[Quintro]

(Original post by James94)
I've been doing past papers and my results seem to range from 65%-75%, which means I'm likely to just scrape an A, or just miss out on one. Any tips on how to get my grades up to a more comfortable A? There's no specific topic which I drop marks in.

After you finish a past paper, go through it and take notes of all the things you got wrong, and why you got them wrong. Add these things to a list of things you need to recap, and when you've looked over your notes on the things, try the questions again, and make sure you know what's going on. If a particular type of question seems to catch you out more than others, prioritise it. Just keep doing this until you are noticing improvements in your scores.

[James94]

(Original post by PaulB)
If you're anything like me, you'll be dropping the marks from explanation questions and small maths mistakes. Just learn the definitions/explanations as well as you possibly can and be extremely thorough when checking over your maths, especially if an answer seems wrong. I tend to be a lot more thorough in the final exam, so this normally works in my favour as I can correct a few mistakes before handing it in.

I think you're right about explanation questions, I usually say essentially what's in the marking scheme, but miss out a specific word or phrase that the mark depends on. I may go back through the marking schemes and try to memorise them if I have time. Maths is actually a strong point for me (I get far better marks in maths and mechanics than physics). I'm pretty competent with algebra, and because of this sometimes find myself losing marks through lack of working. I find that often in the marking schemes they directly copy an equation from the data book, solve for all the quantities numerically, and the substitute these in to the original equation, whereas I prefer to find an expression for the quantity itself by substituting in an unknown in terms of known quantities (that was badly phrased I know). Here's an example from the first question of the 2007 paper to illustrate my point:



Their answer is:



However I would go straight to:



Then sub in numbers. This way makes more sense to me, and doesn't introduce a rounding error as their way does. There are other example where I get the same answer but can only award myself half marks for taking a more direct route to the answer than is in the marking scheme.

(Original post by Quintro)
After you finish a past paper, go through it and take notes of all the things you got wrong, and why you got them wrong. Add these things to a list of things you need to recap, and when you've looked over your notes on the things, try the questions again, and make sure you know what's going on. If a particular type of question seems to catch you out more than others, prioritise it. Just keep doing this until you are noticing improvements in your scores.

This is a good idea and I'll make an effort to do it, but as I said there's no particular area which I struggle with, I get similar marks in most questions.

Does anybody know if their any derivations/definitions/explanations that are expected to come up this year?

[James94]

In my above post, click on the pictures to view them in full size.

[Quintro]

(Original post by James94)
...

I go straight to that equation as well, but there must be a way around that in the marking scheme. I mean, it's the exact same thing, expect you've just done it all in one step, saving yourself time.

And I know you say that you get similar marks on each question, but that does not invalidate my point. I also get similar marks on every question, and usually get about 85% on past papers, though I always take notes or read over things that I get wrong. If there's even a single mark that you drop on a part of a question (and if it isn't due to a silly mistake), then you may as well take note of it or read over it and make sure you understand why you went wrong. If you don't learn from your mistakes then there isn't much chance that you'll learn anything by doing past papers.

[StudyAk]

(Original post by SameerM)
Yeah, exactly, so if you have any question that you don't quite understand completely then don't hesitate to post up your queries.

Thanks. What did you do to pass higher Physics? Did you just do past paper because im worrying now and don't know what to do If i get a question wrong in a past paper especially in multiple choice questions i dont know get the right answer.

[TheUnbeliever]

(Original post by James94)
There are other example where I get the same answer but can only award myself half marks for taking a more direct route to the answer than is in the marking scheme.

Good physics which gets to the right answer will get full marks, no matter if it's more direct than the marking scheme.

[Aerofantastic94]

(Original post by StudyAk)
Thanks. What did you do to pass higher Physics? Did you just do past paper because im worrying now and don't know what to do If i get a question wrong in a past paper especially in multiple choice questions i dont know get the right answer.

Well, to pass I would obviously do past papers and also used revision materials like the bright red book and scholar...
And like I said before if you have a question which you don't know how to get the answer to then just ask! (by putting reference to the year and qu.)

[StudyAk]

(Original post by SameerM)
Well, to pass I would obviously do past papers and also used revision materials like the bright red book and scholar...
And like I said before if you have a question which you don't know how to get the answer to then just ask! (by putting reference to the year and qu.)

ok thanks!

[DavidTeviotdale]

How is everybody starting to feel about this exam then? What questions do you think are likely to come up?
Plus does anyone have the solutions from the older physics past papers (CSYS level- older than 2001), cheers

[Aack]

I didn't catch this on BBC news - can you provide a link?

Thanks.

[Tommo3]

You're in the wrong section OP. Go into the A level section, then physics, then physics exams.

[Marcus4004]

How is everyone feeling with the exam being less than a week away?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Quintro]

(Original post by Marcus4004)
How is everyone feeling with the exam being less than a week away?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

I've been ok with Physics for the full year but I've kind of gave up with it now. I have my place in Uni so my motivation has went out the window completely.

Think I might still be able to get an A without doing revision this week, just depends how much of it comes back to me in the exam.

How about you?

[tomctutor]

(Original post by Quintro)
I've been ok with Physics for the full year but I've kind of gave up with it now. I have my place in Uni so my motivation has went out the window completely.

Think I might still be able to get an A without doing revision this week, just depends how much of it comes back to me in the exam.

How about you?

Do the revision NOW- dont depend on your UNI offer as you may have to change course sometime in the future - assume its a life or death scenario! Forget the social life, sport and computer games - study hard for this exam you only have one go!
without upto date and last minute revision I guarantee you won't get an A.

You should find links to revision sites and notes etc here at MrMackenzie's site:
http://mrmackenzie.co.uk/advanced-higher/

[Quintro]

(Original post by tomctutor)
Do the revision NOW- dont depend on your UNI offer as you may have to change course sometime in the future - assume its a life or death scenario!
without upto date and last minute revision I guarantee you vwon't get an A.

You should find links to revision sites and notes etc here at MrMackenzie's site:
http://mrmackenzie.co.uk/advanced-higher/

Ive been revising for the entire year, and I am already in the process of switching course to software engineering.

I dont need an A anyway, but if I do manage to get one then its just a bonus.

The motivation is gone now.

[Marcus4004]

Ok man in terms of lacking motivation, try and find some lol!!

The thing is you don't need them for next year, however when my dad is looking to employ graduates from university (into the oil and gas trade) one of the first things he looks at are adv highers and A levels. If they are poor their application goes in the bin, even before interview.

Otherwise its very hard to distinguish between one candidate and another as they all have a predicted 1st from their respective unis... Plus all it is is 1 week of work !!! You have spent a whole year of your school life working for it and now you want to give up at the last hurdle??? Makes no sense!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Mint23]

Anybody got links to older past papers? There used to be links on mckenzie fizzics but they're gone now.

[forsyth14]

AHpastpaper2001.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2003.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2002.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2001.pdf
AHpastpaper2006.pdf
AHpastpaper2005.pdf
AHpastpaper2004.pdf
AHpastpaper2003.pdf
AHpastpaper2002.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2004.pdf

That's 2001-2006 i think, any solutions not with them you should be able to find on the SQA website. Hope this helps! :P

EDIT: Here's a better solution for 2001 I just found on Google: http://www.hswd.co.uk/trinity/downlo...e0529cd04c1223

[Mint23]

(Original post by forsyth14)
AHpastpaper2001.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2003.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2002.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2001.pdf
AHpastpaper2006.pdf
AHpastpaper2005.pdf
AHpastpaper2004.pdf
AHpastpaper2003.pdf
AHpastpaper2002.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2004.pdf

That's 2001-2006 i think, any solutions not with them you should be able to find on the SQA website. Hope this helps! :P

EDIT: Here's a better solution for 2001 I just found on Google: http://www.hswd.co.uk/trinity/downlo...e0529cd04c1223

Wow, thank you so much.

[tomctutor]

(Original post by forsyth14)
AHpastpaper2001.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2003.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2002.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2001.pdf
AHpastpaper2006.pdf
AHpastpaper2005.pdf
AHpastpaper2004.pdf
AHpastpaper2003.pdf
AHpastpaper2002.pdf
AHspecimen_solutions2004.pdf

That's 2001-2006 i think, any solutions not with them you should be able to find on the SQA website. Hope this helps! :P

EDIT: Here's a better solution for 2001 I just found on Google: http://www.hswd.co.uk/trinity/downlo...e0529cd04c1223

Ive attached the missing marking instructions for AHP2005-6 papers
together with a terse set of cheatsheets - useful for revision