Who here loves physics?

[Ilovemathsmeth]

Seems interesting, haven't studied it for VCE though. Personally feel interested in the astronomy side of physics.

[vexx]

Physics I think is like biology in some ways. Not the content ofcourse but in ways like, its interesting to study but hard, for me atleast.

I consider biology and also chem to some degree much more memory-based, which I dislike. Physics is more about understanding rather than memorizing large volumes of content.

i agree with biology definitely there is a lot of memorising. but with chemistry, the majority of it is about understanding and not as much memory-based. but yes, much more memorising than physics.

[superflya]

I'd say physics is a lot easier then chem

[appianway]

At VCE level, yes

[superflya]

how on earth did u pull off a score like that

[appianway]

Was that directed at me in relation to my 50 in physics?

I enjoyed the subject area. It's as simple as that. I somehow had a decent understanding of the underlying concepts (which aren't explained well in the VCE course), and worked quickly enough to ensure that I had plenty of time to check my work for careless mistakes. I remember deriving my own equations for things which weren't even in relation to the VCE course and formulating my own problems to work through.

I guess success in a VCE subject (be it physics, a language, anything) is made so much easier if you like the subject for what it is, not for what mark you'll get.

That's why I'm not posting my study score aims in my signature. I have them, but for me, the most important thing is that I learn and develop a passion for each area.

[appianway]

It depends on the year. In 2009, there wasn't anything conceptually challenging on the paper, so it didn't discriminate between students at higher levels. That said, 50s in any subject are only given to approximately 0.2% of students, so you've still got to beat 99.8% of the cohort.

In other years though, the papers have been more difficult, and hence you've had to have a pronounced talent to succeed. I do wonder whether a lot of the top scorers from this year would have achieved highly anyway - I know that at my school, 2 of the 3 50 scorers attained 50 in Methods, including one who'd also 50-ed Chemistry (neither of them had rank 1 in physics, but they were both smart girls).

[Ilovemathsmeth]

I agree. Usually if you perform well in a subject, it's because you liked it and doing the work wasn't a chore.

Take me and Psych, Methods, Accounting and Further. I loved all those subjects, enjoyed studying them and revision wasn't a chore unlike for English. If you love a subject, you won't mind going further than the prescribed text books for it.

[boysenberry]

I like Chemistry better than Physics.

Having only done year 11 Physics my thoughts may be a bit premature but I find Physics harder. To me, it's just too 'dry' and 'mechanical' (sorta like spesh) for my liking. Though the stuff about atomic radiation and waves seem interesting. Light is a bore and I found it really tedious to draw those light ray diagrams. Motion looks interesting, though I never really got into it. I just read the chapters but got lazy and ended up not doing any questions.

[jayfan]

I like physics for its conciseness, but vce physics has somehow ended up as a course that is too formulaic - by this I mean you can get a high SS in it by rote-learning formulas and copy-and-pasting explanations from your cheat sheet.

I've done all the VCAA physics exams back to 2002, and the questions seem to be quite predictable. The 2009 exams really didnt discriminate b/w students at higher levels - it was more about who can make the least mistakes. VCAA's making each multiple choice worth 2 marks didnt help either

[QuantumJG]

I'd say physics is a lot easier then chem

At VCE level, yes

100% correct.

First year uni physics looks at VCE stuff and extends it by heaps. The difficulty of maths is much greater than VCE physics. I also don't like the structure, since you are thrown into magnetism without looking at electric fields and literally the fundamentals of electricity, Light and optics should be covered in year 12. Basically you enter university physics with little knowledge in those fields and it takes awhile go understand it.

[appianway]

I think a lot of students taking VCE physics do read about the fundamentals and learn the maths. I know I did, and I'm sure there are many others who do as well.

Ah well. At least it's better than the HSC course.

[kenhung123]

Fundamentals?

[m@tty]

Ah well. At least it's better than the HSC course.

Is it?

[appianway]

Oh, yes.

The HSC course is a complete joke. Apparently it's all like "let's have an open book test writing about the environmental impacts of certain technologies!".