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Harribot
Im starting physics with this exam board in september and i just wanted to know what you all thought?

Is there a heavy maths content?

Is it hard with this exam board?

How you found the exams ect. ?



Thanks :smile:


I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you.... it is a terrible board for Physics :frown:

I'm going off to do Physics at uni, but only cos i know Physics is so much better than this course makes it seem. If it's any consolation, it does get at least slightly better at A2.

There's a fairly small maths content (i don't know compared with other boards). IMO i would have prefered far more maths, but i suppose it depends on what you like. It is designed so you don't have to do A-Level maths.

Didn't find any of it very hard, but i don't know what the difficulty is like compared to others, and i have always enjoyed Physics.
I've just finished the first year, and i have to say, it is absolutely the worst board for physics. The content is quite irrelavent to traditional core physics, it focuses mainly on new tech e.g cameras and communicatations. The exam is very badly written, i was one of the few that managed to finish it. Exam is all maths, the math content is basic, no advance skills needed, just the application of the maths and way in which it is used is tricky. There are 3 courseworks, quite interesting, you must ensure you get the high marks for them as they are worth 30% of the AS grade. I used to absolutely love physics, and OCR caused me to completely hate it! It's so bad, i'm moving to edexcel for A2. My advice would be, check the course specification and familiarise yourself with the content, get a head start on the coursework with some background reading and looking at examplers, there are loads available online...finally, what you learn throughout the year, the theory accounts for about 20-30% of the exam, it's all practice, so make sure you do as many as possible to get the hang of their awful way of questioning. All the best dude!
Reply 3
Drummy might give a different picture.
Yes, I am an ex student of Drummy on OCR and I must say I beg to differ. The content is not bad at all. I suppose I preferred the non-mathematical side of things, but nether the less, it was still a good course.
Reply 5
In the end, I'm sure the teacher matters a lot more than the syllabus.
Reply 6
It's designed to give you a wider view of the physics that you study. Most people seem to complain that it's irrellevant, when it's really not. I don't understand why people seem to have a problem finding the stuff that they need to learn, when it's clearly written in big boxes saying 'what you need to know' on it.

I did it and thought it was fine, although I felt it should have had a more mathematical approach, but that would have required people to do at least AS mathematics. The maths involved in the course is very basic manipulation of equations.

Overall, I think it's a very good course.
Reply 7
NB that OCR have two specifications (the normal one and the "Advancing" one).
Reply 8
I didn't particularly enjoy OCR physics B. The coursework is horrendous, the textbooks are rubbish and the cd is pretty useless as well. The exam questions can be very weird particularly section C in the AS level. Overall it wasn't too bad however I think I would have preferred doing a different course in hindsight.

Robob

I did it and thought it was fine, although I felt it should have had a more mathematical approach, but that would have required people to do at least AS mathematics. The maths involved in the course is very basic manipulation of equations.


:ditto: The most annoying thing about the course was the lack of mathematics. Thankfully my teachers did go into more detail with the proofs than was required.
Reply 9
tommm
NB that OCR have two specifications (the normal one and the "Advancing" one).

Ironically the advancing one is the one that sucks balls
terrible board, you will struggle
Reply 11
Modulus
Ironically the advancing one is the one that sucks balls


Well, that's what I've heard. I've been told that my school's doing OCR next year, and I pray to whatever dieties there are in the sky that it's the normal one.
Yeah, advancing physics is a horrible course. But then again, I haven't done any other course so I can't say if it's the worst one in existence, like some people here are doing.

The AS is tailored to the ******s so much it's unbelievable, the hardest maths is manipulating the lens equation. The A2 is better on the maths side of things, we even integrated something at one point :O However, it's still not interesting to learn. Especially the copious amounts of electricity and electromagnetism they make you do.
Reply 13
tommm
Well, that's what I've heard. I've been told that my school's doing OCR next year, and I pray to whatever dieties there are in the sky that it's the normal one.

Keep in mind they have made changes to the spec. Apparently section C (really horrible questions) have been removed as well as a bunch of other crap that people weren't happy with. So it won't be as bad for you as it was for the people who took the subject pre-2008. So there you go, the deities have been merciful to you. :p:
Reply 14
I did OCR physics A, and no it didnt have a heavy maths content (my friends who didnt do a-level maths coped, and only had to learn abotu simple logs). The tests arent too bad once u learn the format
Reply 15
I have to say that OCR Physics B was a complete utter steaming pile of @£$%. The syllabus was so entirely dumbed down there was hardly anything left of it. The syllabus attempts to move towards 'problem based learning', using the applications of physics as the starting point.
'Applications of physics', that is what I call engineering.
As a results I feel that syllabus leaves too much holes around each topic. It does not attempt to link any of the different aspects of the course together giving what I feel to be a very episodic understanding of Physics, which inhibits the generalization that Physics aims for.
Reply 16
phillips101
Yeah, advancing physics is a horrible course. But then again, I haven't done any other course so I can't say if it's the worst one in existence, like some people here are doing.

The AS is tailored to the ******s so much it's unbelievable, the hardest maths is manipulating the lens equation. The A2 is better on the maths side of things, we even integrated something at one point :O However, it's still not interesting to learn. Especially the copious amounts of electricity and electromagnetism they make you do.


There are only around 7 or 8 equations...
Reply 17
tbh some chapters are better than others.

If a teacher were to follow the course as it is laid out in the book it could be a bit crap. I tend to cherry pick the book and do what I think is worwhile.
Robob
There are only around 7 or 8 equations...


Yes, but it's still endless and dull. Motors, generators, fleming's rules, lenz's law, solanoids, transformers, induction... Although I am quite proud that I got through two years without doing a single electronics experiment (other than the sensing coursework).
Reply 19
phillips101
Yes, but it's still endless and dull. Motors, generators, fleming's rules, lenz's law, solanoids, induction... Although I am quite proud that I got through two years without doing a single electronics experiment (other than the sensing coursework).


I reckon you could put it into one side of notes (maybe 2), motors and generators are the same thing.

When I did them a couple of years ago we just used to spend the whole time blowing up capacitors.