VCE Physics 1/2 Review

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After multiple readings of pi's review of 3&4 Physics for VCE, I thought I would attempt to expand that artful piece into the realm of units 1&2.
This will of course be totally unbiased, much like pi.  His article here ==> [Review] VCE Physics 3/4

The course?
Whatever may be said about 3/4 physics, and however dry the course may be, at least it contributes to your atar. 1/2 on the other hand, is little more than a boring way to waste a year. The course is largely uninteresting – circuits, motion and the detailed studies are totally dull. Light had some potential but essentially it comes down to ray tracing and calculations of focal length. The theory of light is covered in minimal detail and won’t excite you. The only part of the course that may interest you mildly is nuclear physics, but that isn’t even in 3/4.

The Heinemann textbook is also fairly useless – most of the questions are irrelevant, the examples are incredibly simple, and the rest is filled with pointless context information that is written in such simple layman’s terms that they lose all possibility of being interesting or valuable. It’s not really useful for exam preparation either. The textbook could have made the course more stimulating, but it simply disappoints.

Relevence?
Again, this is a total failure. Everything you cover in 1/2 physics that reappears in 3/4 is covered again in more detail and there’s plenty of time to learn it. 1/2 is not conceptually difficult at all; all you need to do is plug numbers into varying formulas and that pretty much covers it. Ultimately I would say that 1/2 is not at all necessary for 3/4. Motion and electricity are expanded on in year 12, but still give you more than enough time to cover the 1/2 stuff, light is not similar at all and nuclear physics isn’t even included. Physics is unlike chemistry, maths and English in VCE – the extra experience and time in those subjects is generally quite useful. Not in VCE physics.

Difficulty?
Not a difficult course at all. What I noticed was that the majority of my class were often complaining to the teacher that we were doing ridiculously simple work that seemed pointless. What took us an entire year to do in class, you could teach yourself in probably 10-20 (give or take) hours depending on your aptitude for this sort of stuff.

In unit 2, I did no work. Literally none. I showed up to class, sat the tests (did pretty average on the light test, because there is a little bit of new theory and some formulas that you won’t have seen before), but did no problems from the book and didn’t write any notes. Many students had a fairly similar work ethic. Before the exam I skimmed through the chapters and made a fairly concise summary sheet (maybe 3 hours worth of work) and got something like 95%. Granted, it wasn’t the most difficult exam, and that’s not a perfect score, but I think this is an accurate reflection of what 1/2 physics will be like for you.

In Summary
Unless you’re someone who struggles with physics, science or maths in general and you know you need the little bit of extra experience, my advice would honestly be don’t do the 1/2. Use the year for something else; do an alternative 3/4, experiment with a new subject but for the love of god don’t piss around in a physics class all year – you could find something a lot better to do. You can still achieve a satisfactory mark in year 12 without having done the 1/2  -  for some that might mean a little bit of extra effort, but in my opinion that’s still a better option.

Yes this is a spiteful and slightly biased review, but at the end of the year, me and my class all thought we had experienced a drawn out practical joke. Anyway, I think you’ve got the point here.
If you found it interesting at your school please reply and hopefully you can change my mind.