VCE Physics with no year 10 experience

[Evolyn]

Hey all,

I am moving on to year 10 next year and have decided to undertake Business Management 1/2 and General Maths 1/2 as advanced placements.  The only problem is that during the time that the Year 11s do maths is at the time when the year 10s do a physics + chemistry elective.  I want to get into the field of automotive engineering and I know that I have to do physics in year 11 and I was wondering how much it would impact me to not be doing physics in year 10 before moving onto units 1 and 2.  I will be doing a subject that covers chemistry and biology as that fits in with my schedule so I should be alright on the chemistry side of things.  What recommendations would people have regarding studying at home and what else would anybody have to say about my current situation?

Thanks
Evelyn

[Tau]

Hey all,

I am moving on to year 10 next year and have decided to undertake Business Management 1/2 and General Maths 1/2 as advanced placements.  The only problem is that during the time that the Year 11s do maths is at the time when the year 10s do a physics + chemistry elective.  I want to get into the field of automotive engineering and I know that I have to do physics in year 11 and I was wondering how much it would impact me to not be doing physics in year 10 before moving onto units 1 and 2.  I will be doing a subject that covers chemistry and biology as that fits in with my schedule so I should be alright on the chemistry side of things.  What recommendations would people have regarding studying at home and what else would anybody have to say about my current situation?

Thanks
Evelyn

If I understand you right, and you’ll be doing Physics 1&2 followed by 3&4 without doing Year 10 Physics, then I wouldn’t be worried at all. Units 1&2 will safely cover the prerequisites you need for 3&4, and there aren’t really ‘prerequisites’ for 1&2.

If you are interested in doing some preparatory work, then perhaps grab a 1&2 textbook and focus on the motion areas of study.

[ArtyDreams]

Hi!

I personally think you will be absolutely fine without doing Year 10 Physics.

I did Year 10 Physics, and then Units1&2, and realised that for me, a lot of the topics covered in Units1&2 were not done in Year 10 Physics, meaning they taught most of the course from scratch anyway. Only a few minor motion topics were covered, but only simple ones such as distance, speed, etc.

What I'd recommend to you is at the end of the Year, particularly if your school does Headstart, you could ask for some of the Year 10 SACs/ Exams and go through them on the holidays. Overall, there is not much prior knowledge required from Year 10.

[Evolyn]

Hi!

I personally think you will be absolutely fine without doing Year 10 Physics.

I did Year 10 Physics, and then Units1&2, and realised that for me, a lot of the topics covered in Units1&2 were not done in Year 10 Physics, meaning they taught most of the course from scratch anyway. Only a few minor motion topics were covered, but only simple ones such as distance, speed, etc.

What I'd recommend to you is at the end of the Year, particularly if your school does Headstart, you could ask for some of the Year 10 SACs/ Exams and go through them on the holidays. Overall, there is not much prior knowledge required from Year 10.

If I understand you right, and you’ll be doing Physics 1&2 followed by 3&4 without doing Year 10 Physics, then I wouldn’t be worried at all. Units 1&2 will safely cover the prerequisites you need for 3&4, and there aren’t really ‘prerequisites’ for 1&2.

If you are interested in doing some preparatory work, then perhaps grab a 1&2 textbook and focus on the motion areas of study.

Thank you.  I'll look through some of the previous exams and go through the textbook over the holidays.  I appreciate the help/advice.

[thisissara]

Hey all,

I am moving on to year 10 next year and have decided to undertake Business Management 1/2 and General Maths 1/2 as advanced placements.  The only problem is that during the time that the Year 11s do maths is at the time when the year 10s do a physics + chemistry elective.  I want to get into the field of automotive engineering and I know that I have to do physics in year 11 and I was wondering how much it would impact me to not be doing physics in year 10 before moving onto units 1 and 2.  I will be doing a subject that covers chemistry and biology as that fits in with my schedule so I should be alright on the chemistry side of things.  What recommendations would people have regarding studying at home and what else would anybody have to say about my current situation?

Thanks
Evelyn

In year 11 physics, the topics you cover are thermodynamics, electricity, matter and motion. I would highly advise that you honestly just work to the study design of year 11 physics and just make notes and do lots of practise questions. The best way to do this is to just borrow the physics textbook from your school and work from that. This would give you a great headstart for year 11 but also that would mean that in year 11 you can also extend yourself and learn the content from the year 12 study design!

I wasn't in the same situation as you, however I basically taught myself everything in year 10 and this year I had a fantastic time in physics! I found learning and consolidating my knowledge especially before exams far easier, so it gave me time to focus on my other subjects too!

Best of luck with your studies, I'm sure you'll do super well! 

[milanander]

You'll be fine. The first couple of weeks of 1/2 physics goes through all the basics you'll need for the subject so you won't be behind. If you want some extra reassurance, try getting some year 10 physics resources off your teachers or classmates.

Anyway seeing that you're still learning chemistry and biology, you'll have no problem with the scientific jargon that can stump people when they first go into 1/2 physics without much science background.

[zuijinde]

My school didn't even have any physics inclined subjects in year 10. The only taste of physics we had was core science where we only learned basic kinematics and that's it. You'll be alright, unit 1/2 physics starts from the very basics.