AQA A-level Physics Paper 1 (7408/1) - 24th May 2023 [Exam Chat]

Any tips for approaching the more word-heavy, 6-mark questions? I never seem to know how many points are enough to get all the marks.

I've barely done any past papers the entire 2 years of the course, though right now I've only got 2019 and 2020 left to do. What I'm currently doing:

I try to stay within time limits where possible and it's a pretty rigid system. A lot of the time I'll talk to myself quietly (like I would in an exam hall, but there it would be much quieter) and try to completely analyse a question before I answer it. For MCQ, I tend to just go with my gut on questions I don't know. Statistically AQA use option B about 33% of the time, so if you don't know you can always guess B and be right a lot of the time. Any calculation questions for MCQ I do in pencil, as then I can erase my mistakes if I notice it whilst I continue.

I also use the formula booklet like my life depends on it, and to save myself some time and let muscle memory kick in for the exam I have re-arranged variants of the equations wrote down on a piece of paper next to me, though realistically I have the time to manually rearrange the formulae.

This is heavily focused on Physics, as I'm not even considering my other subjects yet, as I have 2 weeks until their first exams so I have plenty of time to prepare. Doesn't work for everyone but I'm easily distracted so if I can get it all done at once I will happily do that instead of procrastinating it for another day like I said every day before my mocks.

I have done all the A-Level past papers for paper 1 and im doing the AS paper 1s now as they are the same content. Is this worth it? Because i feel like the questions are alot easier, but its still practicing the relevant content. Also i have no idea if the AS paper 2s would be worth it because they seem to have more paper 3 style practical questions.

I've barely done any past papers the entire 2 years of the course, though right now I've only got 2019 and 2020 left to do. What I'm currently doing:

I try to stay within time limits where possible and it's a pretty rigid system. A lot of the time I'll talk to myself quietly (like I would in an exam hall, but there it would be much quieter) and try to completely analyse a question before I answer it. For MCQ, I tend to just go with my gut on questions I don't know. Statistically AQA use option B about 33% of the time, so if you don't know you can always guess B and be right a lot of the time. Any calculation questions for MCQ I do in pencil, as then I can erase my mistakes if I notice it whilst I continue.

I also use the formula booklet like my life depends on it, and to save myself some time and let muscle memory kick in for the exam I have re-arranged variants of the equations wrote down on a piece of paper next to me, though realistically I have the time to manually rearrange the formulae.

This is heavily focused on Physics, as I'm not even considering my other subjects yet, as I have 2 weeks until their first exams so I have plenty of time to prepare. Doesn't work for everyone but I'm easily distracted so if I can get it all done at once I will happily do that instead of procrastinating it for another day like I said every day before my mocks.

Damm you sound exactly like me right now, I’m doing the exact same things and all my other exams are also 2 weeks away 🤣, and I also didn’t do any past papers until very recently. Once physics is done on Wednesday I gotta start speed running my other subjects

Oh my thats an excellent plan - however I'm aiming to just put a 2 hour timer on and just do the paper all at once, because if I don't get used to it I think you'd tend to get fatigued so its better to get used to just working 2 hours straight. on being easily distracted yesss its bad especially the guilt, right now I have put aside every other exam and will just focus on physics paper 1 monday-wednesday, and oh when it goes for past papers what I have done is print all out and do them physically - mark with red pen (leave side notes) and then tuesday hopefully go through the pile from 2017-2022 analyising deeply everything I lost marks on and reviewing it.

Did you find the 2021 paper the hardest? I just did that one and thought it was way harder than the others. I haven’t done 2022 yet so that will probably be even worse. It just seems like AQA make it harder every year.

does everyone just cram for exams? I've covered all the content but its still feels so "crammy" maybe because you forget somethings before and need to in a short time just polish it A1 A1

21 is significantly harder than 22 in my opinion. Lots more variations in methods on the questions.
22 just felt like a lot of waves and a lot of mechanics, but it's actually a really nice paper if you spend the time thinking about it.

What does everyone think are some of the finer details worth remembering? Like Kaon decay, why an neutrino must exist in beta decay etc?

I've barely done any past papers the entire 2 years of the course, though right now I've only got 2019 and 2020 left to do. What I'm currently doing:

I try to stay within time limits where possible and it's a pretty rigid system. A lot of the time I'll talk to myself quietly (like I would in an exam hall, but there it would be much quieter) and try to completely analyse a question before I answer it. For MCQ, I tend to just go with my gut on questions I don't know. Statistically AQA use option B about 33% of the time, so if you don't know you can always guess B and be right a lot of the time. Any calculation questions for MCQ I do in pencil, as then I can erase my mistakes if I notice it whilst I continue.

I also use the formula booklet like my life depends on it, and to save myself some time and let muscle memory kick in for the exam I have re-arranged variants of the equations wrote down on a piece of paper next to me, though realistically I have the time to manually rearrange the formulae.

This is heavily focused on Physics, as I'm not even considering my other subjects yet, as I have 2 weeks until their first exams so I have plenty of time to prepare. Doesn't work for everyone but I'm easily distracted so if I can get it all done at once I will happily do that instead of procrastinating it for another day like I said every day before my mocks.

What does everyone think are some of the finer details worth remembering? Like Kaon decay, why an neutrino must exist in beta decay etc?

Did you find the 2021 paper the hardest? I just did that one and thought it was way harder than the others. I haven’t done 2022 yet so that will probably be even worse. It just seems like AQA make it harder every year.

There will probably be questions on tilting

I'm predicting projectiles tbh, there was a lot of forces/moments on the 2022 paper.

I have a feeling something about materials will come up like a graph showing the stress and the strain of different materials and have to deduce which is good for something. But apart from that I have no clue what could come up

I am in exactly the same boat as you, my second exam is biology paper 1 and thats not until 7th June and then Chemistry paper 1 isn't until 12th June. I am pretty much doing the same as you in terms of revision. What topics are you hoping for and what topics are your worst? Goodluck!!
Also what are you planning to do in september?

I have a feeling something about materials will come up like a graph showing the stress and the strain of different materials and have to deduce which is good for something. But apart from that I have no clue what could come up

anyone got any tips for last minute revision for electricity ? i understand the majority of the content but the questions are always so tricky ...