ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Physics => Topic started by: lolaishappy on December 18, 2014, 08:57:39 pm

Title: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: lolaishappy on December 18, 2014, 08:57:39 pm
What could we do over the holidays to prep for next year, we have been given chapter 1 questions but my skills still feel cold from this year. So its hard to get into the 1s, any tips to warm up for these questions, ugh.  :-\
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: AirLandBus on December 18, 2014, 10:36:07 pm
So we meet again - glad to see your doing physics too. Personally, i didnt even bother with questions from the textbook - mainly because were using Heinemann. What are you using? And I went straight to questions from checkpoints. And went well with them, but found that their wasnt enough and i need some more. So im planning on getting some more and just smashing out more questions, possibly doing some from past exams? Not sure. I wouldnt stress too much for physics in terms of holiday prep, maybe make some notes but the only things you really need for motion are the equations and what not, the real basics.

Edit: In terms of warming up the skills, i felt the same. Couldnt remember anything from last year. Just read over the textbook, highlight some of the key info and go from their. Maybe right them down, then just smash out questions and apply the knowledge.
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: lolaishappy on December 18, 2014, 11:06:21 pm
oh hello there, we are using the Jacaranda t.extbook, the content is so bulky tho. I'm most struggling with forces and electricity, how good checkpoints? Are you able to send a few sneak peaks of it? (like forces) Yea Ima look exam questions too
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: dankfrank420 on December 18, 2014, 11:10:01 pm
oh hello there, we are using the Jacaranda t.extbook, the content is so bulky tho. I'm most struggling with forces and electricity, how good are cambridge checkpoints? Are you able to send a few sneak peaks of it? (like forces) Yea Ima look exam questions too

I used Jacaranda for Units 1/2 Physics last year. If the 3/4 textbook is similar to the 1/2 one, don't bother with questions in there. Most of them are unrelated to the topic and will not help you with the exam. I haven't bought checkpoints, the school told us to buy NEAP questions + some little "StudyOn" booklet.

Also bought A+ notes. They any good?
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: lolaishappy on December 18, 2014, 11:14:32 pm
I havn't bought any of them, and I hope they are worth buying because my teacher is just eh. So I'm not keen on the textbook...
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: AirLandBus on December 18, 2014, 11:37:03 pm
I used Jacaranda for Units 1/2 Physics last year. If the 3/4 textbook is similar to the 1/2 one, don't bother with questions in there. Most of them are unrelated to the topic and will not help you with the exam. I haven't bought checkpoints, the school told us to buy NEAP questions + some little "StudyOn" booklet.

Also bought A+ notes. They any good?

So far ive got A+ notes and checkpoints. I didnt think of neap - might pick them up for extra hard questions. Ill send you through some checkpoints in the morning. In regards A+, i havent tried the questions yet, but the notes themselves are quite limited (as in not much detail), very concise and just throw in the bare essentials (equations) - but some additional handy stuff for approaching questions and shortcuts. Dont find it that useful but is brilliant if you cant remember a formula and for this purpose is brillant as a reference guide. P.S Neap stuff is hard - so expect to struggle at them. I wouldnt really bother with any textbook questions TBH, they all seem very basic, irrelevant and quite frankly boring.
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: PB on December 19, 2014, 01:35:17 pm
yeah, if you are going to go ahead in Physics during the hols, focus on going ahead in the concepts, not doing the questions. It is a mighty waste of time and resources doing the questions as you won't get too far. Try to read up on and understand the concepts in U3 to the point where you are able to teach a person with no knowledge of Physics!



Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: lolaishappy on December 19, 2014, 01:53:00 pm
yeah, if you are going to go ahead in Physics during the hols, focus on going ahead in the concepts, not doing the questions. It is a mighty waste of time and resources doing the questions as you won't get too far. Try to read up on and understand the concepts in U3 to the point where you are able to teach a person with no knowledge of Physics!

Grats on the 50  :o What did you do to get a solid understanding of the concepts?
Title: Re: Unit 3/4 prep
Post by: PB on December 19, 2014, 02:11:14 pm
Grats on the 50  :o What did you do to get a solid understanding of the concepts?

Thank you :) Well, what I meant by understanding the concepts during the holidays is just learning about them so you don't start Year 12 completely oblivious to what is in the U3 course.
The real solid, whole understanding comes with time and doing a lot of questions as there are many things you won't have picked up just by reading the textbook along(this should NOT be your priority during the hols, as tempting as it might be to want to know everything). Say in preparation for a SAC, you want to do heaps of questions - mark them, see where your understanding has failed you, then go and read on that section again in your textbook/notes/youtube to fix it up. Rinse and repeat until you are consistently getting the questions right.
Thats how I ensured I had a thorough understanding anyway.