A-level Physics Study Group 2023-2024

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.

Hii, I'm doing Edexcel international AS level physics and i was wondering if you could answer some questions for me.
what exam board did you do?
were the textbooks useful or no?
were there any free online resources that you used and liked?

I also did Edexcel IAL! Textbooks, I never used them for content nor questions. (Never really read the content cuz I used another textbook, but the problems were too basic and doesn't bridge well to A Level questions' difficulty.)

Free Online stuff I did in sixth form, the Online Physics Olympiad at physoly.tech is one you can try (free), there's also the Physics Cup and Physics Brawl! MIT OCW is another one; I did the MIT calculus MOOC on edX and its sequel 18.02SC on MIT OCW.

I read a couple textbooks: Physics by Halliday Resnick Krane [most of it, read it from Y11 to Y12]. In my ps I talked about connecting the complex analysis I learned in a chapter in Zill's Advanced Engineering Mathematics to what I've learned in 18.02SC MIT OCW and to complex maths in FM. If you really wanna get those books, you'd find a way :P

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.

This is where you can chat with other students studying the same subjects as you and support each other as you head towards your exams

You can post any useful tips and resources that you come across, offer support to others, share your successes, or just have moan when it gets tough!

Just remember, it’s against the site rules to ask for or offer any copyrighted papers, or to take conversations off-site to do these things. Posts that break these rules will be removed.

A few possible ice breaker questions are:
What exam board are you with?
What do you enjoy most about this subject/ course?
What area do you struggle with in this subject/ course?

Good luck with the next few months. Remember, ask for help, support where you can and together we can do this!

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.

Hi,
I'm in year 12 doing Physics, Maths, Geography and an EPQ and want to do physics at university, trying to aim as high as possible eg. Oxbridge or Russel Group Uni's and a lot of people keep saying to me that without further maths it will be virtually impossible for me to even consider Physics at university, which is stressing me out a lot and need some guidance on this thanks.

Hi, I’ve applied for computer science at uni which has a similar thing so I thought I’d respond. At the end of the day, you can still have a very strong application without the further maths. As someone who takes further maths, I personally really enjoy it but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have it. Maybe just look at what extracurriculars and work experience you can do to really enhance that application. If you have any other questions I’m happy to help.

yes, I was also going to ask that for physics at uni, so if i try and enhance the application through extra curriculars in which I'm a prefect at the moment, i play a handful of sports, and run at events quite often, but also I'm a little confused at that some unis say that Maths and physics are required and then the third preferably should be Further maths or chemistry, both of which I dont have so do you think that would be an issue, the reason i chose geography is because maybe i want to look into geophysics so obviously geography would be quite helpful i hope

I mean I’m not an expert with this. (Some information on me to help maybe 😂 I’m in year 13 taking maths,further maths, physics and Computer science and have today applied for Oxford and 3 Russell groups + 1 other). Personally what I’d do is just make sure you can really demonstrate a passion for physics and carefully weave your geography studies into your personal statement. For example, I helped my school out with open evenings and science lessons so that I could speak about that or have it in my reference.

Hi,
I'm in year 12 doing Physics, Maths, Geography and an EPQ and want to do physics at university, trying to aim as high as possible eg. Oxbridge or Russel Group Uni's and a lot of people keep saying to me that without further maths it will be virtually impossible for me to even consider Physics at university, which is stressing me out a lot and need some guidance on this thanks.

Did anyone get a C if so can you please explain your method of approach when revising. I do OCR A and I'm in Y13 and also keep getting a U grade.

Can anyone help me!!

When you look back at the tests, do you think there is anything in particular you're doing wrong? I really reccomend starting by understanding the content, I find save my exams notes easiest to understand and pmt has good condensed notes. The textbook is alright but it's really wordy so I only read it just to make sure I didn't miss anything but the textbook has loads of practice questions on each chapter which when you've understood the topic, it's best to go through them. PMT also have a lot of questions but they may be a bit harder as they use past exam questions which may combine topics you don't know yet.

Thanks i will try do add that in. But has anyone used UpLearn. And is it actually useful besides there claims for you to get A/A*.

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.

Hi! I got 4A* in Physics, Maths, Chem, FM, got into Oxford for physics! I can share my general tips and tricks for studying, the application process, etc.