Physics Exam – Format
 Section A – Experiments – 120 marks
 Answer 3 of 4
 Section B – Theory
 Answer 5 of 8
Physics Exam – Timing
400 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑠

180 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠
= 2. 2 marks / minute
~10 minutes to read the paper.
~16 minutes per experiment question.
~22.5 minutes per theory question.
~10 minutes to go over your answers.
Section A
 Q1 – mechanics
 Q4 – electricity
 Usually 1 waves question
 Heat or second mechanics/waves question
 Usually two graphs total.
 What doesn’t come up here will probably come up in
the theory section!
Section A
Learn 3 precautions, sources of error, and
improvements for each experiment.
Precautions – things you need to do in advance
to get good results.
Sources of error – things that may throw your
results off that you can account for.
Improvements – things you can do to get better
results.
Section A
Know your graphs (use the log tables if you get
stuck).
Be able to answer:
Why is it important for X to be as large as possible?
Why is it important to keep X constant throughout the
experiment?
All answers need context, for example:
“parallax error” may not get marks.
“parallax error associated with measuring the
[quantity] from the [instrument]” will.
Section B
 Q5 – short questions – answer 8 of 10*
 Q6-9 – 1/2 topics per question
 Q10 – Applied electricity / particle physics *
 Q11 – Reading comprehension question
 Q12 – Half questions – answer 2 of 4 *
 * do these ones
Section B
Non-experiment sections pretty much
guaranteed:
Electromagnetism
Electron
Modern Physics
Any topic that didn’t appear in
experiments will likely come up here.
Section B
 Questions consist of:
 Definitions
 Derivations
 Calculations
 Demonstrations
 Explanations
 Applications
General Tips
Marking Scheme every year:
“In many instances only key words are given –
words that must appear in the correct context in
the candidate’s answer in order to merit the
assigned marks.” - use proper English!
“For omission of appropriate units, or incorrect
units, one mark is deducted, when indicated”
“Each time an arithmetical slip occurs in a
calculation, one mark is deducted”
Don’t lose marks for these.
General Tips
 Highlight key words in questions.
 Open your formula and tables book to the right page
when you identify the section of the course.
General Tips – Group Study
Having something explained by a peer
can help.
Any teacher will tell you you only really
know something when you can explain it
to someone else.
Workshopping problems helps
understanding.