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AQA Physics PHYA4 - Thursday 11th June 2015 [Exam Discussion Thread]

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Reply 820
Original post by Lau14
I always find it's too quiet in the study centres and libraries and stuff, I hate it! If I'm working in college (outside of lessons) I do it in the cafe when there aren't many people around.

I don't even feel like I've properly started even though I've been doing things? Which doesn't really make much sense but oh well!


Ah I guess people have their own working noise levels haha :tongue:

I kinda feel that way - doing notes for subjects doesn't feel like revising because I just read and do past papers when I revise but I guess it all counts...
Reply 821
Original post by saad97
You're welcome :smile:

Past papers all the way! :tongue:
In my opinion at A-level, the best way to do well in Science or Maths is by completing past papers because it's no good just learning the content. You have to be able to apply your knowledge and the same style of questions come up pretty much every year so by doing past papers you're training your brain for the exam. Works for me, what about you?


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Past papers need to be the next step for me then! I've been focusing on content mainly - gonna head in that direction now :smile:
Reply 822
Original post by CD223
Ah I guess people have their own working noise levels haha :tongue:

I kinda feel that way - doing notes for subjects doesn't feel like revising because I just read and do past papers when I revise but I guess it all counts...


Yeah making the notes just feels like something to do with my hands while I'm watching stuff! It all builds up in the end though, things stick eventually :smile:
Reply 823
Original post by Lau14
Yeah making the notes just feels like something to do with my hands while I'm watching stuff! It all builds up in the end though, things stick eventually :smile:


Hope so! Feels weird I have another 11 days to revise before stuff gets real :frown:


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Reply 824
Original post by CD223
Past papers need to be the next step for me then! I've been focusing on content mainly - gonna head in that direction now :smile:


Yeah that'll be a good idea.
Personally I make condensed notes from the revision guide first, do lots of past papers and then learn any content I'm struggling with a couple of weeks before the exam. I find this beneficial because by doing past papers the content just sticks in your head anyway so you don't have to learn as much when it comes to the couple of weeks building up to the exam.


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Reply 825
Original post by saad97
Yeah that'll be a good idea.
Personally I make condensed notes from the revision guide first, do lots of past papers and then learn any content I'm struggling with a couple of weeks before the exam. I find this beneficial because by doing past papers the content just sticks in your head anyway so you don't have to learn as much when it comes to the couple of weeks building up to the exam.


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Sounds a very sensible method! I may very well give that a go. How do you plan on preparing for the empa?


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Reply 826
Original post by CD223
Sounds a very sensible method! I may very well give that a go. How do you plan on preparing for the empa?


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Yeah that method has helped me a lot this year compared to reading a book and trying to learn the content.
I've been a lot more productive recently which is good!

Well my college does the ISA but we've been preparing for that for the past 2 weeks during lesson so I feel quite confident. ISA's are quite repetitive every year, you just need to learn the mark scheme and know what the examiner wants to be honest, wbu?


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Reply 827
Original post by CD223
Hope so! Feels weird I have another 11 days to revise before stuff gets real :frown:


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Yeah everything's going to feel so close after Easter and everyone's either going to be going "oh it's ages away" or freaking out about exams, especially since we've finished most of the courses. Also usually the point when people slowly stop attending lessons which can make it feel pretty nice and relaxed!
Reply 828
Original post by saad97
Yeah that method has helped me a lot this year compared to reading a book and trying to learn the content.
I've been a lot more productive recently which is good!

Well my college does the ISA but we've been preparing for that for the past 2 weeks during lesson so I feel quite confident. ISA's are quite repetitive every year, you just need to learn the mark scheme and know what the examiner wants to be honest, wbu?
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Well thanks for sharing it - I'll have to give it a go once all my Easter homework is complete!

Oh I see - I wish we did the ISA! Do you know when you'll be finished with yours? I won't be done with the EMPA until 5th May.

I plan on just revising practical skills and going over the notes I made on the experiments we carried out. The questions in the past aren't repetitive by any means, so it's difficult to learn from past mark schemes :/

Original post by Lau14
Yeah everything's going to feel so close after Easter and everyone's either going to be going "oh it's ages away" or freaking out about exams, especially since we've finished most of the courses. Also usually the point when people slowly stop attending lessons which can make it feel pretty nice and relaxed!


True! Although I still haven't finished learning in all my subjects :eek:
I can't believe people stop attending haha! All of mine are compulsory - by not attending you risk being disqualified for the exams by the college!
Reply 829
Original post by CD223
Well thanks for sharing it - I'll have to give it a go once all my Easter homework is complete!

Oh I see - I wish we did the ISA! Do you know when you'll be finished with yours? I won't be done with the EMPA until 5th May.

I plan on just revising practical skills and going over the notes I made on the experiments we carried out. The questions in the past aren't repetitive by any means, so it's difficult to learn from past mark schemes :/



You're welcome :smile:
Ah okay well good luck with that, I hope it works for you! My homework is just revision and past papers so I'm quite lucky in that sense.

Erm well I've got my first A2 ISA the first week back and then the second if needed but hopefully not :/

Oh, yeah I've heard that EMPA's are quite difficult compare to ISA's, glad my college doesn't do them.
What did you get last year in your EMPA?


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Reply 830
Original post by saad97
You're welcome :smile:
Ah okay well good luck with that, I hope it works for you! My homework is just revision and past papers so I'm quite lucky in that sense.

Erm well I've got my first A2 ISA the first week back and then the second if needed but hopefully not :/

Oh, yeah I've heard that EMPA's are quite difficult compare to ISA's, glad my college doesn't do them.
What did you get last year in your EMPA?


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I wish my homework was revision. I think most of it was set because we're far behind so at lot of it was self-teaching to catch up!

Feels like I'm losing out of valuable revision time by doing so though- gonna try and use all of next week to get pure revision done and finish my homework by Friday, as I've got a lot on over the next few days.

Last year I got a C in the EMPA (41/60 UMS), so you can understand my concern for this year! I didn't choose to resit it though, which might be a costly mistake, but I guess we'll see!


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Reply 831
Original post by CD223


True! Although I still haven't finished learning in all my subjects :eek:
I can't believe people stop attending haha! All of mine are compulsory - by not attending you risk being disqualified for the exams by the college!


Only got two lessons or so of FP4 and another few weeks of chemistry left!
Wow :tongue: teachers tend to stop caring about attendance towards exams, you only get a warning usually when it drops below 90% for a subject I think which is unlikely if you've been attending all year and by this point they don't worry as long as you're on target ish.
Reply 832
Original post by Lau14
Only got two lessons or so of FP4 and another few weeks of chemistry left!
Wow :tongue: teachers tend to stop caring about attendance towards exams, you only get a warning usually when it drops below 90% for a subject I think which is unlikely if you've been attending all year and by this point they don't worry as long as you're on target ish.


That's amazing! I've still got about three weeks left in all of my subjects!

My college's attendance policy is pretty strict haha!


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Reply 833
Original post by CD223
I wish my homework was revision. I think most of it was set because we're far behind so at lot of it was self-teaching to catch up!

Feels like I'm losing out of valuable revision time by doing so though- gonna try and use all of next week to get pure revision done and finish my homework by Friday, as I've got a lot on over the next few days.

Last year I got a C in the EMPA (41/60 UMS), so you can understand my concern for this year! I didn't choose to resit it though, which might be a costly mistake, but I guess we'll see!


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Oh I see, we've finished the content in all of my subjects luckily so it's just revision and exam technique from now on. Not long to go till exams start though! :frown:

Aw it must be stressful getting all your homework done and then taking time out for revision too.
My aim's to complete at least a past paper for each subject from tomorrow as I've finished writing up my notes and everything.

Me too, but I'm resitting this year just to try and get a few extra ums but don't worry, I'm sure you'll do amazing! :biggrin:


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Reply 834
Original post by saad97
Oh I see, we've finished the content in all of my subjects luckily so it's just revision and exam technique from now on. Not long to go till exams start though! :frown:

Aw it must be stressful getting all your homework done and then taking time out for revision too.
My aim's to complete at least a past paper for each subject from tomorrow as I've finished writing up my notes and everything.

Me too, but I'm resitting this year just to try and get a few extra ums but don't worry, I'm sure you'll do amazing! :biggrin:


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Yeah the homework is taking ages. I think trying to balance 4 A levels, a job and a social life has become near impossible haha!

I'll try and learn from last year's mistakes in the EMPA, but that will be hard as they change so much year on year.

I'm gonna try and do a past paper per subject as of Monday next week I think. That should give me time to get everything done. I just hope I'm not too late!


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Reply 835
Original post by CD223
That's amazing! I've still got about three weeks left in all of my subjects!

My college's attendance policy is pretty strict haha!


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Most subjects at our college are pretty much done I think. There's still EMPA stuff in physics ( :/ ) though.

Our college's attendance policy at this stage in the year goes something like well you have 99% attendance so far and you're on target for nothing lower than an A and even if you're not the tutors are losing the will to chase people up so we're just not going to mention anything :P
Reply 836
Original post by Lau14
Most subjects at our college are pretty much done I think. There's still EMPA stuff in physics ( :/ ) though.

Our college's attendance policy at this stage in the year goes something like well you have 99% attendance so far and you're on target for nothing lower than an A and even if you're not the tutors are losing the will to chase people up so we're just not going to mention anything :P


Oh right! After 20th April, Maths I've got 1 week left, physics and history I've got 2 weeks left and computing I've got like 3 :/

At least they treat you like adults!

Was gonna try and make today productive but I realised I have work in the morning followed by plans in the afternoon. Easter is going too fast - it's impossible to have a life and get stuff done!


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Reply 837
Original post by CD223
Yeah the homework is taking ages. I think trying to balance 4 A levels, a job and a social life has become near impossible haha!

I'll try and learn from last year's mistakes in the EMPA, but that will be hard as they change so much year on year.

I'm gonna try and do a past paper per subject as of Monday next week I think. That should give me time to get everything done. I just hope I'm not too late!


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Wow, I find 3 A-levels difficult, how do you manage to do it?! :/ and then come out with such great grades as well! :redface:

Good luck with your EMPA :smile:

Yeah exams are approaching really quickly but if we make the next 5 or so weeks productive then everything should be fine hopefully, unless AQA decide to put some near to impossible questions on every exam -.-


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Reply 838
Original post by CD223
Oh right! After 20th April, Maths I've got 1 week left, physics and history I've got 2 weeks left and computing I've got like 3 :/

At least they treat you like adults!

Was gonna try and make today productive but I realised I have work in the morning followed by plans in the afternoon. Easter is going too fast - it's impossible to have a life and get stuff done!


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Ah that sucks :/ now I have 8 hours a week of maths where we'll just be doing revision :biggrin:

Well, sometimes :| depends on your teachers partially as well!

Yeah balancing things is difficult :/ I guess at this stage we just need to prioritise revision!
Reply 839
Original post by saad97
Wow, I find 3 A-levels difficult, how do you manage to do it?! :/ and then come out with such great grades as well! :redface:

Good luck with your EMPA :smile:

Yeah exams are approaching really quickly but if we make the next 5 or so weeks productive then everything should be fine hopefully, unless AQA decide to put some near to impossible questions on every exam -.-


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I don't know how I manage. To be honest, I haven't come out with good grades yet, so I might not be! haha!

Thank you, and you with your ISA.

Hope so! I'll do my best. Made a timetable that fits around college and my job - gonna have to stick to it!

I wouldn't put it past AQA though...

Original post by Lau14
Ah that sucks :/ now I have 8 hours a week of maths where we'll just be doing revision :biggrin:

Well, sometimes :| depends on your teachers partially as well!

Yeah balancing things is difficult :/ I guess at this stage we just need to prioritise revision!


That's so lucky! True, I will prioritise that from now on... just got back from work and gonna revise for the rest of the day :smile:

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