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OCR B Physics

Anyone got an A/A* with this exam board? :smile:

Edit: ive already done the AS btw, doing A2 from sep 2015
(edited 8 years ago)

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Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Anyone got an A/A* with this exam board? :smile:


Awaiting A2 results but I got full marks at AS. Are you looking for some tips or advice?
Original post by Plagioclase
Awaiting A2 results but I got full marks at AS. Are you looking for some tips or advice?


Damn, full marks thats good :biggrin:
Yeah I was looking for some advice on how to get the higher grades in OCR B physics. Did you use the official textbook?

And also what were your other subjects? :smile:
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Damn, full marks thats good :biggrin:
Yeah I was looking for some advice on how to get the higher grades in OCR B physics. Did you use the official textbook?

And also what were your other subjects? :smile:


As you've probably realised, the official textbook is pretty useless, particularly for revision. It's worth a read but you really do not want to use that as your main study tool. For the content, I thought the CGP revision guide was pretty good - I used that for AS and A2. OCR B Physics isn't a very content-heavy A Level but obviously the exams are fairly unpredictable and less straight-forward than other boards which is why you need to be particularly diligent with going through all of the available past papers (get access to legacy questions via your teacher if you can) and make sure you understand how to do all of them. Personally, I actually thought the A2 course makes more sense than the AS course because there are fewer of the weird descriptive questions (such as the materials part, ugh) so that's a good thing. Another thing about the A2 course is that you quickly realise that there are some things that barely every come up (particle physics and relativity for instance and when they do, it's very basic) and some things that always come up (electromagnetic induction and gasses) so by doing past papers you can get a very good idea of what you need to focus on with your revision. As I've said, there isn't very much that you have to learn but you need to know how to apply it very well. This winds some people up but I think it's pretty good because if you actually understand what's going on, you'll do very well - there's a lot less rote-learning needed with this course than in other Physics specifications.

Also - the A2 coursework for OCR B is great. The practical investigation in particular is a hell of a lot of fun if you take it seriously and choose an ambitious topic. It's pretty much the only specification that lets you do some real science as part of your course so make sure that you make the most of it! If you've got any other questions please do let me know.

Oh, and my other subjects are Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry.
Original post by Plagioclase
x


Thanks for the lengthy reply, so did you rely solely on the CGP book? I have that and I think it's a good book. I was also looking into buying another Physics textbook to help with revision and understanding concepts. Have you heard of or used 'Advanced Physics for You'?

Haha what you said is true, the application of this board does wind up my whole class a lot :tongue:

I got 52/60 UMS on the AS Coursework, it was pretty interesting. i think Im okay on the coursework side of things, it moreso the exams. The G491 papers and the content is pretty hard to get your head around, how did you revise for G491? The content of it isnt really traditional topics you would find in physics so im stuck for revision material online.

Ah so you kept all 4 to A2? Or did you do Maths in one year and did FM in 2nd year?
Reply 5
Avatar for Tibbz2
Tibbz2
13
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Thanks for the lengthy reply, so did you rely solely on the CGP book? I have that and I think it's a good book. I was also looking into buying another Physics textbook to help with revision and understanding concepts. Have you heard of or used 'Advanced Physics for You'?

Haha what you said is true, the application of this board does wind up my whole class a lot :tongue:

I got 52/60 UMS on the AS Coursework, it was pretty interesting. i think Im okay on the coursework side of things, it moreso the exams. The G491 papers and the content is pretty hard to get your head around, how did you revise for G491? The content of it isnt really traditional topics you would find in physics so im stuck for revision material online.

Ah so you kept all 4 to A2? Or did you do Maths in one year and did FM in 2nd year?


Basically all of last year (and this year for A2) I ignored what was said in class, then went over it from the CGP guide and my Collins Physics textbook, then concentrated on my maths units for revision, as I couldn't be arsed to do the past papers because they're so badly written especially the mark schemes.

With this technique I got 94% overall last year, awaiting whatever happens this year, but I don't think I can drop below an A overall now!
Original post by Tibbz2
Basically all of last year (and this year for A2) I ignored what was said in class, then went over it from the CGP guide and my Collins Physics textbook, then concentrated on my maths units for revision, as I couldn't be arsed to do the past papers because they're so badly written especially the mark schemes.

With this technique I got 94% overall last year, awaiting whatever happens this year, but I don't think I can drop below an A overall now!


Isnt Collins Physics textbook for Edexcel? And you used it for OCR B?

What did you mean by you focused on maths units for revision? You revised maths to revise for physics? :tongue:

I wanted to get high ums this year to make next year easier for me, all i need is an A overall from Physics.
Reply 7
Avatar for Tibbz2
Tibbz2
13
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Isnt Collins Physics textbook for Edexcel? And you used it for OCR B?

What did you mean by you focused on maths units for revision? You revised maths to revise for physics? :tongue:

I wanted to get high ums this year to make next year easier for me, all i need is an A overall from Physics.


Oh no, I have THE physics book from Collins, the one that has content for every exam board in britain + extra :tongue: It's expensive but really good!

And I meant I put physics to one side and just revised for my Maths/Further maths units :smile:
Original post by Tibbz2
Oh no, I have THE physics book from Collins, the one that has content for every exam board in britain + extra :tongue: It's expensive but really good!

And I meant I put physics to one side and just revised for my Maths/Further maths units :smile:


Hmm thanks ill look into buying that. How did you get 94% without past papers?
Reply 9
Avatar for Tibbz2
Tibbz2
13
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Hmm thanks ill look into buying that. How did you get 94% without past papers?


Well from class when we looked at them, to me the questions either seemed pretty straight forward "here is some stuff, use this equation to figure this value out" questions, or just explanation questions, which i could just learn the content for :smile:

I will add that I knew a lot of physics beforehand, it was what I knew I wanted to do at university, so a lot of the content on the AS and A2 course I already had a good understanding of, which probably helped more than anything.
That's what I want to do, I just want to know the Physics before hand and understand the concepts so I can apply it to any question.

Did all your content come from that Collins book? Did you use Youtube aswell?
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
That's what I want to do, I just want to know the Physics before hand and understand the concepts so I can apply it to any question.

Did all your content come from that Collins book? Did you use Youtube aswell?


With the exams, its literally either an "apply this equation" "explain this process" or "analyse this method" question, as long as you've got maths on lock, then the revision should be on how to word answers and knowing where the marks come from for the explanation questions.

Also worth going over the little data analysis section at the back of the CGP guide before your exams since calibration/uncertainty almost always comes up.

Finally be strict on yourself in terms of being clear and concise with your answers, it doesn't matter so much at AS but they really crack down at A2
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by IIEquinoxII
With the exams, its literally either an "apply this equation" "explain this process" or "analyse this method" question, as long as you've got maths on lock, then the revision should be on how to word answers and knowing where the marks come from for the explanation questions.

Also worth going over the little data analysis section at the back of the CGP guide before your exams since calibration/uncertainty almost always comes up.

Finally be strict on yourself in terms of being clear and concise with your answers, it doesn't matter so much at AS but they really crack down at A2


Yeah im familiar with the exam question types, i just sat the AS exams :tongue:

I made this thread moreso for the A2 stuff because revision and exams for was fairly difficuly compared to Maths and Chemistry which were much easier for me :smile:

Ive spoken to you before, how are you finding A2 physics?
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Yeah im familiar with the exam question types, i just sat the AS exams :tongue:

I made this thread moreso for the A2 stuff because revision and exams for was fairly difficuly compared to Maths and Chemistry which were much easier for me :smile:

Ive spoken to you before, how are you finding A2 physics?


Pretty good so far, but thats mainly because we started with decay and capacitance which is just exponential stuff, and then the mechanics parts which ive already covered in M2 from AS
Original post by IIEquinoxII
Pretty good so far, but thats mainly because we started with decay and capacitance which is just exponential stuff, and then the mechanics parts which ive already covered in M2 from AS


Ive done decay and gas laws atm, i feel like its gonna be a lot of maths in A2 compared to AS where it was more theory. I dont do M2 so some mechanics will be new to me, i did m1 :smile:
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Thanks for the lengthy reply, so did you rely solely on the CGP book? I have that and I think it's a good book. I was also looking into buying another Physics textbook to help with revision and understanding concepts. Have you heard of or used 'Advanced Physics for You'?

Haha what you said is true, the application of this board does wind up my whole class a lot :tongue:

I got 52/60 UMS on the AS Coursework, it was pretty interesting. i think Im okay on the coursework side of things, it moreso the exams. The G491 papers and the content is pretty hard to get your head around, how did you revise for G491? The content of it isnt really traditional topics you would find in physics so im stuck for revision material online.

Ah so you kept all 4 to A2? Or did you do Maths in one year and did FM in 2nd year?


The CGP book has all of the content you need but as I said, content is only one part of OCR B. I have heard of Advanced Physics for You but I only used the "For You" series at KS3, we didn't have them at A Level. I bought Collins Advanced Science - Physics last year (I believe Tibbz2 mentioned that) which is incredibly comprehensive but to be honest, I never actually used it. If you don't understand the concepts then I guess it could be helpful (it's a great book, don't get me wrong) but that wasn't an issue for me. If you do get it, make sure you get it second hand because it's bloody expensive when new. I got it for £8 or something off ebay.

For revision, I really can only suggest 1) past papers and 2) making sure you understand everything that's covered. Particularly with the AS units, it's very important that you're precise in what you say and by doing past papers you quickly get a feel of what kind of words you need to be using in your answers. I did every exam paper at least three times over the year.

And yeah, I kept all 4 to A2 (AS Maths + Further Maths in Year 12, A2 Maths and Further Maths in Year 13). You really don't need to know a lot of mathematics for A Level Physics, you just need to be very good at the basics.
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
Anyone got an A/A* with this exam board? :smile:

Edit: ive already done the AS btw, doing A2 from sep 2015


I got A at AS,
just waiting for A2 grades
Original post by Plagioclase
x


Ill look into picking up the Collins book too :smile:
Wow, every paper atleast 3 times? I think that was my mistake this year. I only did the papers once and that was in the run up to my exams. I think i started revision too late. I might have to resit G491, G492 went well.

Did you do the legacy papers too?
And also wanted to ask, what was the step up from AS to A2 in physics ?
Original post by Lissy14
I got A at AS,
just waiting for A2 grades


If you dont mind me asking, what was your ums breakdown like for each module?

What was the step up like for you from AS to A2?
Reply 19
Avatar for Tibbz2
Tibbz2
13
Original post by SheLikeTheMango
That's what I want to do, I just want to know the Physics before hand and understand the concepts so I can apply it to any question.

Did all your content come from that Collins book? Did you use Youtube aswell?


I actually used a youtube channel this year to help me understand a few things. I think it was DrPhysicsA or something like that.

If not, just search "A Level physics" and a lot will come up!

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