Who does a lot of maths but finds physics quite hard?

I'm doing A-Level Maths and Further Maths, which includes M1 up to M3. However, I find certain Physics exam questions quite hard. Even though I can apply maths very well and mechanics really helps with this, there are certain physics questions where I can visualise what is going on but I get really confused. I feel a little bit silly for this because physics is obviously very mathematical so if I'm very good at maths then I must be very good at physics. But even though I got a quite high A at AS Maths, I didn't quite get an A at AS Physics. That's partly because we're doing the new Edexcel course and there are very few past papers that match up to the style of the new 'synoptic' exam questions.

Who else finds physics quite hard but is really good at maths?

Reply 1

username210636

13

Yeah I found Physics a lot harder than Maths, at AS and A2. I think Maths (pure maths in particular) is a lot easier to understand, for me at least. I've picked up Further Maths AS this year though and FP2 is probably harder than Physics A2!

Reply 2

josh_a_y

2

OL1V3R

I'm doing A-Level Maths and Further Maths, which includes M1 up to M3. However, I find certain Physics exam questions quite hard. Even though I can apply maths very well and mechanics really helps with this, there are certain physics questions where I can visualise what is going on but I get really confused. I feel a little bit silly for this because physics is obviously very mathematical so if I'm very good at maths then I must be very good at physics. But even though I got a quite high A at AS Maths, I didn't quite get an A at AS Physics. That's partly because we're doing the new Edexcel course and there are very few past papers that match up to the style of the new 'synoptic' exam questions.

Who else finds physics quite hard but is really good at maths?

I think the most important thing is to break down the text in physics, in order to understand what calculations you must do.

Some physics questions are hard in the way that they word the question very ambiguously...And i found the physics exam that I sat just this week was quite difficult, but that was probably due to my lack of revision and grasp of some of the concepts.

SO yeah.. .somtimes they can be tricky :p:

Reply 3

Fraser_Integration

Physics is about memorising facts, at least at A-Level anyway. More than half of the questions, I would guess, rely on you reciting certain key words and phrases (proportional to, in accordance with so and so's law, etc).

In Maths you also should be doing hundreds of practice questions on each subject. The same isn't true for Physics, they need to spend more time on concepts and general understanding.

Reply 4

Narik

13

I totally agree. I find Maths so simple yet Physics on the other hand... :facepalm:

Reply 5

LearningMath

14

For the maths exams i've done you dont really need to think outside the box. The questions which they ask show very little variation between years; you know what to expect. Physics exams are slightly more whacky though. The questions are rarely asked in the same context... and i think it's the fact that you're likely to have a few completely novel questions in the exam which makes it harder then maths! :p:

Reply 6

missbrowneyes

I found AS physics so much harder than AS maths and did so much worse as well...soo many people I know who are fantastic at maths get surprisingly hung up when I give them physics homework to er help me with.
Physics isn't just maths despite being mathsy, its too involved, is what I think anyway.

Reply 7

omegaSQU4RED

OP

18

Some good posts here.

I also read an article from an online newspaper about A-level Physics being 'not very challenging'. I think that's ridiculous!

Reply 8

theBOON

OL1V3R

I'm doing A-Level Maths and Further Maths, which includes M1 up to M3. However, I find certain Physics exam questions quite hard. Even though I can apply maths very well and mechanics really helps with this, there are certain physics questions where I can visualise what is going on but I get really confused. I feel a little bit silly for this because physics is obviously very mathematical so if I'm very good at maths then I must be very good at physics. But even though I got a quite high A at AS Maths, I didn't quite get an A at AS Physics. That's partly because we're doing the new Edexcel course and there are very few past papers that match up to the style of the new 'synoptic' exam questions.

Who else finds physics quite hard but is really good at maths?

Me too to an extent! You know why? Because in mathematics you have the question, you know a whole bunch of methods and theories and you must apply them to solve a solution. In Physics you must think a bit abstract. Physics doesn't always make sense, as in common sense. You often find yourself dealing with something you never studied before and thinking how and why is more difficult than finding a way to manipulate numbers. What questions do you find to be the hardest?

Reply 9

theBOON

Fraser_Integration

Physics is about memorising facts, at least at A-Level anyway. More than half of the questions, I would guess, rely on you reciting certain key words and phrases (proportional to, in accordance with so and so's law, etc).

In Maths you also should be doing hundreds of practice questions on each subject. The same isn't true for Physics, they need to spend more time on concepts and general understanding.

Wow?! I just did a test last week. The only question of that genre was S.H.M.
Tbh even if it was about memorising stuff, there's too much derivations and formulas to remember what to use and for what ......etc

Reply 10

You Failed

13

Mm, I found the opposite. I'm terrible at Maths and it took me a lot of work to just get a B at A Level. I also didn't take Further Maths and yet I found Physics to be my best subject and got a pretty high A. =/

Reply 11

You Failed

13

OL1V3R

Some good posts here.

I also read an article from an online newspaper about A-level Physics being 'not very challenging'. I think that's ridiculous!

Compared to Physics at university, it's an absolute breeze. Like I said in my previous post, I got quite a high A at A Level for Physics and now in my first year of my degree, I'm finding it quite difficult and have to do soo much work =(

Reply 12

SomeStudent

15

I found A level Physics difficult and A level maths pretty easy.

You're not the only one OP :smile:

Reply 13

ibysaiyan

16

Nope, both easy peasy to me including further maths.

Reply 14

Harry-AA

9

OL1V3R

I'm doing A-Level Maths and Further Maths, which includes M1 up to M3. However, I find certain Physics exam questions quite hard. Even though I can apply maths very well and mechanics really helps with this, there are certain physics questions where I can visualise what is going on but I get really confused. I feel a little bit silly for this because physics is obviously very mathematical so if I'm very good at maths then I must be very good at physics. But even though I got a quite high A at AS Maths, I didn't quite get an A at AS Physics. That's partly because we're doing the new Edexcel course and there are very few past papers that match up to the style of the new 'synoptic' exam questions.

Who else finds physics quite hard but is really good at maths?

I'm in exactly the same position, I do OCR maths and further maths and physics (at least I think they're all OCR). Anyway, I've just started AS this year and I find maths and further maths a breeze compared to physics, physics at GCSE was sooo much easier but it's such a step up now. I think the thing with physics is the questions are so much wordier and vague, its sometimes hard to see the maths behind it.

further pure is kinda tricky but understanding mechanics and normal maths is far far easier than understanding exatly whats going on in physics... I think :smile:

Reply 15

ALICEMOON

2

Same so i dropped physics last year..i have problems with any subject that includes words instead of just pure numbers.

Reply 16

chococherry

ALICEMOON

Same so i dropped physics last year..i have problems with any subject that includes words instead of just pure numbers.

lol same! i didnt even bother thinking about taking physics (no matter how hard people tried to persuade me to do it!). i am quite good in maths, find it all quite easy, but give me any physics and i will be stuck! cant even do the mechanics modules! :frown:

in the exam had to read each question like ten times to understand what they were on about!

OL1V3R

I feel a little bit silly for this because physics is obviously very mathematical so if I'm very good at maths then I must be very good at physics.

i think its all in the way that your mind works. i find mechanics hard, but statistics easy and some people are the other way round! so dont feel like you have to be able to do every bit of applied maths, just cuz you are good at maths! :p:

Reply 17

Skuzzy

I think maths lends itself to a style of studying where you learn by doing. Physics by contrast requires a more holistic method of study.

I find for maths I can comfortably float through exams with little more than past papers and practice.

For physics I need extensive notes, I need to be regularly revising as I go, I need memory aids such as mnemonics and mind maps etc. and I need lots of practice questions to help me understand the concepts and how to apply them.

If I was sane I probably would study maths but it's physics that interests me more.

Reply 18

Artymess

16

i think As maths is easier than As physics but having said that i prefer physics, it feels more engaging and interesting (to me anyway) though it does tend to mess with your head a bit, especially the massive scales and sizes and temperatures of things in space, most of its incomprehendable