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Should I do Physics AS level?

should i do Physics A level?
Choosing my A levels...Physics is by far my best science at GCSE level and I have a natural interest for it, although am not amazing at maths.(Gcse physics target: A*, prediction: AGcse maths target: A, prediction: B)Because of this, I wouldn't do maths for A level. Could I cope doing Phys without it? How enjoyable is Physics? What's the jump from Gcse? How easy is it to get an A? Any advice welcome. :smile:
Physics A-level has a lot of maths, but most of it is putting into formulas (OCR formula booklet). It is possible to do physics without maths, and indeed it is possible to do well without maths. However, bear in mind the majority of your classmates will be doing maths, and lessons will progress assuming you already understand the maths. This just means putting a little more effort in outside the classroom, and reading ahead.

As for the subject itself, I'm biased as I struggled with it a lot, but overall the course is interesting and gives you a good understanding of the world around you.
Good luck understanding the A2 physics content without A-level maths.
Oh and you should do AS maths - it is really easy
Original post by loperdoper
Physics A-level has a lot of maths, but most of it is putting into formulas (OCR formula booklet). It is possible to do physics without maths, and indeed it is possible to do well without maths. However, bear in mind the majority of your classmates will be doing maths, and lessons will progress assuming you already understand the maths. This just means putting a little more effort in outside the classroom, and reading ahead.

As for the subject itself, I'm biased as I struggled with it a lot, but overall the course is interesting and gives you a good understanding of the world around you.


I'm not awful at maths, just don't want to do it for A/As level as there's lots of other subjects which are useful, I love and I'm good at. Do you think I should give AS a go and see about A level? I can always drop it :smile:


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Original post by aliman65
Good luck understanding the A2 physics content without A-level maths.
Oh and you should do AS maths - it is really easy


I don't want to as I'm only B/A standard atm at GCSE and I really want to do Art, English and Spanish (thinking of going into law). I'm just wondering how hard AS physics would be? If it's unapproachable I will do RS instead :smile:


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Original post by kiera28
I'm not awful at maths, just don't want to do it for A/As level as there's lots of other subjects which are useful, I love and I'm good at. Do you think I should give AS a go and see about A level? I can always drop it :smile:


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Your reasons for not wanting to do maths and physics together is a reason why a lot of people don't do physics. Honestly, I can't tell how you'll do in either subject, and there's no harm in taking a subject and backing out later.
Original post by loperdoper
Your reasons for not wanting to do maths and physics together is a reason why a lot of people don't do physics. Honestly, I can't tell how you'll do in either subject, and there's no harm in taking a subject and backing out later.


Okay. Thanks! :smile:


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TLHroolz
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Original post by kiera28
should i do Physics A level?
Choosing my A levels...Physics is by far my best science at GCSE level and I have a natural interest for it, although am not amazing at maths.(Gcse physics target: A*, prediction: AGcse maths target: A, prediction: B)Because of this, I wouldn't do maths for A level. Could I cope doing Phys without it? How enjoyable is Physics? What's the jump from Gcse? How easy is it to get an A? Any advice welcome. :smile:


Personally, I found the maths in AS physics a bit less challenging than what teachers cracked it up to be. As hard as it gets is using trig to resolve forces. It gets more difficult at A2, because you need to use knowledge from AS Maths.

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Physics and maths are like a tea bag and water - they're meant to be.
Original post by TLHroolz
Personally, I found the maths in AS physics a bit less challenging than what teachers cracked it up to be. As hard as it gets is using trig to resolve forces. It gets more difficult at A2, because you need to use knowledge from AS Maths.

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Thankyou...I'm okay at maths, I can do trig and stuff...maths just seems to make much more sense to me when I know why I'm doing it (so pure maths confuses me a bit... I hardly ever understand why I'm doing something and that makes the methods trickier to remember) whereas with physics the maths aspect makes sense because I can link it up to actual scenarios (and I know what I'm working out!)

I think I'll speak to my physics teacher this term and ask him what he thinks. :smile:


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Original post by kiera28
Thankyou...I'm okay at maths, I can do trig and stuff...maths just seems to make much more sense to me when I know why I'm doing it (so pure maths confuses me a bit... I hardly ever understand why I'm doing something and that makes the methods trickier to remember) whereas with physics the maths aspect makes sense because I can link it up to actual scenarios (and I know what I'm working out!)

I think I'll speak to my physics teacher this term and ask him what he thinks. :smile:


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Yeah, that seems fair enough. I enjoy both aspects, and Mechanics units in Maths A level do that... Love them! :biggrin:
But, yeah, that seems like a good idea. It's mainly plugging numbers in equations, taking moments and resolving forces...

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Original post by kiera28
should i do Physics A level?
Choosing my A levels...Physics is by far my best science at GCSE level and I have a natural interest for it, although am not amazing at maths.(Gcse physics target: A*, prediction: AGcse maths target: A, prediction: B)Because of this, I wouldn't do maths for A level. Could I cope doing Phys without it? How enjoyable is Physics? What's the jump from Gcse? How easy is it to get an A? Any advice welcome. :smile:


It's the hardest a level out there. My whole class failed it. It's just bull ****. Especially the ISA coursework that's so hard. Unless you have a brilliant teacher and your willing to put 12 hours a week just for physics starting from September don't do it
In all honesty maths is one of those 'useful for most things' subjects that I would recommend taking for AS (As AS maths isn't difficult) as it shows that you can logically think through a problem step by step and solve it.

Physics AS is fine without maths I would say, just being able to rearrange and equation and plug numbers which should be fine from GCSE.
Depends what course your school is doing, as they cover different ideas. Some physics courses contain a little bit of mathematical modelling which might be a bit awkward if you don't practice using maths much.
errrr....everyone here is talking rubbish, edexcel physics has virtually no maths, as long as you can do simple multiplication and press log on a calculator then u are fine. I got a U in maths AS and a B in physics
Original post by gideon123
errrr....everyone here is talking rubbish, edexcel physics has virtually no maths, as long as you can do simple multiplication and press log on a calculator then u are fine. I got a U in maths AS and a B in physics


As previously stated - depends what course your school does.

For example in OCR B they have been recently putting in questions where you have to be able to relate the physics to some maths.

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