Revision resources for AQA AS Physics

Hi, studying this course, got an E in my mock, have a retake in two weeks, hoping to bring that up to a B, my weaker side is the Unit 2 stuff, especially materials. any resources would be helpful, thanks.

If you have the CGP revision guide it's pretty good for Physics.

Otherwise, check out the specification on the AQA website (check you get the right one for your course). There's a section that lists everything you need to know for each topic, you can check this against your notes to look for gaps in knowledge.

Go over the mock you did and any other completed past papers/exam questions and look for any problems (you've identified some weak topics already, but look out for things like problems with units, maths, questions that ask for the answer to an appropriate degree of accuracy, how your six mark questions go, definitions and general exam technique). Completed papers can be just as useful as doing new ones, and there aren't too many papers available for Physics - look at how many there are for each unit, and then compare that with the time between now and the exams so you can figure out the most effective times to do them.

Do you know why those topics are your weak point? Do you not understand them as well, or is it just a case of more learning needed? It might help going to see your teacher and asking them to go over it with you again.

Good luck

Would you strongly recommend the CGP book? See i have a Physics textbook, but its not that concise on what key points i need to know, just lots and lots of writing.

Some of the forces questions look far too complicated than they actually are and i just feel stumped at attempting them. Then i forget small things in the particle questions :?

I'd say it's probably easier to revise from than a textbook and covers the things you need to know fairly well and without going on for pages and pages. Go to your local bookshop, if you've got a waterstones or a WHSmiths something they should have a copy - take a flick through and see what you think, get it if you think it'll be helpful (even if you buy it from amazon or something probably worth taking a look at an actual copy). It's not very thick, and if you're definitely planning on taking Physics next year you can save money by buying the two in one version that has AS and A2. Get the right exam board/spec though! Personally I find it very useful, especially considering my teacher isn't great at helping with the lessons I missed.

For the forces questions, I do what I was taught by our maths teacher for mechanics which might help you. As you read the question, pick out key information and write it down to the side or something - eg. initial velocity (u), time, mass - any information like that that's hidden inside sentences in the question. Then see if you can draw a simple diagram showing all the forces (eg. there will always be weight of a particle with mass going downwards). Then figure out which piece of information the question is asking for, and look at your diagram, the information and the formula (all of which are on the data sheet I believe).

Particles is probably a case of practice makes perfect - it can be easy to miss things out, but learning what's going on and then remembering to use the information on the data sheet makes things easier

Alright, i'll certainly give it a go!

I can't ask my teacher much as he is only in for our lessons, but i think it would be better for me to do more independent learning.

There is one thing that keeps bothering me, it comes up more in my Mechanics 1 module for Maths but i have seen it come up on Unit 2 is inclined forces and working out the components of the forces (whether it is sin or cosine). My mechanics teacher gave me 2 different ways of thinking about it but it still baffles me, do you have a way of thinking through it?

Resolving a force into horizontal and vertical components? The explanations I can think of are likely the ones you've already heard, and I can't really explain very well without pictures but the simplest one is basically, you have a force F acting on a particle at an angle x to the horizontal or vertical direction. Let's say it's x degrees to the horizontal. To find the horizontal component of F, it's Fcosx because you're moving through the angle (visualise the force moving to lie flat, it goes through the angle). To find the vertical component, you'd use Fsinx as it's not going through the angle, or alternatively Fcos(90-x) as the vertical and horizontal directions are perpendicular to each other.

You can explain why this is the case by drawing a right angled triangle. The hypotenuse will be the force F, the vertical side is the vertical component and the horizontal side the horizontal component. Apply basic trig (SOHCAHTOA, except not the tan bit) and you'll see that to find those two sides you end up with Fcosx and Fsinx when I'm actually doing it though I just go with through the angle is cosx, not through the angle is sinx. (If this has confused you more then just ignore it)