Physics gcse maths help

Good day everyone,
I NEED YOUR HELP.
my worst subject is physics and in my mocks i did really really horrible (6-6). Could you guys help me and give me some tips on how I could go about the calculation questions that frequently pop up in the physics papers and i'm really stumped when they come up like i dont even know what to do
THANKS!

Reply 1

David ngesa

1

Original post by takeda

Good day everyone,
I NEED YOUR HELP.
my worst subject is physics and in my mocks i did really really horrible (6-6). Could you guys help me and give me some tips on how I could go about the calculation questions that frequently pop up in the physics papers and i'm really stumped when they come up like i dont even know what to do
THANKS!

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Reply 2

takeda

OP

5

no i need actual help

Reply 3

elemenohpee

8

Original post by takeda

Good day everyone,
I NEED YOUR HELP.
my worst subject is physics and in my mocks i did really really horrible (6-6). Could you guys help me and give me some tips on how I could go about the calculation questions that frequently pop up in the physics papers and i'm really stumped when they come up like i dont even know what to do
THANKS!

i reckon i'm qualified to answer - i've got straight 9s at gcse and i'm predicted an a* for a-level.

right, first know that with physics, a large bulk of the questions are calculations based but this is where u want to be gaining your marks! lots of people suck ass at maths so the key here is to learn your formulas off by heart. i'm aware you're given the equation sheet this year, but know your stuff to the extent of not even needing to look at it! that's the point i got to and it really is a sign you know your stuff enough.

now another thing is to genuinely understand your mathsy work thats going on. like, why is it when an air bag works in a car, you're less likely to get hurt than without it? it seems like common sense, but when asked this sort of thing in the exam, you want to talk about the maths of it - it's really about recognising what topics you need to talk about. in this context, you need to recall the formula of Force=change in Momentum/time, and speaking about how if there is an airbag, there is more time taken for the same change momentum (which is mass * change in velocity), which mathematically would have to decrease the force applied onto the person by the airbag. this is one of the tricky questions i can think of which you need to understand you're maths properly with, and just knowing the equation and plugging in answers isn't going to help you.

its also good to understand how the units of different things work. like, if you have distance and time, which are in metres and seconds respectively, you know you'll get speed or velocity by dividing as you know the unit is m/s, right? you can do this same thing with most other vectors and scalars, just by looking at their unit you'll know what they're composed of - momentum being mass and velocity (kgm/s), moments being force and distance (Nm), etc.

this was very wordy and maybe i've complicated it (i'm like that and i waffle a lot sorry XD) but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!!

Reply 4

takeda

OP

5

Original post by elemenohpee

i reckon i'm qualified to answer - i've got straight 9s at gcse and i'm predicted an a* for a-level.

right, first know that with physics, a large bulk of the questions are calculations based but this is where u want to be gaining your marks! lots of people suck ass at maths so the key here is to learn your formulas off by heart. i'm aware you're given the equation sheet this year, but know your stuff to the extent of not even needing to look at it! that's the point i got to and it really is a sign you know your stuff enough.

now another thing is to genuinely understand your mathsy work thats going on. like, why is it when an air bag works in a car, you're less likely to get hurt than without it? it seems like common sense, but when asked this sort of thing in the exam, you want to talk about the maths of it - it's really about recognising what topics you need to talk about. in this context, you need to recall the formula of Force=change in Momentum/time, and speaking about how if there is an airbag, there is more time taken for the same change momentum (which is mass * change in velocity), which mathematically would have to decrease the force applied onto the person by the airbag. this is one of the tricky questions i can think of which you need to understand you're maths properly with, and just knowing the equation and plugging in answers isn't going to help you.

its also good to understand how the units of different things work. like, if you have distance and time, which are in metres and seconds respectively, you know you'll get speed or velocity by dividing as you know the unit is m/s, right? you can do this same thing with most other vectors and scalars, just by looking at their unit you'll know what they're composed of - momentum being mass and velocity (kgm/s), moments being force and distance (Nm), etc.

this was very wordy and maybe i've complicated it (i'm like that and i waffle a lot sorry XD) but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!!

JKEHDLKDHK THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS HELPED ALOT (i'm not that great at maths)
but a question:
how do you think is the best way to learn content for physics or the rest of the sciences

Reply 5

Moreover

17

Original post by takeda

JKEHDLKDHK THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS HELPED ALOT (i'm not that great at maths)
but a question:
how do you think is the best way to learn content for physics or the rest of the sciences

As someone also doing Physics at A Level, the best way to learn is practice. Physics isn't much of a factual recall subject, it's a lot more about applying your knowledge when given a system. So I'd say learn your equations and why those equations are the way they are (i.e. why is this physical constant related to this other one in this way), and then once you have a decent understanding of a topic, don't spend ages revising all the nitty-gritty facts, just do practice papers on it and they'll help you so much more. You'll become better at calculations and at knowing what you actually have to, well, know lol.

It's a similar case for other sciences but Chemistry is a bit less applicative / a bit more recall-based, and Biology is even more so. So they'll require a bit more revision of the model answers and general pieces of information, and a bit less time spent on past papers.

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 6

Haruspe

6

Original post by takeda

Good day everyone,
I NEED YOUR HELP.
my worst subject is physics and in my mocks i did really really horrible (6-6). Could you guys help me and give me some tips on how I could go about the calculation questions that frequently pop up in the physics papers and i'm really stumped when they come up like i dont even know what to do
THANKS!

If you're really stuck, then write down a list of what you know. Underline all the numbers you're given in the question (look at the units too to see if you need to convert anything) and literally just make a list:
Distance =
Time taken to stop =
etc

And if you're not given numbers for everything, try to picture it in your head to see if there's anything else you can understand, before you've even started with any calculations, eg if it says 'comes to a stop' then you know that final velocity = 0 even if they haven't said that directly.
Once you've got the list, look at what the answer is looking for (very useful if you've been given the unit on the answer line). Add that to your list.
Make sure it's clear what each number is referring to, as you may have two different values for the same unit, eg final velocity and initial velocity, don't just write 'velocity'.

Using the equations sheet, look at what you can do in with the numbers in your list. Try to see if there's a path to get from your given numbers to the one they want. If you can't see a path, you'll be able to do something with your numbers, so if it's still not working then just see what else you can work out. Add your new workings out to your list.
You should be able to get a few marks just for subbing numbers into the equations and rearranging them, even if you're not entirely sure why. Obviously it helps to understand the physics behind it, but if you need to treat it as purely mathematical then do that.

It's important to learn your units, as you're not always given them, but it's always a good idea to write down very clearly what you know, what you want to know, and then see how you get there (this also ensures you show all your working which is good).

Best physics teacher I ever had taught me to do this and it works a lot for me, hope it helps for you! 🙂

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 7

elemenohpee

8

Original post by takeda

JKEHDLKDHK THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS HELPED ALOT (i'm not that great at maths)
but a question:
how do you think is the best way to learn content for physics or the rest of the sciences

the other answers here probably mean the same thing, but i'll give my personal input! :smile:

for me with physics, the maths comes more naturally to me and i think i've said what you need to focus on with that. with the wordy stuff, its good to recall from your memory what you're learning. this can be done by blurting or just finding word-based questions to write everything you know on. the aim here isn't to get full marks on the answer, but just understand what it is you're doing! this is best done when visualising whats going on, so drawing diagrams can help with the majority of topics, but with topics like space and radioactivity, you sadly may have to just memorise it :frown:

with bio and chem it's mostly memorising things, which is best done with flashcards and blurting (active recall methods). honestly, freesciencelessons is the best for this because you're only learning the useful stuff then, though be warned that with physics, often there'll be some content which seems like its not on the curriculum, but thats just because its application based and aimed at top students to differentiate the grade 8s and 9s (usually something bizarre like ethics and global warming is involved, those are the examples i've come across XD)

i hope this helps!