VCE physics September lecture questions

[Bri MT]

Hey everyone!

This is Bri, I'm giving the VCE units 3&4 lecture on Thursday & I know that people might have some questions I can't get to during the lecture time so I'll answer those here - please feel free to add in other questions if you'd like me to address as well.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can look at all the info for the atarnotes free vce lectures here


Thanks everyone, I'm looking forward to the lecture

[ArtyDreams]

YAY I got SO excited when I saw you were taking the lecture!!! 

I'll add some questions here to start off!

1. Tips on making a cheat sheet/important things to add?
2. What are the best company exams for physics?
3. How pendantic are VCAA assessors with sig figs in Physics?
4. What are some common mistakes people make in Physics?
5. What sort of curveballs does VCAA throw in Physics exams?
6. Are we allowed to use really derived formulas? Does VCAA mind if we use formulas that dont require much working?
7. How much consequential marks are given? Does it happen often?

Whoops I didn't realise I already had this many!! I'll save the rest of my questions for later 

[Bri MT]

YAY I got SO excited when I saw you were taking the lecture!!! 

Thank you!!

I'll add some questions here to start off!

1. Tips on making a cheat sheet/important things to add?

- formulas you use that aren't on the VCAA sheet + formulas on the VCAA sheet where you need to label the components (e.g. consider putting the fringe spacing equation on your formula sheet)
- dot points for key points for common SA questions (e..g role of a commutator) remember to adapt these for the given question
- conceptual diagrams (e.g. I had lens' law diagrams on mine)

Tips:
- use it for your practice exams and practice questions. After each practice exam review what was helpful/not on your sheet. Adapt it as you learn
- Make it easy for you to read and find things - no tiny fonts & use colour co-ordination + logical grouping

2. What are the best company exams for physics?

The best company exams are the ones that you have access to and are relevant to the current study design. Most of mine were NEAP and TSSM. I don't have any strong opinions on which company exams are best but I do remember checkpoints being underwhelming and having multiple mistakes back when I was studying.

3. How pendantic are VCAA assessors with sig figs in Physics?

Historically they've been less concerned than chem but it's very important to keep on rounding during working. Recent examiners reports have emphasised including enough accuracy in your answer; I wouldn't stress about sig figs however you should use decimal places and sig figs in the question as a guide for the precision of your answer.

Students are rounding excessively during their working. For example, in Question 5b.,
6.37 × 10^6 + 2.00 × 10^7 should not be rounded to 2.6 × 10^7. Working should maintain as many
significant figures and/or decimal places as the data provided in the question stem. Rounding
should occur when the final answer is given

Rounding-off calculations should be done only at the end, not progressively after each step.
Answers should be in decimal form and reflect the correct number of significant figures

4. What are some common mistakes people make in Physics?

Mistakes with units, reading graphs incorrectly, substituting the wrong values into equations (e.g. for change in time), not sufficiently addressing the scenario. Then there are topics students struggle with, like springs and interference.

5. What sort of curveballs does VCAA throw in Physics exams?

Novel questions which require you to apply a concept to a situation you usually don't see it in. Questions that require you to integrate multiple concepts together. Experiment interpretation questions.

6. Are we allowed to use really derived formulas? Does VCAA mind if we use formulas that dont require much working?

Derived formulas are fine but you need to know their assumptions and be able to use them accurately and appropriately

Derived formulas from the student’s sheet(s) of notes may be used. However, they must be correct and appropriate for the question.

7. How much consequential marks are given? Does it happen often?

I haven't found any direct comments about the number of consequential marks being awarded however "good physics" is rewarded. You should always show working - not having it can strip you of marks and having it can gain you them.

Whoops I didn't realise I already had this many!! I'll save the rest of my questions for later 

That's alright! Thanks for asking - I'm sure a lot of students will be thinking about similar questions

[ArtyDreams]

Thanks so much Bri! 

[Bri MT]

Thanks so much Bri! 

No worries!

Thank you everyone for engaging with the lecture & for your feedback!

Let's get to some of those left over questions and handy links:

Here on the past VCAA exams the top link has exam specifications including the info I talked about with the summary sheet rules.

Are we likely to get nuclear physics questions based on the sun for Einstein's equations? thanks.

The sun might be used as context for a question however they'll be assessing 3&4 knowledge. You won't need to  - for example - memorise the fusion equations for energy production from the sun.

Could you please explain the energies and forces at different parts of a vertical/horizontal spring?

I'm going to do a more detailed annotation on top of the slides - if you have any questions for vertical after looking at that lmk and I can clarify further.

Horizontal is more straightforward since you're not dealing with gravity. Let's imagine you have a spring on the left and a mass to the right. When you push the mass to the left, compressing the spring, you apply a force to do so and the spring pushes a force back on how based on it's spring constant and how much you've pushed it in (delta x). You find the amount of force using Hooke's law. By compressing the spring it has elastic potential energy - you have a separate formula for this. When you release the spring, that force it's pushing to the right isn't being opposed by you anymore so the block experiences that as the net force (assuming no friction etc.) and accelerates. This acceleration (changing speed) is also reflective of how the elastic potential energy is being converted into kinetic energy.

Did you write digitially for your cheat sheet (like a stylus), or type out everything?

The laptop I had then didn't have a touch screen so I was typing.

-> Worked solutions for the questions incoming

Edit: I've annotated the slides more in depth and added more information, you won't be able to see the annotated version yet but it will be available.