakes can have serious consequences.

Yes and there should be a lot of emphasis on kids getting their parents/the internet to do the coursework for them... Oh wait they already do.

To be quite honest exams test you far more than coursework and practicals are the best of both worlds, the application of a question rather than just a question and not being able to cheat.

*Moangroan* · 12 Jan 2007 at 20:25

Yes I think that is still true...hopefully for you..... If you use the wrong values but if you have done the sum in the correct manner with the dodgy results you will still be awarded marks for the calculation.,

hendrix · 12 Jan 2007 at 20:49

Sorry to hear it. I'll be messing up my Part 2 Physics in a little over a weeks time

Just finished my final lab report for this semester but it's meant i've not had chance to revise for the exams coming up. Bring 'em on :rolleyes:

Angus-Higgins · 12 Jan 2007 at 20:58

Vertigo1 said:
What strikes me about the OP's experience is that he obviously knows his stuff or he'd not realise that he screwed it up. I think this quite aptly demonstrates why there should be far more emphasis on coursework throughout the year than on individual high-pressure exams performed against the clock where simple mistakes can have serious consequences.

But I am pretty certain (and it has been said before) that follow through marks will be awarded. (I have recently done exams, and these marks were awarded by many teachers, and I believe it is standard in exams in which a candiate could lose multiple marks for a mistake on a small question).

I quite like the idea of coursework, however, it can be both good and bad. I personally would prefer to do several modules, with individual tests, that I could resit, than have to do loads of coursework. (Or I think I do). Having multiple tests that would possibly culminate in one larger end-of-course exam, would give people the oportunity to revise smaller areas of a subject, and have an exam (where they cannot easily cheat) on that small area of the subject.

It is very easy for students to cheat on pieces of coursework (at GCSE I have seen people search the coursework title [on Google] and subsequently have a full piece of A* grade coursework that they can use as a "reference"). I think the modular idea is much better; students will find it harder to cheat (or I think so).

So, back to the point, I believe that the original poster will get follow-through marks, however, then will miss out on the mark for the actual values they got wrong.

Angus Higgins

Jonny ///M · 12 Jan 2007 at 21:41

Ricochet J said:
Had a Physics Practical exam today. Two practicals, got 35 mins for each, to do the readings and write up.
There were two parts. Mechanics and Electricity.

Mechanics
It was an inclined slope of height h, and lenth l, hence use tan(h/l) to find theta. Well, as simple as it sounds, I ****ed that up I took readings of the wrong length which means the rest of my answers were wrong because the other questions relied on me getting that right.
Afterward release a trolley from rest and do some things with the average time. I managed to get the lattar part right, but off course, it relied on the former being right!

Electricity
Had a a few circuits. Simply measure the voltage in parrallel and current in series. I ****ed that up. The current was measured in micro amps, so I need the calculations from the ammeter readings to include the power of 10^-3. I didn't, which meant my answers were wrong, as a result, the other questions which relied on that answer being correct were wrong.

In a nut shell I ****ed up and tbqfh don't really care any more

Seems rather crap,although thats how it goes i guess. In any accounts class i'v had if you mess one bit up they use that answer for the rest and aslong as you did what you needed to do properly then you get marks for what you did and only drop the mark for what you got wrong.

Comes in handly when your adding up with millions of pounds and press one wrong key on a calculator.

DaveF · 12 Jan 2007 at 23:33

Vertigo1 said:
What strikes me about the OP's experience is that he obviously knows his stuff or he'd not realise that he screwed it up.

I disagree. If you measure something wrong in a practical, probably the only way you'd ever realise it is if you discussed the results with people afterwards. Or if it was something radically wrong like using milliamps instead of amps, you'd realise when your answers didn't make sense. The thing is, measuring the slope wrong could happen to anyone, but using the incorrect units when measuring current is a pretty fundamental error.

I think this quite aptly demonstrates why there should be far more emphasis on coursework throughout the year than on individual high-pressure exams performed against the clock where simple mistakes can have serious consequences.

Amp34 has this pretty much bang on, I think. Anyone who is internet savvy and gets to mark coursework will quickly realise an awful lot of it isn't by the student. But it's not always easy to prove, and it's a lot of hassle for something that only reflects badly on the school, so people tend to get away with it.

And of course the other argument is there are many real world situations where you have to perform against the clock in high pressure situations. I'm slightly shocked at the post about accounts exams: I did maths at Uni, and although most of it was fairly theoretical, there were courses like numerical methods where the exam questions involved doing quite a lot of calculations. With those questions, the policy was basically "If you get the wrong answer, you lose most of the marks". Because at that level, you are preparing to go out into the real world, and solve real problems, and you are expected to get the right answer. It's not that difficult - you check your work, check your solution makes sense, and for simple things like adding up a column of numbers, you do it twice and make sure you get the same answer both times.

Jonny ///M · 12 Jan 2007 at 23:39

DaveF said:
. I'm slightly shocked at the post about accounts exams: I did maths at Uni, and although most of it was fairly theoretical, there were courses like numerical methods where the exam questions involved doing quite a lot of calculations. With those questions, the policy was basically "If you get the wrong answer, you lose most of the marks". Because at that level, you are preparing to go out into the real world, and solve real problems, and you are expected to get the right answer. It's not that difficult - you check your work, check your solution makes sense, and for simple things like adding up a column of numbers, you do it twice and make sure you get the same answer both times.

Well thats the way it went when i did my highers,maths you could get the benefit of the doubt i THINK i cant remember though.

Im now doing accounts at college and it seems to work the same way. Aslong as you show you know what you need to be doing then i dont see why making a silly mistake should make you fail.

Thinking about it now,we were told if you cant get the first part of a question with many parts you can make up an answer,use that for the rest of the question and you would get the marks for showing how you did what you did but would only loose the marks for getting it wrong at the start.

VeNT · 13 Jan 2007 at 00:18

isn't that kinda thing a bit simple for A levels?

geuben · 13 Jan 2007 at 00:42

those experiments sound very similar to the ones i did for my physics A level. i was really good a physics but completly messed up my AS practical and had to resit it. i did better the 2nd time round. but when it came to my A2 practical exam i messed up a bit again (cant remember how badly). still manage to come out with an A overall tho. if you've done well enough in the theory exams then they should help pull up the low practical mark

DaveF · 13 Jan 2007 at 01:27

Jonny ///M said:
Im now doing accounts at college and it seems to work the same way. Aslong as you show you know what you need to be doing then i dont see why making a silly mistake should make you fail.

Because in the real world, it won't matter if you make a mistake with the company accounts, right?

Jonny ///M · 13 Jan 2007 at 01:40

DaveF said:
Because in the real world, it won't matter if you make a mistake with the company accounts, right?

Nope,thats why you have error checking methods that you do at the end of the accounts

In an exam however,you are only asked certain parts.

.:MBK:. · 13 Jan 2007 at 01:44

you only get penalised for a mistake once, you will lose marks for the practical "bit" but all questions answered afterwards so long as its reasonably clear the numbers you used were derived from your experiment they will be marked as correct (assuming your calculations based on the wrong numbers were accurate)

...atleast i think thats what i kept getting told when i did AS physics (didnt do it at a-level, didnt really have the balls to mess up)

and as always, its not the end of the world, i was something like 200pts short for UEA, but im still here, and on the course i applied for

DaveF · 13 Jan 2007 at 02:06

Jonny ///M said:
Nope,thats why you have error checking methods that you do at the end of the accounts

Thing is, if you're not going to use those methods in an exam (where it's your future on the line), I'm not too confident you're going to use them properly on my accounts.

In my experience if you don't get in the habit of making sure you can do the "basics" accurately, it will end up biting you in the future. I've seen many people struggle with maths problems because they're making so many "silly" mistakes that even when they find the right approach, they haven't got a hope of getting to the end of the question because the mistakes send them hopelessly off course.

Jonny ///M · 13 Jan 2007 at 02:17

DaveF said:
Thing is, if you're not going to use those methods in an exam (where it's your future on the line), I'm not too confident you're going to use them properly on my accounts.

In my experience if you don't get in the habit of making sure you can do the "basics" accurately, it will end up biting you in the future. I've seen many people struggle with maths problems because they're making so many "silly" mistakes that even when they find the right approach, they haven't got a hope of getting to the end of the question because the mistakes send them hopelessly off course.

Well on an exam where i scored 92% i totalled two departments wrong for some reason,later down the line all your doing is working out absorbtion rates so why should you not get a mark for doing the thing right but its technically wrong due to the figure you used being wrong?

Of course if i was doing account for somebody your not as under pressure or rushing like mad to finsish a question lol.

You cant use those methods in an exam because it would take too long,they have a set time to test you on different areas of accounts so why spent 60% of the time on apportioning costs and absorbtion rates and 20% on stock valuation and 20% on whatever else.

Looking at an exam paper now,the questions are split up in such a way that if you get the wrong answer for part A then part B should be treated as a section of its own so you get the marks even though the original figure you used is what you are marked on.

DaveF · 13 Jan 2007 at 02:31

Jonny ///M said:
Well on an exam where i scored 92% i totalled two departments wrong for some reason,later down the line all your doing is working out absorbtion rates so why should you not get a mark for doing the thing right but its technically wrong due to the figure you used being wrong?

Guess it depends on whether the university wants you to take pains to make sure you get the right answer. I thought that would be important for accounts exams, but evidently not.

Jonny ///M · 13 Jan 2007 at 03:02

DaveF said:
Guess it depends on whether the university wants you to take pains to make sure you get the right answer. I thought that would be important for accounts exams, but evidently not.

Probably is but not at this level. Maybe year 2 and 3 but not in this year. Technically this is just like repeating my higher accounts but due to me ****ing up my highers and only getting a C in accounts(didnt appeal for the A i got in a prelim because i was done with the teach tbh).

As far as exams go i imagine the more you go through the course the more work you have to do but i guess the consequential marking still applies.