Which is the best A-Level Physics board?

OCR are, in my opinion, the best board for any science It is considered harder but if you want to study physics at uni, hard is good

As long as it isn't a steep learning curve. Hard is fine as long as it's gradual, so that each new unit or equation or trick you're next learning isn't really 'hard', just 'more'.

This sudden OCR love is making me consider them for Maths as well, since their textbooks are also plentiful. I had read plenty about them basically being dicks. You get that with every board, but the hate for OCR seems particularly strong.

As long as it isn't a steep learning curve. Hard is fine as long as it's gradual, so that each new unit or equation or trick you're next learning isn't really 'hard', just 'more'.

This sudden OCR love is making me consider them for Maths as well, since their textbooks are also plentiful. I had read plenty about them basically being dicks. You get that with every board, but the hate for OCR seems particularly strong.

Ocr are very good, especially their OCR A course. Also, for maths and further maths go for MEI OCR, their support is amazing and they have by far the best books out of all the specs

For physics, the content isn't hard (at AS anyway) but the questions are hard. This is why people don't like them, they have hard questions which test what you have learnt, make you apply your knowledge and have very specific mark schemes, if you miss out a key word you lose a mark (and i think that is fair).

It is worth noting that AQA-A have two types of practical assessment, one of which is better suited for people self-studying, as the work would be externally marked rather than by a teacher. But I'm not sure what sort of arrangement you have OP, are you doing the practical with your old school?

also, I'm not sure if edexcel offer the same choice in their practical assessment units

I'm still thinking AQA. I'd rather an 'easy' course that grades me on ability/knowledge than one that grades me badly on keywords. I haven't heard of unis caring which board you took, so why take a harder/dodgier exam?

I think that you should have a look on the specifications of each course and look at the past papers and compare to see which suits you best content wise and how you can handle the exam technique. If I was you, I'd go with OCR A, or the exam board that you was on for GCSE. I think OCR A are the most cogent and have many resources.

Ah, that's the problem. The specifications will be (and are) just gibberish as I haven't learnt them yet so don't know what they entail (like when I looked at Maths units, all I knew was 'mechanics = related to physics'). Past papers will be more gibberish as every question will be a brick wall of currently unknown technical terms. I'm pretty much going in blind into A Level Maths and Science and saying "come at me, bro" and hoping I'll get it by the time I have to do the practicals, whatever those practicals may entail.

In a charity shop I found two OCR GCSE books, one for Physics A and one for Chemistry A. For £3 altogether I thought "why not?"

So have you opted for OCR then? I would go with what ever exam board you were on at GCSE, there will be a smoother transition to A Level and there wouldn't be that many gaps in your physics knowledge as moving from one exam board to another recalls information from GCSE which you may have not learnt.

Haven't decided yet. I did Science GCSE a decade ago so I don't remember much.

Important that you only consider Physics. It seems who the best board is depends on which subject, and it's usually between AQA and Edexcel anyway.

I haven't committed to one board yet, so worth asking. I'm self-studying and both AQA and Edexcel have a decent amount of textbooks. (I was going to do AQA Maths and Further Maths anyway until I found there's no textbooks, gonna do Edexcel instead)