HSC physics gen question (1 Viewer)

[iJimmy]

Hey i have some questions regarding these HSC option subtopics.
- astrophysics
- from quanta to quarks
- the age of silicon

1. are they all included in the HSC exam?
2. is there a different difficulty component to each, i.e. is astrophysics harder than age of silicon, making a scaling factor?
3. which one did you do and find difficult/easy in each?

 

[RivalryofTroll]

1. Yes. There's a separate booklet for ALL the option topics - you only need to do 1 QUESTION (i.e. 1 option topic only) - there's separate questions for all the options.

2. It really depends on you (and your interests perhaps). There is ''option scaling'' --> some options scale better than others.

3. I did quanta.
What I found easy? Well, most of the option didn't rely too much on understanding compared to the core topics so you PROBABLY can get away through near pure memorisation - just apply what you ''memorised'' in the exam.
What I found hard? The sheer amount of content that needs to be ''memorised''. It's pretty content heavy...

 

[gwilymprice]

Hey,
1. Yes they are all included in the exam as well as Geophysics and Medical Physics
2. They vary from year to year, there are some trends where astrophysics can be harder, like this year astrophysics in my opinion was much harder than previous years. They align the optional topics separately to the rest of the exam I am pretty sure, so each topic may be aligned differently depending on the difficulty and how everyone did in it.
3. I did astrophysics, and before the exam this year I had no trouble with it, the exam was hard for this section, but still very much doable just needed to think more. It is a really interesting topic though, I recommend it!
Hope this helps

 

[iJimmy]

so we choose 1 of them to study but all are tested in HSC exam?

 

[gwilymprice]

You choose one to study then answer only one question in a separate booklet
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2012exams/pdf_doc/2012-hsc-exam-physics.pdf
Go down to page 29 and read it there, it will explain it

 

[AnimeX]

so we choose 1 of them to study but all are tested in HSC exam?

typically your school chooses