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If you've done M1, you've already done a fair chunk of AS physics in quite good detail.
The hardest part of self-teaching is going to be the practical exam. I wouldn't expect anyone to be alble to self-teach themselves an A in that. However, saying that, there is absolutly no reason why you can't get an A overall. Particularly as you will be doing FM so are clearly pretty bright.
The hardest part of self-teaching is going to be the practical exam. I wouldn't expect anyone to be alble to self-teach themselves an A in that. However, saying that, there is absolutly no reason why you can't get an A overall. Particularly as you will be doing FM so are clearly pretty bright.
It's not impossible (like all things really) but you'd be making it hard for yourself without having a teacher, in my opinion. But I don't really know how good you are at physics. Teachers are useful for having to discuss the physics with, because often in the middle of a discussion, questions are raised, the answers to which you learn from. This cements your understanding of the subject. Maybe you might want to think about having a tutor to complement your study?
Having said this, I don't want to discourage you from doing this. If you manage to pull it off, it will look good to any potential university. If you do choose to self-study it, make sure you do all the past papers, look at the mark schemes and examiners' reports to best prepare yourself for the exam.
Best of luck.
Having said this, I don't want to discourage you from doing this. If you manage to pull it off, it will look good to any potential university. If you do choose to self-study it, make sure you do all the past papers, look at the mark schemes and examiners' reports to best prepare yourself for the exam.
Best of luck.
Teeee
but i mean will it be hard to grasp the concepts without actually seeing them/doing them in class?
Clearly a demo is worth a lot. Seeing something happening in the lab is clearly going to be more likley help you understand whats going on than just seeing the maths or a photo in a textbook.
I'm sure you'll agree that both are really important if you want to be getting an A grade. Saying that, however, a good textbook and a good background in maths will be invaluable.
There are, believe it or not, some advantages of self teaching: A-level Physics is designed for people who don't even do single Maths. Therefore, some things will come incredably easily, which a teacher would have to explain for a non-mathematical point of view for the one person who hasn't heard of intergration, e.g. The concept of a gravitational force exerted by a body dropping off with one over the square of distance, but gravitational potential energy dropping off with one of distance. When you see the maths (and realise Work is the integral of force with respect to distance) then everything becomes crystal clear.
Henerz
Clearly a demo is worth a lot. Seeing something happening in the lab is clearly going to be more likley help you understand whats going on than just seeing the maths or a photo in a textbook.
I'm sure you'll agree that both are really important if you want to be getting an A grade. Saying that, however, a good textbook and a good background in maths will be invaluable.
There are, believe it or not, some advantages of self teaching: A-level Physics is designed for people who don't even do single Maths. Therefore, some things will come incredably easily, which a teacher would have to explain for a non-mathematical point of view for the one person who hasn't heard of intergration, e.g. The concept of a gravitational force exerted by a body dropping off with one over the square of distance, but gravitational potential energy dropping off with one of distance. When you see the maths (and realise Work is the integral of force with respect to distance) then everything becomes crystal clear.
I'm sure you'll agree that both are really important if you want to be getting an A grade. Saying that, however, a good textbook and a good background in maths will be invaluable.
There are, believe it or not, some advantages of self teaching: A-level Physics is designed for people who don't even do single Maths. Therefore, some things will come incredably easily, which a teacher would have to explain for a non-mathematical point of view for the one person who hasn't heard of intergration, e.g. The concept of a gravitational force exerted by a body dropping off with one over the square of distance, but gravitational potential energy dropping off with one of distance. When you see the maths (and realise Work is the integral of force with respect to distance) then everything becomes crystal clear.
how many hours a week would i need?
My timetable is 5 hours. This is then split between two teachers and, of course there is more extra reading and question doing etc. outside of lessons, I feel you should try to tell yourself that this takes another 2 hours (yes, I'm a really lazy guy and don't even do that, but many/most do, ...except maybe at exam time!) Thus, we are at 7 hours a week.
Clearly there is no amount you need to do in orderto get an A. I would say I don't do much work, but I do work hard...a fine distinction. Putting aside 7 hours a week isn't going to get you an A, but working really hard for 7 hours a week, I feel, should/could.
I haven't factored in the whole self-teaching thing here: perhaps you might want to add a little which you can spend throwing balls around in your garden to investigate the independance of horizontal and vertical motion, or calculating the specific heat capacity of your dinner in the microwave.
Clearly there is no amount you need to do in orderto get an A. I would say I don't do much work, but I do work hard...a fine distinction. Putting aside 7 hours a week isn't going to get you an A, but working really hard for 7 hours a week, I feel, should/could.
I haven't factored in the whole self-teaching thing here: perhaps you might want to add a little which you can spend throwing balls around in your garden to investigate the independance of horizontal and vertical motion, or calculating the specific heat capacity of your dinner in the microwave.
Henerz
My timetable is 5 hours. This is then split between two teachers and, of course there is more extra reading and question doing etc. outside of lessons, I feel you should try to tell yourself that this takes another 2 hours (yes, I'm a really lazy guy and don't even do that, but many/most do, ...except maybe at exam time!) Thus, we are at 7 hours a week.
Clearly there is no amount you need to do in orderto get an A. I would say I don't do much work, but I do work hard...a fine distinction. Putting aside 7 hours a week isn't going to get you an A, but working really hard for 7 hours a week, I feel, should/could.
I haven't factored in the whole self-teaching thing here: perhaps you might want to add a little which you can spend throwing balls around in your garden to investigate the independance of horizontal and vertical motion, or calculating the specific heat capacity of your dinner in the microwave.
Clearly there is no amount you need to do in orderto get an A. I would say I don't do much work, but I do work hard...a fine distinction. Putting aside 7 hours a week isn't going to get you an A, but working really hard for 7 hours a week, I feel, should/could.
I haven't factored in the whole self-teaching thing here: perhaps you might want to add a little which you can spend throwing balls around in your garden to investigate the independance of horizontal and vertical motion, or calculating the specific heat capacity of your dinner in the microwave.
i don't mind working hard, i'm just scared i wouldn't understand the concepts as i havn't seen them before, and many people have said the physics isn't the hard bit, it's getting your head around the concept that is.
how hard would it be for you to understand the work if you havn't seen it before?
It really depends upon how your mind works; personally, I can be quite throughly convinced of something with a good bit of maths. I'm assuming you've done M2 here, or at least sharp on hte M1 collisions stuff:
Assume, for the following, that e=1 and momentum is conserved. Consider a ping-pong ball hitting a stationary bowling ball; it bounces off with the same velocity it struck the bowling ball, and the bowling ball doesn't move. Fine. But when the bowling ball hits a stationary ping-pong ball, the ping-pong ball moves off with twice the velocity at which it was struck. The maths is very convincing, an once you are happy with it, the physics falls into line.
However, if all you see is the demo and arn't very mathematically minded, you'll struggle with the idea that it is exactly double, or that it even happens at all. The maths can be more important than the physics is some sence.
However, you will likley find the more descriptive stuff really tough, e.g. kinetic theory of gasses. The maths is way beyond A-level so you are really just learning concepts. mostly, they are fairly straight forward e.g. the assumptions of kinetic theory.
As i said before the crucial thing will be a good textbook, and you just need to find a style you like: I have about five, but the oly one i really like is my old version of this. Clearly, you just have to find one which is right for you. This one is perhaps a bit old, and not quite A-level specific enough for you...but the author has really good explanations of concepts which could get pretty tricky.
Assume, for the following, that e=1 and momentum is conserved. Consider a ping-pong ball hitting a stationary bowling ball; it bounces off with the same velocity it struck the bowling ball, and the bowling ball doesn't move. Fine. But when the bowling ball hits a stationary ping-pong ball, the ping-pong ball moves off with twice the velocity at which it was struck. The maths is very convincing, an once you are happy with it, the physics falls into line.
However, if all you see is the demo and arn't very mathematically minded, you'll struggle with the idea that it is exactly double, or that it even happens at all. The maths can be more important than the physics is some sence.
However, you will likley find the more descriptive stuff really tough, e.g. kinetic theory of gasses. The maths is way beyond A-level so you are really just learning concepts. mostly, they are fairly straight forward e.g. the assumptions of kinetic theory.
As i said before the crucial thing will be a good textbook, and you just need to find a style you like: I have about five, but the oly one i really like is my old version of this. Clearly, you just have to find one which is right for you. This one is perhaps a bit old, and not quite A-level specific enough for you...but the author has really good explanations of concepts which could get pretty tricky.
Related discussions
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- how hard is it to self teach 5 alevels
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- Further maths
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