Self studying A-level Physics

why are you dropping maths after as?

Because I'll be doing A-level Biology and Chemistry as well. Don't want to do 4 A-levels.

How can you be sure you are taking those for a2 when you haven't started as yet?

I had tutors. I got an A (89% ). I would not recommend self studying unless you need it for uni.

There are some things in maths you'll need to learn if you're dropping maths after AS such as the exponential and natural log functions.
I think physics is one of the easier subjects to self-teach due to the sheer amount of content you can find online on the topics. However, it is by no means easy. Make sure you fully understand the concepts in one topic before moving on to the next. The topics that tend to challenging are SHM and Resonance, Electromagnetic Induction and Electric and Magnetic Fields so put some extra focus on these areas.

It's going to be for uni!



How did you find A-level Physics?

It's going to be for uni!



How did you find A-level Physics?

I found the exams to be easier than when I first thought they would be as I was first learning the syllabus. Tho I think that was mostly to do with how the textbook and my teachers ended up going to a lot of detail that we didn't really need to know for the exams. Also I don't know what exam board you'll planning on sitting so the spec would be slightly different as well.
Objectively speaking, it is challenging as you do have to think and get your head round the challenging concepts. Even if you're really good at maths, some of the topics (like the ones I mentioned previously) require a lot of thought and understanding in order to succeed in the exams.
Having said that, the questions themselves are set in a way that it tends to guide you though the different steps in a question (this is for AQA at least) so even if your understanding is a bit meh in some areas which was the case for me going into the exam, there's a degree of leniency in it.

How are you going to deal with the labs if they have it for your curriculum? I really recommend getting an experienced tutor. It's not that big of a deal, but prepare to work very hard. Especially you don't have the rigid discipline of a school. I worked my ass off for that 89%. Good memories.

There's actually no labs/coursework. My exam board is going to be Edexcel. I have a lot of free time, besides my part time job. If you got a 100% instead, would you have cried?

I've just done AS Physics and the only maths is rearranging and plug crap into formulas (From my experience anyway lol)
Oh and counting squares under those damn graphs.
Mechanics modules help a lot but that's about it. They help in the way that you don't have to revise physics mechanics because you've already covered some of the topics. But everything is totally self teachable.
I basically ended up self studying a lot of topics as quite a few of my lessons weren't particularly useful at all.
So its doable. I don't see why you can't get an A* at A level with a bit of hard work.

AS physics was my least favourite out of all of my subjects (fm, maths, chem).
My advice is to nail everything that you learn and not just let it all build up to revise it at a later date.
With physics its just understanding and so you won't need to revise loads.
Which is great because once you get it, like properly just get it then you don't need to revise it yayayayayay
Oh and keep at it when it gets frustrating. You improve loooads over the year
I kept putting off physics revision so muchh. arghsihgi but when exams come everything will make sense.
Dem practicals tho. cba with them

What grades are you predicting for your AS courses? What do you plan to take at uni? Also has Physics changed the way you look at the world?

AAAA - confident with maths, fm and chem
lol I'm worrying about physics because I've bombed that paper 2 this year But seeing as its the new spec I think I might get an A overall in physics as paper 1 went fine (just a few things wrong). I've always done well in class (~90% average) so that exam is just annoying me. its those god damn vernier calipers bringing my confidence down for the rest of the exam. lol the one lesson I decided not to turn up to. But enough of my excuses.

You've got a year - if I could turn back time...
Don't ever get complacent. But tbh it won't really apply to you since you are self teaching. Always prepare for the worst. And prepare well
If the old spec papers seem easy, just grind through them anyway.
I regret not grinding through loads of physics papers.

For uni rn I'm looking at Maths & Physics courses.
Chem is tempting because I find it so much easier than physics lol
Tbh i find all my a level subjects interesting. They all tie in nicely
Physics I've loved since year 10.

AS physics tho. Having a crap teacher doesn't help at all. But forcing yourself to self teach stuff is good. I would always complain to my other physics teacher that I'd drop the subject whenever I got frustrated, and he'd always have this little smile like as if to say yeah riiiight. Gosh he knows me too well that I'd end up carrying on physics anyway.
Its a great subject! Makes you think hard sometimes which is nice.

Sounds like you should be doing Physics at uni . But from what others said in the thread as well, if I end up catching on to Physics at an efficient pace - then I won't need as much revision as I would in Biology and Chemistry?

Yepp tbh i think it applies to chemistry as well
Like once I revised it all properly it was like physics (but better because I just knew it whereas with physics I didn't feel like I had a solid understanding).
Chemistry at the start for me was meh. Certainly with my first encounter of chem exam questions it was quite hard to adjust to. Made loads of silly mistakes and timing was a little issue. But you learn and you get past these things easily by doing a few papers.

Just got to nail down on the stuff. I spent an entire day and a bit just making notes from the textbook for the entire AS chemistry during Easter and then I condensed those notes down. Nearer to exams I'd use chemguide on anything I wasn't sure about and go over my notes. By that point I knew everything and it was just a matter of learning practicals. Hardest part is calculations imo as you can't revise for them.

I find the practicals a lot more interesting for chem than physics and so when it comes to learning them its faaaar easier.
Probably why I like chem a lot because it doesn't frustrate me lol