Physics A Level

Whether you’ve firmly decided to take Physics at A Level, or whether you’re still making your mind up, the next few weeks are a perfect opportunity to explore Physics as a subject and find out where it can lead.  

Wanting to learn for yourself and taking responsibility for your own learning are key areas you need to develop to be successful at A Level.

This resource from the Institute of Physics has the personal stories of recent Physics graduates. Click on the image to find out where Physics can take you.  You might find that knowing where it can lead helps with your motivation to study. 

This link will take you straight to the IOP Careers page where you can click on videos of real people and explore different types of career.

For those who want to search all the options, the IOP’s comprehensive Careers information pages begin here.

The best Physics students are almost always the ones who genuinely enjoy the subject. Take some time to find and explore everything Physics-y that interests you. Here are 5 links to get you started, but check out the UBS Guide* too. It’s crammed with useful advice and has just about the best list of Physics websites in the Milky Way… until you make a better one! [*Thanks to Ms D. Cross]

Veritasium
YouTube’s original Physicist?

Physics Girl
Enthusiasm, energy and education – a great mix!

Royal Institution – Physics
Serious content with fun too

TED Actions and Reactions
1/3 of the short clips on this playlist are straight Physics

Crash Course Physics
Bridges GCSE and AS topics

Keep Learning

The best way to prepare for the challenge of A Level study later this year is to keep learning now. With the cancellation of the summer exams, it’s even more important that you stick to a pattern of regular learning over the remaining weeks of term, from now into July.

For the next few weeks, I want you to Keep Learning.

Suggested below are some different resources to take a look at. Have a look into all of them and then pick one or more that you like the look of.  Your priority is to learn something Physics-related every day, plus make sure you’ve revised the whole of the GCSE syllabus before you start at the College.

The UBS Guide  is an excellent resource to help you prepare for A Level study.  Let’s see what it recommends in terms of study time:

No, you don’t have to do exactly this – some people work better in the afternoon or evening, for example – but whatever you do, it should be at least as good as this.

Notice how the whole programme gives variety and routine. Each self-guided lesson should also have a clear subject focus (routine), but mix different activities and might even move between subject topics (variety).

Don’t get bored, get busy. Plan to be busy.

Keep Thinking

So, what should you do in your self-guided lessons? Use your brain, of course! You’ll need pen, paper, laptop etc, but all these things are to help you think Physics. Let’s start with knowledge.

Recalling facts and sorting out ideas in our heads are often called “low level thinking skills”, but since everything else depends on them, we should give them respect.

The Seneca website https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/ is a great resource for freshening up and extending your knowledge.

As I’ve already said, revising the whole GCSE course is a priority for this summer period. You will need to be rock solid on GCSE content when we start the A Level syllabus in the Autumn. Give time to do this job properly.

Next you need to work on your skills, especially the skill of using our knowledge to solve problems.

Isaac Physics https://isaacphysics.org/ is an excellent online Physics resource which covers GCSE to first year undergraduate level in a series of 5 levels.

This GCSE mastery learning package is available in print for £1, but the questions and subject notes can be accessed free online.

Select topic questions to match your revision and set yourself a weekly target: an hour’s worth, 25 questions or your own aim. They’ll stretch you, but you will get better.