AQA AS Physics new spec in 5 days!

runningcat

9

Panic set in yet?
Dreading the exam to be honest

Reply 1

Fox Corner

21

Original post by runningcat

Panic set in yet?
Dreading the exam to be honest

Hi! I moved this to the Physics forum for you - you're more likely to get a good answer here :h:

Reply 2

gromto

1

Paper 1 shouldn't be too bad, as it's just pure physics.

Paper 2 seems troublesome, as it's based around practical skills and applications

Both specimen papers (especially Paper 2) seemed like nightmares though, but that is the case for a lot of specimen papers.

Reply 3

just why?

5

hmmm C1(the ocr one...not sure what happened in that paper:/) then physics paper 1 #Examgoals(?)

Reply 4

Bethgordon

3

I agree that the new spec papers are a joke, I was doing so well all year and then recently we used the second set of specimen papers for our mock and everyone, including myself, failed horribly. However upon further research I looked at how the grade boundaries have changed and each time a new specification is brought in the grade boundaries plummet leaving just over 50% as an A. After all we are the 'guinea pigs' for these types of papers and we are all in the same boat!
All we can do is keep revising and hope for the best :smile:

Reply 5

runningcat

OP

9

Original post by gromto

Paper 1 shouldn't be too bad, as it's just pure physics.

Paper 2 seems troublesome, as it's based around practical skills and applications

Both specimen papers (especially Paper 2) seemed like nightmares though, but that is the case for a lot of specimen papers.

Original post by Bethgordon

I agree that the new spec papers are a joke, I was doing so well all year and then recently we used the second set of specimen papers for our mock and everyone, including myself, failed horribly. However upon further research I looked at how the grade boundaries have changed and each time a new specification is brought in the grade boundaries plummet leaving just over 50% as an A. After all we are the 'guinea pigs' for these types of papers and we are all in the same boat!
All we can do is keep revising and hope for the best :smile:

The specimens were truly horrible, but I feel AQA would consider that and not be too bad, here's to hoping. but yes, revise and hope for the best seems like a good thing to do, especially since we have two days left (i'm sorry for counting down)

Reply 6

DSG7799

4

You've got to remember specimen papers are to show what the new style is like the questions might be completely different and the specimen papers also aren't as well checked as proper exams. For example for AQA Physics A on the specimen paper there was a question my teacher had never seen before and he's been teaching for decades and use to mark exam papers for AQA because he thinks the question was from a different exam board but you had to apply the knowledge you had learnt to work the question and it turned out a lot easier than it looked.

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Reply 7

M.P.C

2

Do you guys feel the grade boundaries will be very low this year?

Reply 8

M.P.C

2

Original post by runningcat

The specimens were truly horrible, but I feel AQA would consider that and not be too bad, here's to hoping. but yes, revise and hope for the best seems like a good thing to do, especially since we have two days left (i'm sorry for counting down)

What did you get in the spec papers? I find them to be much harder than the past papers.

Reply 9

M.P.C

2

Original post by Bethgordon

I agree that the new spec papers are a joke, I was doing so well all year and then recently we used the second set of specimen papers for our mock and everyone, including myself, failed horribly. However upon further research I looked at how the grade boundaries have changed and each time a new specification is brought in the grade boundaries plummet leaving just over 50% as an A. After all we are the 'guinea pigs' for these types of papers and we are all in the same boat!
All we can do is keep revising and hope for the best :smile:

where did you get this information?

Reply 10

GarlicBread01

11

Will the grade boundaries be low since its a new spec?

Reply 11

DSG7799

4

Original post by GarlicBread01

Will the grade boundaries be low since its a new spec?

Probably but won't know about expected grade boundaries until after the test as it could end up being easier than expected.

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Reply 12

GarlicBread01

11

How many specimen papers are there? I can only find 2 on the AQA website are there more?

Reply 13

CheeseIsVeg

22

Original post by GarlicBread01

How many specimen papers are there? I can only find 2 on the AQA website are there more?

There are no more official ones, however, somewhere, a group called "ZigZag" have created 4 more papers in the style of our new exam.
I'm not sure where they are, but it's worth a look, I've done them all and they're quite good practice.
Don't know what to feel about the exam tomorrow...
:wink:

Reply 14

WhyAlwaysMe?!

4

Original post by GarlicBread01

How many specimen papers are there? I can only find 2 on the AQA website are there more?

There is another set which were released fairly recently:

Specimen papers (Set 2)
Paper 1: http://physicsloreto.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/8/5/14853288/7407-1_paper_1_qp_v1.0.pdf
Paper 1 mark scheme: http://physicsloreto.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/8/5/14853288/7407-1_paper_1_ms_v1.0.pdf

Paper 2: http://physicsloreto.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/8/5/14853288/7407-2_paper_2_qp_v1.1.pdf
Paper 2 mark scheme: http://physicsloreto.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/8/5/14853288/7407-2_paper_2_ms_v1.0.pdf

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Reply 15

champ_mc99

2

Original post by CheeseIsVeg

There are no more official ones, however, somewhere, a group called "ZigZag" have created 4 more papers in the style of our new exam.
I'm not sure where they are, but it's worth a look, I've done them all and they're quite good practice.
Don't know what to feel about the exam tomorrow...
:wink:

You neeed to give us the link mate.