How to get ahead in Physics (1 Viewer)

[Doctor Jolly]

I'm starting Year 12 soon and I have a need to get ahead in Physics. My teacher tends to skip around all over the syllabus and misses out on a lot of stuff that's in there. As I've had him in Year 11 I noticed that we didn't particularly learn everything that was in the syllabus and I'm afraid that he's going to do this to us again in Year 12 (we didn't even learn things about net force in Moving About).

So I was just wondering, how can you get ahead in Physics? I've basically lost my foundations to Physics this year and I'm starting to get tutored for it in Year 12. My sister told me to follow Jacaranda really closely (as she has had the same dud teacher as me) and to listen intently at Physics Tutor Lessons, but sometimes, I think that that's not enough.

What do you guys do to get ahead in Physics or to help you understand the concepts better? I find Jacaranda sometimes really hard to follow.

Thanks.

 

[kaz1]

Go through the dotpoints and practice questions. They have good dotpoint summaries here.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

Go through the dotpoints and practice questions. They have good dotpoint summaries here.

Thanks for that.

I use KISS notes, how effective are they in terms of helping you get that Band 5/6? I've also heard that Jacaranda gets a bit dodgey in Year 12.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

read multiple textbooks and summaries to each dot point.
use whatever notes in class along with teh summaries
if you dont understand anything, then ask your teacher about it.

if your not happy with your teachers explainations, get other physics teachers to go through the work your having trouble with again.

jacaranda is pretty good, maquarie and excel sometimes explain things a little different, try them as well as jacaranda.

i dont think there is really a way 'to get ahead', you just need to make sure you understand all the concepts deeply to answer any hsc question.

Unfortunately, my physics teacher is the only physics teacher in the school. But thank you for showing me that option, I should ask my tutor teacher.

 

[Aerath]

I also think writing your own syllabus dotpoints would be wise, maybe not these holidays, but definitely next.

 

[cutemouse]

It's it normal that I completed Space all by myself in literally 7 days (I spent a few hours each day going through the topics)? I thought it'd take all my holidays to go through. I've covered all the topics and I understand them, I'm going to spend a few days doing some past papers and questions on Space, and after that I think I'll start of Motors and Generators.

Yeah, I have a dud Physics teacher too (He's English, what can you expect...), but I did alot of self studying and got 2nd in the year for my Preliminary Exam so if you study hard, then you can do well too =)

 

[hollyy.]

it annoys me that you cant rely on one text book alone, i use three: jacaranda, excel, macmillian, and and excellent site (cant remember url, go to google and type andrew harvey hsc - itll come up). say i want to know bout special relativity, i read segment from all texts, cause they explain sooo differently.

 

[henry08]

It's it normal that I completed Space all by myself in literally 7 days (I spent a few hours each day going through the topics)? I thought it'd take all my holidays to go through. I've covered all the topics and I understand them, I'm going to spend a few days doing some past papers and questions on Space, and after that I think I'll start of Motors and Generators.

Yeah, I have a dud Physics teacher too (He's English, what can you expect...), but I did alot of self studying and got 2nd in the year for my Preliminary Exam so if you study hard, then you can do well too =)

Yes, its possible to read the book and complete the excercies now, but the real truth is whether you can retain this level of knowledge and understanding in one years time.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

Yes, its possible to read the book and complete the excercies now, but the real truth is whether you can retain this level of knowledge and understanding in one years time.

Exactly my worries.
I'm worried that because I've had a dud preliminary year that it will affect my HSC Physics ...

 

[cutemouse]

Well, I retained all my Year 8 knowledge about electricity and proved my teacher wrong about the Van de graff generator (he didn't know that you can see that the spark jumps from Earth to the globe, indicating that electrons are coming up from Earth, and he thought that the top was negatively charged, LOL).

And yes, I had the same teachers in Year 8 and 10, which helped me alot for Year 11 Physics with a dud teacher. Yeah I wish I had my Year 10 Physics teacher, he's really good...

 

[ronnknee]

What I did for last year was read the Excel textbook and summarise each section according to the dot points, and also did questions from the Dot Points book

 

[Doctor Jolly]

What I did for last year was read the Excel textbook and summarise each section according to the dot points, and also did questions from the Dot Points book

What about Jacaranda? I hear it becomes dodgey after Year 11.

 

[bubblesss]

What about Jacaranda? I hear it becomes dodgey after Year 11.

jacaranda's alrite but dotpoint is really good!1!!!!!

 

[Doctor Jolly]

jacaranda's alrite but dotpoint is really good!1!!!!!

isn't it a bit too brief though?

 

[independantz]

Jacaranda is excellent for physics in my opinion. It has a lot of detail which is good , i learnt most of my physics out of it. However, it can get confusing at times, so just get a few past notes of others and read those aswell , you don't really need othert text books as they generally provide the same information.

 

[cutemouse]

Dot point isn't really a textbook, it's more of a way to test if you know all your stuff.

 

[hollyy.]

What about Jacaranda? I hear it becomes dodgey after Year 11.

no i love excel.

 

[henry08]

Jacaranda is heaps good for Year 12. It covers Space excellently, Motors and genrators not quite so good (AC induction motors in particular), Ideas to Implementation well and the main optiosn well as well.

 

[cutemouse]

So, what book would you recommend for Motors and Generators?

 

[12o9]

isn't it a bit too brief though?

Dotpoint is more of a summary book where you answer questions derived from the syllabus. The quality of the book depends on how efficiently you utilise it, whether you answer the questions with reference to other sources before consulting the answers as opposed to relying on the answers at the back. That being said, some answers at the back are lacking in detail, while others are pretty good .

The book itself is also pretty costly if you buy it from bookstores, such as Dymocks , about $45 if I remember correctly. Some schools supply them to their students for $20-25 though.