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My Year 13 Journey to A*A*A*A*

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Reply 80
**DAY 29**

Today I finished making notes for the physics section of the PAT (finally) so now comes the hard part of actually remembering it all. I also did another ukmt senior paper for help with the maths section, since some of the questions are quite a similar style(geometry for example).

My class also finished FP1 today, it would've been yesterday but we accidentally started M2 so had to go back to finish transformations of matrices! Thankfully because I've already self taught M2 I'll be able to focus mainly on the PAT outside of school now.

I have a physics test tomorrow on nuclear decay. We're then starting the other nuclear energy topic, whatever that's called. With the other physics teacher we're still stuck on simple harmonic motion - she hasn't really taught us anything for the past week tbh... not a great teacher

To complete my little PAT note set I think I'll write up notes on the maths section tomorrow. Not really sure what else I'll be doing but probably it'll somehow be PAT related :smile:

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Reply 81
**DAY 30**

I submitted my UCAS application today ahhh!!!! They also processed it and sent it to my five university choices within about twenty minutes which seemed pretty fast to me, since I had an email that said it could take up to 48 hours. In the end, I chose Oxford, Imperial College, Manchester, Warwick and Bath as my five choices, although I haven't quite decided of the exact order of preference yet!

Earlier on today I had both a maths and physics lesson. In maths we went back to M2, looking at projectile motion. We seemed to cover all of rectilinear motion in a one hour lesson on monday, which seemed a bit strange to me - I'm just glad I looked at it myself over summer. Projectile motion is pretty much identical to the same topic in Unit 1 AS Physics, so nothing too strenuous yet...

The physics test I mentioned went okay. For some reason they chose all the weird questions from past papers instead of the standard type for the Nuclear Decay topic. I didn't particularly mind but only one of the three main equations were needed, and only on one question in the test. Most of it was interpreting graphs and explaining alpha, beta and gamma sources (all v boring).

Between these lessons I decided to read over my physics notes I have made for the PAT instead of starting notes on the maths section. I couldn't really concentrate in the school library because the english department have decided to have their year 7 lessons in there. It's so stupid and disruptive when I'm trying to revise - today there was a class of about 30 year 7s discussing the differences between fiction and non fiction. The only reason their lessons are in the library is because theyre "book related" which is so dumb - why cant they just use a classroom like every other class?!?!?

Tomorrow I have double physics followed by double maths. We've been stalled on the vibrations topic of Unit 3, pretty much since time began... I think I'm just gonna self teach most of the physics course, it's so much easier than waiting around to be taught it in school. I also plan to make some more progression on the maths section of the PAT, specifically practicing how to graph some of the random functions they present you with :s-smilie: I also need to somehow absorb all of my physics notes... I think I need some osmosis or something to happen cos at the moment nothing is going in. Depending on how my revision goes over the next few days, I will either look at a BPho paper or MAT paper over the weekend. I'm reluctant to look at anymore PAT ones yet as I want to leave a few until closer to the actual exam date.

Only two more days till Friday guys :biggrin:
Reply 82
**DAY 32**

Over the past two days I've been making notes on the maths section of the PAT. I have been looking at the geometry type questions which tend to be focused around circles and squares inside of each other, in some weird and wonderful way. The graph sketching questions that come up every year still scare me. Some of the functions they ask to be sketch are really strange/random (in the 2013 paper they asked for a sketch of y = 3{exp[−2(x − 1)] 2 exp[−(x − 1)]} for x > 0 ). I really need to practice on these type questions as they're worth a fair few marks and at the moment, it takes me about 20 minutes to get anywhere near a valid answer.

I have quite a lot of physics homework from school to do over the weekend. There are about 12 pages of past paper questions on the Vibrations topic of Unit 3 phys that I need to answer, as well as notes on the Nuclear Energy topic. Hopefully I'll get this done tomorrow morning so I can focus predominantly on the PAT for the rest of the weekend.

In maths we're continuing to work through M2. Currently we are looking at work, energy and power. It's a very useful topic for the PAT, like much of M2 is in all honesty. I still need to do the matrix transformations assignment from FP1 and hand that in sometime next week - definitely one of my least favourite topics so far...
Reply 83
**DAY 34**
A very productive weekend on the whole. I spent Saturday morning doing physics work on SHM as planned. Then I finished up on my FP1 assignments. Since then, it's been pretty much PAT prep all weekend :biggrin:

I've focused a lot more on the PAT recently; I've probably spent about 10-12hrs making notes and revising for it over this weekend. I've been working through the maths section (again) , this time picking out past paper questions from each topic in the syllabus. I've only got a few more topics to go then I'll have made pretty detailed notes&examples on everthing I need!

Tomorrow in school I have double physics, then welsh bacc last. My physics lesson doesn't start until 11.20 so I plan on spending my morning working through some more maths PAT examples. Perhaps this week I'll also start some BPho papers - I believe they're only an hour long too which is kinda useful :P

I have just over 4 weeks until the PAT... it's weird cos I've never felt so unprepared for an exam before. I'm aiming to be completely ready (totally confident on actual knowledge) by the start October half term so that I can just focus on timings/weird questions then.

Enjoy your week guys


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Reply 84
**DAY 37**

Sorry for the three day gap, I'm not too sure why I haven't posted to be honest! Today I got my first uni offer on UCAS, from Bath :biggrin: they gave me their standard physics entry requirement of A*AA which I was pretty pleased with.

I've finished my PAT notes entirely now, for both the maths and physics sections *wpwp* Over the past few days I've been looking through some BPho papers (only the AS challenge) which have proven quite useful in understanding some of physics-y concepts. The equations&calculations in the AS challenge are really easy though (you're allowed a calculator) so I think I'm going to take a look at the A2 challenge papers from now on.

In M2, maths, we're still looking at work, energy&power. It's a very easy topic, the easiest in M2 imo; we're moving on to Hooke's Law, elastic energy etc tomorrow which will hopefully be more interesting. In physics we havent really done anything, as per usual. I've done some more homework on SHM and resonance, I think there's a test on it next week sometime.

Nothing else has happened since the weekend to be honest... PAT prep is all I ever seem to be doing

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(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 85
**DAY 39**

Pretty much no updates to give from my last post on Wednesday. My PAT revision is going quite well now, I'm doing 3-5hrs a day on it... sometimes 6-7hrs ahah! I did the easiest paper (2010) earlier which has an interview threshold mark of 71/100. I plan on doing some of the older papers in the next week and then the more recent ones closer to the actual exam.

I'm going to look over capacitance & also Kelper's laws over the weekend since they're probably my weakest topics. To be honest, circuit theory questions in general tend to go badly for me, but when capacitors come up I have no clue whatsoever :frown: apart from this I'll probably just do some random BPhO and SMC papers. I had a look at the MAT the other day but it doesn't seem very relevant maths for the PAT so I'm going to avoid doing those papers (although they do seem very interesting)

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Original post by 98matt
**DAY 39**

Pretty much no updates to give from my last post on Wednesday. My PAT revision is going quite well now, I'm doing 3-5hrs a day on it... sometimes 6-7hrs ahah! I did the easiest paper (2010) earlier which has an interview threshold mark of 71/100. I plan on doing some of the older papers in the next week and then the more recent ones closer to the actual exam.

I'm going to look over capacitance & also Kelper's laws over the weekend since they're probably my weakest topics. To be honest, circuit theory questions in general tend to go badly for me, but when capacitors come up I have no clue whatsoever :frown: apart from this I'll probably just do some random BPhO and SMC papers. I had a look at the MAT the other day but it doesn't seem very relevant maths for the PAT so I'm going to avoid doing those papers (although they do seem very interesting)

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Yo Matt is this thread dead or what?
I was actually fairly interested...
Reply 87
Original post by Maths is Life
Yo Matt is this thread dead or what?
I was actually fairly interested...


Hey, sorry for not posting here for a while. I didn't think anyone was actually interested aha! I'll revive the thread starting this week :biggrin:

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Reply 88
**DAY 97**
Okay so I guess quite a lot has happened since my last update 58 days ago. Here's a summary:

I have offers for physics (MPhys) from Warwick, Bath and Nottingham, all of which require A*AA. After sitting the PAT on November 2nd, I knew I wasn't getting invited to interview at Oxford (I messed up a lot of qs). I got the long awaited rejection email last Monday :'(

I am yet to hear from Imperial, although I submitted my application at the end of September. Hopefully I'll get an interview there sometime in January as it would probably be my first choice uni.

Subjects wise - in maths we've almost finished FP2; we have a little bit more to do on conic sections and then we're done. We have S2, FP3 and M3 left to do - our next module is S2 (dreading that). In physics we've finished unit 3 entirely. Currently looking at electricity and magnetism but neither teacher can explain it very well :/

I think that's pretty much it. How is everyone?



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Original post by 98matt
**DAY 97**
Okay so I guess quite a lot has happened since my last update 58 days ago. Here's a summary:

I have offers for physics (MPhys) from Warwick, Bath and Nottingham, all of which require A*AA. After sitting the PAT on November 2nd, I knew I wasn't getting invited to interview at Oxford (I messed up a lot of qs). I got the long awaited rejection email last Monday :'(

I am yet to hear from Imperial, although I submitted my application at the end of September. Hopefully I'll get an interview there sometime in January as it would probably be my first choice uni.

Subjects wise - in maths we've almost finished FP2; we have a little bit more to do on conic sections and then we're done. We have S2, FP3 and M3 left to do - our next module is S2 (dreading that). In physics we've finished unit 3 entirely. Currently looking at electricity and magnetism but neither teacher can explain it very well :/

I think that's pretty much it. How is everyone?


Man, that really sucks about the PAT. I can relate - last year, I practised so much and then just had an off-day on the day of the exam, and knew that was it. I hope you're feeling okay. From a one year on perspective, I can just say that I am so happy with the university I'm at, and I'm having a great time. I love the physics department here, and I honestly can't picture going anywhere else now - it all turned out great in the end! :smile: And I'm sure it will for you too!

Good luck with Imperial, and huge congrats on all your amazing offers!!! :biggrin: x
Reply 90
Original post by loveire&song
Man, that really sucks about the PAT. I can relate - last year, I practised so much and then just had an off-day on the day of the exam, and knew that was it. I hope you're feeling okay. From a one year on perspective, I can just say that I am so happy with the university I'm at, and I'm having a great time. I love the physics department here, and I honestly can't picture going anywhere else now - it all turned out great in the end! :smile: And I'm sure it will for you too!

Good luck with Imperial, and huge congrats on all your amazing offers!!! :biggrin: x


Thank you so much that's really nice to hear :smile: Just clicked on your profile and realised I watch your youtube videos!!! Was watching your physics day-in-the-life video at lunch today actually :awesome: love your channel!
Respect to you mate, you must be very dedicated. I am teaching my self AS and A2 maths in my spare time this year with no tutor, might have to give you a quick message or two when I get stuck :biggrin:

Good luck!
Reply 92
Original post by Hiems154
Respect to you mate, you must be very dedicated. I am teaching my self AS and A2 maths in my spare time this year with no tutor, might have to give you a quick message or two when I get stuck :biggrin:

Good luck!


Wow that's quite impressive doing it completely solo! Drop me a message anytime :biggrin:

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Hi Matt,
Just wondering, do you have any tips on Core 3 revision, as I'm starting to prepare for my Mocks at the end of January and I'm panicking slightly!!
Reply 94
Original post by tmd12345
Hi Matt,
Just wondering, do you have any tips on Core 3 revision, as I'm starting to prepare for my Mocks at the end of January and I'm panicking slightly!!


The topics may vary slightly between exam boards but I seem to remember finding functions one of the hardest topics. The only way to improve at maths is to practise to be honest! The more questions you do the better.

Personally I didn't bother making a detailed set of notes for many of the modules; I never seemed to actually use the notes I did make & found past paper questions much more useful. Obviously you need to be confident with the theory behind each topic (I made little bullet point notes on the key ideas usually) but I'd stay away from spending hours on pretty looking graphs etc

If there's any questions youre not too confident on answering, feel free to pm me! Good luck with your mocks

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Thanks Matt, good luck with your A Levels!!
Reply 96
**DAY 99**
Finished FP2!!!! wpwpwpwpwp!!! Although I need a lot more practise at pretty much every topic since we went through the whole module in around 4 weeks.

I spent this afternoon making some notes on gravitational fields for physics. I've actually covered almost everything related to the topic already, since it was on the PAT syllabus. Recently I've got into the habit of making notes on an entire topic before covering it in class. It's actually quite useful for me as it means I can just sit & listen during lessons , not having to worry about scribbling anything down.

Over the Christmas period I plan on getting up to exam standard for FP1, M2, FP2 and Unit 3 physics. That'll mean I can focus my efforts much more on the harder modules in the new year, hopefully meaning I can get an A* in both subjects :biggrin:

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Original post by 98matt
Recently I've got into the habit of making notes on an entire topic before covering it in class. It's actually quite useful for me as it means I can just sit & listen during lessons , not having to worry about scribbling anything down.

This seems like a good idea, gonna have to try it.

I'm also hoping to study Physics at university :smile: Good luck with your A-levels, from your past posts I can see you have an incredible ethic!
Reply 98
Original post by DarkEnergy
This seems like a good idea, gonna have to try it.

I'm also hoping to study Physics at university :smile: Good luck with your A-levels, from your past posts I can see you have an incredible ethic!


Good luck with yours too! What subjects are you currently taking?

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Original post by 98matt
Good luck with yours too! What subjects are you currently taking?

Cheers. I'm doing Maths, Physics, and Chemistry though I wish I had done FM instead of Chemistry...

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