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March 29, 2024, 07:06:55 am

Author Topic: VCE Physics  (Read 2829 times)  Share 

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Shanan :D

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VCE Physics
« on: January 25, 2022, 09:09:39 pm »
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Hi there,

I have been looking into different VCE Subjects that I want to do and I want to know about Physics. I have a few questions that I hope some past students can help me with?

1: Is the Content Very Heavy?
2: When did the people with really high raw scores (45 - 50 raw) start?
3: Any Suggestions on Starting?
4: Is the Content too much? (I intend on doing Bio, Chem, Physics, Methods, Spesh, Eng Lang) I have seen others pull this off to a crazy level and I was wondering what others thought of this?
5: Is it Enjoyable?
6: Does it tie into any other subjects really well?

Anyway, that's all I have for now, I would really appreciate an answer from as many past students/tutors as possible so please feel free to reply!

sweetiepi

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Re: VCE Physics
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2022, 09:42:16 pm »
+3
Hi there,

I have been looking into different VCE Subjects that I want to do and I want to know about Physics. I have a few questions that I hope some past students can help me with?

1: Is the Content Very Heavy?
2: When did the people with really high raw scores (45 - 50 raw) start?
3: Any Suggestions on Starting?
4: Is the Content too much? (I intend on doing Bio, Chem, Physics, Methods, Spesh, Eng Lang) I have seen others pull this off to a crazy level and I was wondering what others thought of this?
5: Is it Enjoyable?
6: Does it tie into any other subjects really well?

Anyway, that's all I have for now, I would really appreciate an answer from as many past students/tutors as possible so please feel free to reply!

Hello!
I'm not sure of the current Study Design but I'm happy to answer #5 and #6 :)

5 - I found it enjoyable, but I also had an excellent physics teacher at the time (@Calebark can vouch for this too). As with most subjects, there's some parts that may be dry.
6 - I did specialist and physics together and I found that both kinda tied in well, but there's not much overlap those two. Very minimal overlap for other subjects is my experience. :)
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james.358

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Re: VCE Physics
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2022, 08:15:12 am »
+5
I agree with Insanipi for questions 5 and 6, so I'll just take a go at answering questions 1 to 4.

1: Is the Content Very Heavy?

Comparing to all the other subjects you're planning to do, the content isn't heavy at all. There is a lot less you have to remember due to the double sided A3 summary sheet you can bring (all the definitions and formulae can go there). It is more about application.

2: When did the people with really high raw scores (45 - 50 raw) start?
3: Any Suggestions on Starting?

There's really no definitive answer. The earlier you start, the less you have to do each day. I think this quote really encapsulates how it works: "The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now"

4: Is the Content too much? (I intend on doing Bio, Chem, Physics, Methods, Spesh, Eng Lang) I have seen others pull this off to a crazy level and I was wondering what others thought of this?

I won't sugar coat this. If you do all 6 in one year, then yes these subjects will be very very demanding, especially if you want to go for the high 40s. However, it becomes a lot more manageable if you can move a time intensive subject (e.g. Bio or Methods) to complete in Y11. But if you love STEM these subjects should all be really enjoyable, so if they're the subjects you're really passionate about go for it!
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SS1314

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Re: VCE Physics
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2022, 02:34:41 pm »
+3
Hi there,

I have been looking into different VCE Subjects that I want to do and I want to know about Physics. I have a few questions that I hope some past students can help me with?

1: Is the Content Very Heavy?
2: When did the people with really high raw scores (45 - 50 raw) start?
3: Any Suggestions on Starting?
4: Is the Content too much? (I intend on doing Bio, Chem, Physics, Methods, Spesh, Eng Lang) I have seen others pull this off to a crazy level and I was wondering what others thought of this?
5: Is it Enjoyable?
6: Does it tie into any other subjects really well?

Anyway, that's all I have for now, I would really appreciate an answer from as many past students/tutors as possible so please feel free to reply!

Hi Shanan,

First of all, its great that you are keen on investigating further into your VCE subjects instead of just blinding picking them, which many of us past VCE students are guilty of 😅.

1. Having done all three of the core sciences, I would say Physics is in fact the least content heavy simply because of how interconnected everything is. Whilst Biology is almost entirely theory based, Physics doesn't have too many (completely) distinct topics, with the prime example being motion and energy which are relevant in almost all areas of the subject. So if memory is your main concern then you should be more worried about Bio not Physics haha

2. I assume you're referring to going ahead of the course. I actually didn't do Physics 1/2 so I actually had to go BACK into the previous course lol, but I would say I remained about 2 chapters ahead of my teacher for most of the year. I found that if I went more ahead than this then I had just half-assed the topics for the sake of completion, which is ultimately pointless. However, I believe for an averagely talented student, going ahead is definitely a must if you want to ensure a 45+ SS since it ensures you have enough time to grasp concepts and are able to ask some good questions to your teacher when they finally reach that topic.

3. Since you are doing Physics 1/2, I reckon you should maybe look over some motion concepts during your free time (just light reading is enough) since that's the topic MOST relevant to 3/4 Physics and something students struggle to fully grasp by year 12. P.s. thermodynamics is COMPLETELY irrelevant for year 12, though still interesting  :)

4. Ngl your subjects do seem quite intense if you aren't doing any advanced placement, however the one good news is that Methods, Spesh and Physics are all linked somehow, with Methods leading onto Spesh and certain Spesh concepts being helpful for Physics (i.e mechanics and vectors). So, if you're interested in STEM I can't see why your subject combo is not doable.

5. Of course! I personally found Physics MUCH MUCH more interesting than Chemistry since I found it more conceptually rewarding to fully understand. However, I won't sugar coat it, there are some dry areas, such as motion, that simply require you to practice in order to excel and aren't that theory focused on their own. Saying this, you have to go through some hard times to unlock the mysteries of the universe    ;)

6. Yep, like I said earlier, Physics and Spesh do have some similarities. Even some parts of Chem are related but they are fundamentally different subjects. For Physics and Spesh, I would say that Physics helps more with Spesh than the other way around since Spesh is just more maths focused rather than containing any hardcore Physics.
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RaspberryTau

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Re: VCE Physics
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2022, 11:02:47 pm »
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Hi there!

This is what I found:
- Spec & Physics go together like sausages and tomato sauce..... I find/found physics helps spec more than the other way around (but I would highly recommend doing them both).

- Physics is by far my easiest subject this year - would recommend if ur ok at maths (only needs yr 10 level) but the more you know the better.

- Now it is true that Chem and Physics disagree from time to time (units namely).... But it's not much of an issue....

- The main bits from y11 that matter are ur kinematics/dynamics (also done in spec), and little bits of other stuff here and there...

Hope this helps! :)

VCE 2021: Methods (42 raw), Biology (46 raw); 2022: Chemistry, English, Spec, Physics