Physics ISA UMS from raw mark.

I'd say full UMS

Oh right thank you. I got 39/40 on chemistry as last year though and that was 58/60 but was wondering if physics may be different. The isa boundaries for UMS imo are way too high.

But thanks for your reply


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Is this for A2?

That 39/40 was for Chemistry OCR A AS. And that did not get moderated. So 39 raw = 58 UMS for Chemistry in that year.

And I was talking about AS, but same could apply with A2 and do you know what the ums equivalents usually are?

Thanks

Blair.

Im doing AS chem, bio and physics on ocr atm. I've been told full ums is normally=to full raw marks in the practicals. I would think that 39 is 58 ums as the A grade boundary could go up to 36/40.

Right I see, so usually for AS then 39=58 ums, but for a2 there could be a more generous curve, such that 38 maybe could be full ums right?

I have to say though getting 39/40 and not getting the max ums i.e. 60 does seem a tad harsh imo, but what can you do.

Have you done all of your coursework at the moment then?

Yeah it's harsh, but I don't think it will be 38 for full ums as that's normally the A* boundary for A2 practicals.

For Physics I got 19/20 in the quantitative (but I have done another one to improve it) and I've done two evaluative and one qualitative, but I don't know my scores for them. The Physics evaluative are a pain!
For Chemistry I've only done one; qualitative which is at 10/10.
For Biology I've done one of each; 10/10 in quantitative and some other lower scores in both the evaluative and qualitative .

So what are you doing for A levels? Seems like your doing A2 Chemistry and AS Physics.

I am doing A2 Chemistry and A2 Physics atm.

Last year in coursework I got 39/40 in Chemistry, which equated to 14/15 on the quantitative and full marks on the others.

I got 38/40 on the Physics but that got moderated down to 48 UMS???!!!!

So I have redone that now

My marks so far from this year are:

Chemistry AS: haven't redone yet, not sure if they will offer the chance now.

Physics AS: redone all parts, but I got 19/20 which is just depressing imo, as I really worked hard for that. And I haven't got the other two results for what I have done for that.

Chemistry A2: 25/25 so far. Awaiting marks on the quantitative, out of 15.

Physics A2: No results yet.


From my experience, and what I have seen from past boundaries. To really get the A* in the subject, 40/40 or 60UMS is probably required for the A2 coursework (I know you can still get an A* with 35/40 on the cwk but being practical 40 is the best position obviously )

Without retaking anymore AS coursework the best I can get is probably 58/60. I don't know though, if it is worth doing again because due to my timetable I would have to miss other lessons to catch up.

The thing is though, the A2 boundary is even higher than the AS boundary usually. I have seen years where 34/40 is an A on AS and in the same year 36/40 is an A in A2. Obviously 39 or 40 being the A* mark.

May I ask, will you retake until you get 40, or do you just want a high A in the coursework? Its annoying because my Physics teachers never assisted me at all, whereas other students in my year did. But never mind.

Anyway, best of luck,

Blair x

Wow your scores are amazing. I wouldn't waste time on doing AS practicals again, because you've done very well and it's just extra stress. 58/60 is very good, and it looks like your A2 practical scores will equate to full ums. The 19/20 for the physics quantitative did annoy me as well but that was only my first one; awaiting my scores for the second attempt.


Tbh if you really want A*s just focus on the exams; the AS scores won't help much, unless you have to get a lot for the A boundary.

Yeah I will try to get 40/40 in all of them, but there's a bigger chance of me getting 40/40 in Chemistry and Physics rather than Biology; the Biology ones suck. I'm not retaking anything it's just that I've only really done the 1st attempt (except for Physics where I have done the 2nd attempt for the quantitative and evaluative).
Have you got any tips on the Chemistry and Physics AS practicals, because I might have to do one again (another attempt)? (I'm in year 12 and I want to make sure I get full marks on practicals)
Sorry I know this isn't the aim of the thread but could you tell me how you revised for the Mechanics unit in Physics? I want to get full marks on that unit as well. Did you get As for AS Chemistry and Physics? I haven't started the second units (F322 and G482), and it looks like a lot. So is everything in the book needed? How much can be condensed?

If you could please answer these questions I would be grateful.

Good luck!

No worries, I don't mind.

I didn't do Biology AS so I don't know the difficulty of doing the ISAs but for Chemistry and Physics it is different. Without going into too much detail, I lost that mark in Chem AS ISA because my titration in that year was +-0.3 outside the teacher result, where it should have been +-0.2. To think that 0.1 of your mean titre is worth 2 UMS of your total A Level is eye opening.

The difference is that Chemistry is pretty much all evaluative, its like a mini exam basically. However the Physics ISAS are so different. I lost that mark in that AS ISA this year because my y axis in my graph was of the scale 3:10 if you know what that means and for graphs you are not allowed odd scales for even values which is *****. Anyway that is where a lot of people including myself drop a mark on, conversely those that did the correct scale ending up on losing a mark to their graph not taking over half the allotted space on the paper. A solution to this is to draw the graph on the other side.

But personal preference to what you find easier! For the A* imo 60/60 on the A2 isa is imperative, and for AS I'd say at least 39/40 would put you in the best possible position for an A* too, which is what I want to get and what I am sure you want to as well. Just to stress, I am not being big headed or confident or anything in that nature, I simply want the best marks that I can.

There is an opportunity to resit the AS coursework in A2, but I would implore you to sort it all out this year, for your sake


This is getting quite long now, so I will try and condense it as much as I can:

---Oh and what I said before about there being a generous curve in A2 is incorrect. The margin for error is actually smaller, which makes it more harder to get more UMS, but hey, be safe score 100


As I consider this to abide TSR rules I will tell you what I would put in my work, from experience and specimen papers.

Chemistry AS:

-Find out what the mean titre that your teacher will use or near enough is. The accuracy for this is imperative as it could cost you 3 marks if you get this wrong, or what your teacher perceives it to be wrong.

-Your teacher should give you a guideline of what the ISA entails, so revise everything on that area and make sure you are confident.

-Thats about it tbh for Chemistry ISAs, its hard to give advice w/o knowing what your paper is on, but above is my advice anyway. )))



Physics AS:

-This is completely different to Chemistry AS.

-I guarantee you a question on percentage uncertainty/difference so make sure you know what you are doing with that.

-Results are reliable as there is little scatter of points about the line of best fit which suggests there is little random. If your results are not reliable then conversely use the opposite statement of what I have said.

-Limitations-usually human reaction time to stopwatch, solved by recording with a data logger/computer or something like that.

Sort out your graph don't do what I did with the 3:10 scale, tell me if you dont understand what this means so I can elaborate.

And make sure your table is correct.(units, sf etc)



Your next question, I did not get A's in Chem or Physics but I am retaking exams in them so hopefully I can attain the grades that I want.

My tips to you:

Revise from day one, study in your frees, make a revision timetable, ace the ISA, prep for the exams at least 4 months before exam date. Work hard in lessons, (maybe get a tutor), ask questions in class, know the exam technique, revise mark schemes and ofc do all the past papers - try do some in exam conditions and be a fair arbitrary marker or get someone else to mark it, and ace the exams.

Getting a tutor would help a lot, but if you can't get one then improve your self study techniques.

Yes those OCR books are ********* huge, if you can get these books:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemistry-Student-Unit-Guide-Edition/dp/144417200X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387646721&sr=8-1&keywords=f322

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCR-AS-Physics-Electrons-Photons/dp/0340958081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387646744&sr=8-1&keywords=g482

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Level-Chemistry-Complete-Revision-Practice/dp/1847624219/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1387646762&sr=8-3&keywords=cgp+chemistry+as

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Level-Physics-Complete-Revision-Practice/dp/1847624197/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387646807&sr=1-2&keywords=physics+cgp+a+level+ocr

The first two books are so good and condense the work and material so much. If you decide to get them dont make the revision guides your main source of revision, but they help so much.

Past papers obvioulsy.

A lot here so take it as you will, but if I could tell my past self what to do it would be all of the above.

Best of luck, inbox me if you need any more clarity or respond on this thread.

May I ask what GCSE's you attained. You seem like a clever individual so I was just wondering.

Good Luck!!

Blair x

Thank you so so much! I have the ocr revision guides and the textbook but I like the first two books you put links to; the last two, well let's just say I and cgp do not get along. In Chemistry I find everything ok except some parts of naming compounds (but I've just started F322). Yeah I have been revising from early on this academic year and hopefully I'll have revised for the unit 1's of each science by the end of these holidays as if I were to sit them in January. Then I'll look to make notes on the 2nd units and do the same for those. I'm doing Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Maths for A levels and will finish A level Maths this year.
For GCSEs I obtained 10A*s, 4As and 1B. (I stated A level Maths in year 11 as well and achieved >96/100ums in the exams I took for the AS)

You don't strike me as being big-headed, but someone who really cares for their future. I understand you because I think I would have done this if I were in your position.

No problem, I am using the authors of the first two books for my A2 exams. They are soooo helpful. Just to add, don't make them the sole focus of your revision as the OCR book is the one that is based from the writers of the exams.

I am doing this for the sciences. Go through the first two books I posted you in the link, then go through the CGP book, then go through OCR book, then do all past papers, revise on areas where mistakes are made, go through mark schemes, and that should be fine.

For definitions use the ocr book and the mark scheme on official past papers as they will tell you what to do.

Yes no January exams is a shame but not much that anyone can do about that

With your intent and willingness I knew you had done well at GCSE. Did your school put you in for early entry for Maths A Level or did you pay to do it at another centre?

And thanks yeah I really want to do well, similar to you in that regard. But really many people misunderestimate AS. Although the A* mainly comes from the A2 components, high AS marks can reduce the burden with respect to the 480/600 rule.

I am sure you are aware of this, but the workload doubles in A2 at least for me any.

What courses are you looking at for uni?

-Blair

Thanks! My school put me in for it.

I really want to do well in my AS levels, and my target is not just the A for AS, but to get as high a ums score as possible. (Wouldn't mind 100% in an AS level)

I just read a lot of people's comments saying that they wish they could rectify the mistakes they made in yr 12 and that's kind of motivated me to try and prevent any of those from happening.

My revision technique is to make notes from sources I find easy to understand and ocr endorsed books. Then to go through those notes so I don't forget anything; not just remembering but actually understanding. Once I have learnt all my notes I will go over them again and again, and will add things to it (if needed) to improve my wider knowledge. Then after the notes I use past papers and literally memorise the mark schemes and improve my exam technique. Personally I find this the best way to revise for science, as you learn, consolidate (and apply to different situations) and then memorise which I feel sums up revision for science quite well.

I was thinking of Medicine, then I thought about Chemistry and now I'm thinking about Maths. Preferably I would like to get into Cambridge-that's another reason why I want perfect/near perfect results! But also looking at Birmingham, Manchester and may be KCL. Really haven't thought about it.

You have a good technique and a great attitude, I am sure you will be fine

I was going to say high UMS is great but only essential in that regard for Cambridge or medicine.

Anyway good luck, dm me if you have any queries about coursework or anything else!

Blair.

Thanks, You've helped me so much already and I'll be sure to have some questions regarding the Physics and Chemistry courses.

Good luck for your exams and practicals!