The Student Room Group

Does Anyone Do Edexcel Physics A-Level?

Hi everyboody :}
For anyone doing edexcel physics:
Is the unit 1 exam harder or easier than the unit 2 one?
thanks
Reply 1
Original post by TheGreatBehemoth
Hi everyboody :}
For anyone doing edexcel physics:
Is the unit 1 exam harder or easier than the unit 2 one?
thanks


I'm doing A2 Physics; and I thought that Unit 1 is harder than Unit 2.
Reply 2
Original post by TheGreatBehemoth
Hi everyboody :}
For anyone doing edexcel physics:
Is the unit 1 exam harder or easier than the unit 2 one?
thanks


I thought that Unit 1 was easier than Unit 2 during the year, i kind of struggled to get my head around alot of the Unit 2 stuff when it was being taught but the Unit 2 exam was much easier than the Unit 1 one and i did much better on the Unit 2 exam.
If you do Maths, Unit 1 is easier in terms of the overlap with Mechanics.

EDIT:

RE: neg rep - err, alright, I stand corrected... I should have said "In my opinion, Unit 1 is easier in terms of overlap." :nothing: I personally find Unit 2 harder because I have an absolute hatred for the Electricity section :shakecane:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by Lily Academia
If you do Maths, Unit 1 is easier in terms of the overlap with Mechanics.

Neg Rep!

I can't believe somebody did that because they disagreed with your comment!

Maths will help you with mechanics but I suppose you could be rubbish at maths and it would then make no difference.

EJS
Reply 5
Original post by Lily Academia
If you do Maths, Unit 1 is easier in terms of the overlap with Mechanics.

EDIT:

RE: neg rep - err, alright, I stand corrected... I should have said "In my opinion, Unit 1 is easier in terms of overlap." :nothing: I personally find Unit 2 harder because I have an absolute hatred for the Electricity section :shakecane:


You're AS right? Yeah once you do the exams you'll realise Unit 2 is easier. The Unit 2 exam is easier and once the exams come round most people get to grips with Electricity and Waves. Thats probably why you were negged btw.
Original post by Saf94
You're AS right? Yeah once you do the exams you'll realise Unit 2 is easier. The Unit 2 exam is easier and once the exams come round most people get to grips with Electricity and Waves. Thats probably why you were negged btw.


I know why - they disagreed with me. I just don't see the point; why should it matter that I find something easier or something more difficult? With any exam 'easiness' is relative; it depends on the person.

I've completed most the pastpapers for Physics and I've averaged better for Unit 1, because of its maths content - which is largely what I based my original statement on.

Are you taking A2 at the moment? Good luck, I've heard from the upper sixth it's substantially harder than AS :nooo:
Reply 7
Original post by Lily Academia
I know why - they disagreed with me. I just don't see the point; why should it matter that I find something easier or something more difficult? With any exam 'easiness' is relative; it depends on the person.

I've completed most the pastpapers for Physics and I've averaged better for Unit 1, because of its maths content - which is largely what I based my original statement on.

Are you taking A2 at the moment? Good luck, I've heard from the upper sixth it's substantially harder than AS :nooo:


Im sure after you take the exams and when you get the results you'll realise Unit 2 was easier, i was just like you before. It takes time to get your head around the electricity but if you work hard to understand it by the time the exam comes you'll get it easily.

Yeah i am taking A2 and thanks :smile: i havent done much (or any really) revision for physics yet so im gonna go hard from now on, its a little harder than AS but its much more interesting, i like it more. Some topics are hard (magnetic fields) but some aren't so hard and are really interesting like particle physics. Good luck with your exam as well :smile:
Original post by Saf94
Im sure after you take the exams and when you get the results you'll realise Unit 2 was easier, i was just like you before. It takes time to get your head around the electricity but if you work hard to understand it by the time the exam comes you'll get it easily.

Yeah i am taking A2 and thanks :smile: i havent done much (or any really) revision for physics yet so im gonna go hard from now on, its a little harder than AS but its much more interesting, i like it more. Some topics are hard (magnetic fields) but some aren't so hard and are really interesting like particle physics. Good luck with your exam as well :smile:


Thanks. Hopefully we'll both pull through! I'm getting better with electricity; I just don't find it remotely interesting. My friend is always complaining about the thermal energy section of A2 and says the particle stuff is interesting but quite difficult!

I'm slogging through English Lit revision at the moment, but I'm going to do some Physics later.
Reply 9
Original post by Lily Academia
Thanks. Hopefully we'll both pull through! I'm getting better with electricity; I just don't find it remotely interesting. My friend is always complaining about the thermal energy section of A2 and says the particle stuff is interesting but quite difficult!

I'm slogging through English Lit revision at the moment, but I'm going to do some Physics later.


Everyone hates Electricity, you just have to get through it and yeah thermal energy isnt great, Magnetic fields is my worst, Particle physics and Astrophysics are really interesting. English lit is tough apparently, all my friends tell me about how much they hate it. Physics and English are tough subjects i hope your other subjects aren't as hard.
Original post by Saf94
Everyone hates Electricity, you just have to get through it and yeah thermal energy isnt great, Magnetic fields is my worst, Particle physics and Astrophysics are really interesting. English lit is tough apparently, all my friends tell me about how much they hate it. Physics and English are tough subjects i hope your other subjects aren't as hard.


Ah, they're great:

Spoiler

What are yours? Are you considering Physics at uni?

English Lit revision is ridiculously difficult though; it's the exam I'm most worried about. Writing a decent essay (I say 'a' - the exam is 2 and a half hours long; there are 5 essays) under exam conditions is a lot more stressful than doing calculations.

I think what I disliked most about Electricity was the potential dividers bit and lack of 'assurance' in the sense that you know if you've gone wrong if you've got a distance of 0.009m for the projectile of a tennis ball, but you can't quite apply the same logic to resistance; I find 'estimating' or recognising whether my value is 'realistic' is next to impossible.
Reply 11
Original post by Lily Academia
Ah, they're great:

Spoiler

What are yours? Are you considering Physics at uni?

English Lit revision is ridiculously difficult though; it's the exam I'm most worried about. Writing a decent essay (I say 'a' - the exam is 2 and a half hours long; there are 5 essays) under exam conditions is a lot more stressful than doing calculations.

I think what I disliked most about Electricity was the potential dividers bit and lack of 'assurance' in the sense that you know if you've gone wrong if you've got a distance of 0.009m for the projectile of a tennis ball, but you can't quite apply the same logic to resistance; I find 'estimating' or recognising whether my value is 'realistic' is next to impossible.


Wow you're subjects are intense. I take Maths, Physics, Business and did AS Chemistry. The chemistry exam was tough, Unit 2 was one of the worst exams i've ever done. I heard Biology is alot of memorising which sounds difficult to me but you might be one of those people who prefer that.

I'm going to do business at uni, got an offer from LSE for Management and i only need AAB so im pretty confident :smile: What are you thinking of doing at uni, i would guess a science by your subject choices but English is an unusual one, would've thought you would take maths if you were doing 3 sciences.
Original post by Saf94
Wow you're subjects are intense. I take Maths, Physics, Business and did AS Chemistry. The chemistry exam was tough, Unit 2 was one of the worst exams i've ever done. I heard Biology is alot of memorising which sounds difficult to me but you might be one of those people who prefer that.

I'm going to do business at uni, got an offer from LSE for Management and i only need AAB so im pretty confident :smile: What are you thinking of doing at uni, i would guess a science by your subject choices but English is an unusual one, would've thought you would take maths if you were doing 3 sciences.


Actually, the reason why I like the Sciences is because a lot of the time it's just a matter of application; there's a fair deal to memorise but at the same time you've got the back up of learning how to attempt questions and then applying that. I find Biology harder in terms of it simply being memorisation, and while that's fine (and enjoyable) for parts of Biology I'm interested in (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry etc.) a decent amount of the A-level is focussed on Ecology and plant Biology.... which I find a bit... boring. Revising the Biodiversity topic is going to kill me.

And I do take Maths! :tongue: (Sort of wish I could do Further too, but they wouldn't let me do 8ASs... that's a bit excessive...) But like I said - I'm alright with the Sciences; I didn't just want to settle with that. English Lit pushes me a bit more.

And it's medicine; surprise, surprise :rolleyes:

Well done for that offer! LSE's amazing :moon:

Quick Reply