Studyclix study guide Physics

Newton’s third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we
apply this same logic to studying physics, it stands to reason that the smarter you study the
more you’ll get out of the subject. I hope this guide gives you some tips and tricks to
navigate this constantly momentum gaining course.

How to prepare for SACs

Your SACs for physics make up 40% of your final grade. You will have around 5 SACs
throughout the year which should cover much of the content you need to know. I suggest
you use your SAC preparation wisely as this will put less pressure on you during the exam
period.

Use the study design

To maximise your time - use the study design which tells you exactly what you need to know
for the course – nothing more, nothing less. Before going through a topic, I would get out
my study design and generate a list of questions based on the dot points. For example, for
the first dot point one question may be, “what is the field model”. Therefore, when you’re
in class or learning on your own - you have primed yourself on what to look out for and
you’ll be filtering for only relevant information.

Make Summaries
A lot of you may view making summaries as a slow and tedious process which can be a
skipped to save time. I however found that notetaking was the single best way to
consolidate your learning onto a few pages and act as an easy place you can refer back to
throughout the year. I used the questions I made for the study design as a guide while
making notes and answered them in my own words. Using 2 or 3 resources throughout the
year including: your teacher’s notes/handouts, YouTube vids (Khanacademy is great) and
your textbook will stop you from being bogged down in the sea of resources out there.
While creating your summary I suggest you use.
 Headings & subheadings  Concise explanations
 Heaps of colour  Flowcharts
 Detailed diagrams  Bolding and underlining
 Examples of calculations

Do questions to increase confidence

The next column in the table from before says confidence. But how exactly do you measure
confidence? I did this by answering questions. This is an ACTIVE process which really puts
you on the spot and tests your ability to actively recall what you have learnt.
 I would go through the textbook questions but also check out the Studyclix quizzes
which have questions for each topic.
 I would then prioritise the topics based on questions I had difficulty with and read
my notes, watch a video or go through the textbook until I said - “ohhh, I get it now”.
This approach will ensure you don’t keep repeating the same mistakes.
Studyclix study guide Physics

How to revise for EXAMS

Make a killer cheat sheet
Having made summaries throughout the year I combined these all at the end of the year to
act as my cheat sheet. I would recommend that it contains derived formulas to make it
quicker to answer questions in the exam, dot pointed explanations on the theory and
examples if you need. At the end of the day, the cheat sheet is just a safety net during the
exam, a glance over to it can calm your nerves and put you back on track. Add your own
touches to your cheat sheet to make it unique and play to your strengths.

Be familiar with your calculator

Even though it may be easier for you to use your phone, laptop or graphics calculator, it’s
going to do you more harm than good when it comes to exam time. You should be using the
same scientific calculator you will use in the exam so that finding the right buttons and signs
comes naturally during the exam.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE EXAMS

You’ve probably heard about practice exams a million times by now, but let me tell you,
they are a godsend when you’re studying for the exam. At the end of the day, 60% of your
chem mark is going to be your exam result. So, what better way to study for this exam than
by doing exams yourself.
 I started doing practice exams a month out from the actual one which gave me
plenty of time to revise.
 Try and do them under timed conditions, so you are really simulating the exam
environment. Of course, it will be hard when you get started so give yourself some
leeway until you get settled into it.
 I recommend you do at least 10 practice exams starting with the recent VCAA
papers, followed by company ones and finally older VCAA papers.
Studyclix study guide Physics

REVIEW exams with sample answers and assessor’s report

Now, even though I suggested doing 10 or so exams before, I have to repeat the age-old
mantra “Quality OVER Quantity”
 Completing your exams is only part of the job! After each exam, I made sure to open
up the corresponding examination report which shows you exactly what the
assessors are looking for. There are also some handy hints, so it is a good idea to
make note of them.
 I would also mark my exams harshly (as examiners will surely do) so please don’t say
“I would’ve said that” as you’re marking because you actually didn’t.

Record EvErYtHiNg
I recorded every exam I did in a logbook. You can just create a spreadsheet or a table to fill
out like the one I’ve made below. This really helped to see my progression as the exam day
loomed closer and closer.
Date Exam Mark Notes
1. Mark scheme: THIS IS AN
INDICATION OF HOW MANY
SIGNIFICANT POINTS YOU NEED
TO MAKE!!!
2. Misreading the question:
underline key words when reading
the question and don’t move on
without reading the question
again
3. Silly calculation errors: Proof-read
2015 VCAA 87/93
DD/MM/YYYY your exam to pick up on these slip
Examination 94%
ups
4. Content mistake: ‘[derived
formula]’. Now write this in your
notes in red and review the
concept.
5. Not answering the question:
though it is tempting to
regurgitate everything you know
on a concept, you need to be
specific to the question
I can’t stress enough how important it is to use the notes section to document your
mistakes. I’ve written the common types of mistakes and how to tackle them in the table.
Don’t worry, I was slapping my forehead a lot during this period too, but making mistakes
now will prevent you from making them during the exam!
Studyclix study guide Physics

Exam DAY
How to approach the exam
 Use the reading time to get a feel for what topics are covered in the short answer.
Then start answering multiple choice questions in your head.
 Move on from multiple choice questions after 30 minutes.
 Spend until you have 10 or 15 minutes left on the clock on the short answer.
 Use the remaining time to check through your exam.

Multiple choice questions

The physics exam comes with 20 multiple choice questions which cover a wide array of
topics. Your best friend when it comes to MCQs is the process of elimination. Normally there
are 2 distracting options that you will cross off, so you essentially go from having a 1 in 4
chance to a 1 in 2 chance of picking the correct option! Just remember while you’re staring
at the question, scratching your head, the answer is staring right back at you so if worse
comes to worst make an educated guess.

Short answer questions

The short answer questions account for two thirds of your exam mark. I will go through a
few of the common types of questions below:
 Explanation questions
Please use dot points – I don’t know how many times I made those coloured in
circles of different shapes and sizes, but they proved very useful. It keeps your
answers succinct and as a general rule of thumb I matched the number of dot points
to the number of available marks.
 Calculation questions
I implore you to show ALL of your working out. This will ensure you get all the marks
you deserve and clearly sets everything out to identify any miscalculations if they
come up. You can still get marks for working even if your answer is wrong. Always
identify the formula you need to use and check if you need to change to SI units!
 Experimental design
This is a section which a lot of students have trouble with. Before the exam make
sure that you have a basic understanding of what makes up an experiment and what
reliability and validity are:
 An independent variable (IV) is the variable the experimenter changes
 The dependent variable (DV) is what is measured - is dependent on the IV
 Controlled variables are variables that are kept constant to ensure that only
the IV is affecting the DV.
 Experiments with high validity test what they mean to test. Basically, the idea
that only the IV is influencing the DV.
 Experiments with high reliability have many results which are similar.
 Random errors are errors that occur as a result of chance
 Systemic errors consistently occur throughout the experiment such as if there
is faulty equipment.
Studyclix study guide Physics

Final tips
Nag Use your teachers
Teachers are walking fountains of knowledge – having marked hundreds of SACs and exams,
they know what they’re talking about. I’d recommend you build a strong working
relationship with your teacher and ask questions when you need to – even if the questions
seem a bit silly, your teachers are there to help.

Help and be helped by your friends

Having study buddies is equally important, whether it is making a group chat or meeting up
once a week to go through concepts you are having difficulty with. I always found trying to
teach a concept to someone else to be the single best revision technique because you really
need to understand to make someone else understand too!

Try to understand
Don’t get me wrong, physics is not an easy subject, but rote learning will not do you any
good. I really tried to wrap my head around all the theory so that I built a solid foundation to
approach exam questions. The one tip I can give you when going through notes is to
constantly question the concepts and ask “why?” at each step.

Enjoy Physics!
You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to enjoy this subject. Physics is a subject that really
makes you think and opens your eyes to the world around you. I would put what you learn
into practice – do an experiment at home or go to a museum – physics doesn’t have to just
stay in the classroom. Having fun with this subject will result in you appreciating what you’re
learning, and this positive attitude will allow you to excel.