A-level Physics Study Group 2023-2024

Hiya! I'm doing Phy, Chem, Maths and Eng Lit.
A couple of questions i had were: What board you did?
What free resource off of the internet you used (in the form of Youtube videos or whatever (pls link them))
How often were you doing past papers and how'd you balance extracurriculars and studies in general.
And omg pls share the application process and all I wanted to get into Oxford so bad but my GSCE result wasnt it (7As, 2Bs) but if ther process still helps me in anyway pls do share it

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.

oh wow its my dream
how was ur oxford interview

ngl its kinda crazy here, lots of smart peers, but I love the vibe
Interview went ok but neither I nor my tutors remembered them LOL

Hi, my son wants to sit the PAT, he's taken maths, fm, chemistry and physics. The physics for the PAT seems to not be in the A-level syllabus and is almost like a fifth A-level for him. Did you find this too? His school don't provide any dedicated support for the PAT as they haven't had a student take it in years. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

I'm assuming your son is in Year 12 right now (as the current Year 13 cohort has already done the PAT for next year entry), if so, there's still plenty of A Level material he'll cover in school relevant to the PAT (and plenty of time, almost 1 year in fact)! Starting this early will give you a huge advantage and I admire the motivation.

The PAT physics is meant to be roughly Y12 physics and A Level maths. The detailed syllabus is published online: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/undergraduates/how-apply/physics-aptitude-test-pat/pat-syllabus
There are some things that don't come out in some A Levels I think, such as even and odd functions, bases or radix, and Bohr model. I revised them before the PAT and it makes some questions much easier.

I'm sure myself 1 year before the PAT wouldn't be able to do anywhere well on the PAT, but one year later I did quite well (>95 on the PAT). Granted I was self studying a physics textbook that goes beyond the A Level textbook in preparation for physics Olympiads and that helped a lot too, but imo the PAT is very doable and I got a pretty good score without any tutoring, and honestly some of the PAT tutoring rates are really high it's frightening; I borrowed some books off the library and learned a lot and it worked to about the same education, although that's my learning style.

[Honestly tutoring does look really lucrative🤔]

Thank you for replying. Yes tutoring is really lucrative- between £50-£70/ hour!

I'm very proud of my ds, he's amazing. I've been looking into access programmes for him as he'll be the first in our family to graduate - no idea where he gets his brains from.

Over 95% is incredible, well done. Do you think that such a high score guaranteed you an offer or do you think the interview was still important please? He reads around the subject a lot/ takes extra courses so I'm not overly concerned about supercurriculars for him. The school doesn't take part in Olympiads unfortunately.

Any advice you can offer would be really appreciated please, this is a whole new world for us.

>Do you think that such a high score guaranteed you an offer or do you think the interview was still important please?
Oxford publishes admission information every year for physics (https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/undergraduates/how-apply/physics-aptitude-test-pat/physics-admissions-reports), and for the past few years it's stated that post-PAT, the interview weighs about twice as much as the PAT, so a good PAT score helps but doesn't guarantee.

Oxford does some access programs for the PAT and physics beyond the syllabus too. There's the Preparing for the PAT course starting in June, plus also COMPOS and Quantum Club runned by Lvovsky (who's also infamous at Keble for his 3 hour tutorials). Great not only for physics but also finding similar-interest peers! There's also the Senior Physics Challenge Residential at Cambridge. Some access programs I can think of off the top of my head right now.

As for the school not doing Olympiads, my advice will be to just chase them because the only way to participate in UK physics Olympiads is to sign up through the school. All schools in the UK should be able to do them, it only takes a couple hours every year each time, the teacher literally doesn't have to do anything except get the papers on time and print them and sit for a couple hours invigilating and scan them in, there is no good reason to not participate. Participating in the British Olympiads is also the only way to be able to get into the national UK team for international Olympiads. Plus if your son make it past round 2, you get to go to Oxford for a couple days for BPhO camp and do fun stuff.
There's online Olympiads too your son can do for fun, like Physics Brawl, OPhO and the Physics Cup.
Speaking of physics Olympiad stuff, I find the advice here to be very helpful (it's intended for people in the US, but physics is still physics wherever you are): https://knzhou.github.io/writing/Advice.pdf

Thanks i will try do add that in. But has anyone used UpLearn. And is it actually useful besides there claims for you to get A/A*.

HI, study Math ans Further Math (edexcel) as well as physics ( ocr b) and economics a (edexcel),
the teacher that i have for physics is terrible and rarely actually teaches us the content,
how do u guys think i should go about it as i know tutors are an option but they are quite pricey,

also where could i find the best revision notes/ questions, i have tried pmt but are there any YouTubers to teach the content i'm missing?

Thanks

Did anyone get a C if so can you please explain your method of approach when revising. I do OCR A and I'm in Y13 and also keep getting a U grade.

This is where you can chat with other students studying the same subjects as you and support each other as you head towards your exams
You can post any useful tips and resources that you come across, offer support to others, share your successes, or just have moan when it gets tough!
Just remember, it’s against the site rules to ask for or offer any copyrighted papers, or to take conversations off-site to do these things. Posts that break these rules will be removed.
A few possible ice breaker questions are:
What exam board are you with?
What do you enjoy most about this subject/ course?
What area do you struggle with in this subject/ course?
Good luck with the next few months. Remember, ask for help, support where you can and together we can do this!

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.