* Physics HL 2011 * HL predictions / discussion / aftermath * (1 thread only please)

Dbstf

Anybody else worried about the paper or is it just me?
Also any predictions?

Aoifums

I'm a little bit worried. I'm fairly weak on electricity and I wasted too much time studying it and didn't put as much work into anything else. I'm still not confident that I could answer on it either
I'm just freaking out that they could combine the options with Q11. Particle physics and Q11 are the ones I'm most confident about.

jumpguy

I'll worry about it next weekend tbh! I'll probably have a look over waves and wave motion, particle physics and nuclear physics the weekend before. Electricity if I've time.

Tij da feen

Aoifums wrote: »

I'm a little bit worried. I'm fairly weak on electricity and I wasted too much time studying it and didn't put as much work into anything else. I'm still not confident that I could answer on it either
I'm just freaking out that they could combine the options with Q11. Particle physics and Q11 are the ones I'm most confident about.

You can leave Electricity out all together if you're confident on all of the other topics. You still need to know the experiments for it though. I'm taking the option of leaving electricity alone completly as it just wrecks my head.

Aoifums

Tij da feen wrote: »

You can leave Electricity out all together if you're confident on all of the other topics. You still need to know the experiments for it though. I'm taking the option of leaving electricity alone completly as it just wrecks my head.

I can't. I'm a little shaky on parts of mechanics too :rolleyes: Kicking myself for not perfecting it in fifth year.
Ah well, I have three and a half days to go over a subject and a half. I should be grand.

Numb.Muzik

Anyone have any predictions or ideas on what is to come up this year [HL] not looking for mad points just a C would suffice.

Any ideas & tips on getting the most marks:D

Dbstf

Numb.Muzik wrote: »

Anyone have any predictions or ideas on what is to come up this year [HL] not looking for mad points just a C would suffice.

Any ideas & tips on getting the most marks:D

I would be happy to pass... My teacher is really horrible at teaching physics. He only started teaching physics 2 years ago and last year everybody that did honours in his class failed the exam. Im really worried about it because I failed the pre and I need to pass it.

Digits

Well I've all the mandatory expirements learned so thats section A covered (thank fook). For section B I'm going over Modern Physics, Electricity, Light and Waves and Forces well. That should have me covered enough. :cool:

Numb.Muzik

Dbstf wrote: »

I would be happy to pass... My teacher is really horrible at teaching physics. He only started teaching physics 2 years ago and last year everybody that did honours in his class failed the exam. Im really worried about it because I failed the pre and I need to pass it.

Basically identical to myself

Wats_in_a_name

Apparently conservation of momentum is likely to come up as well as measurement of speed of sound in air.

ADeVoy

Hmm looking through the papers myself I'd be keen to take a look at measuring the wavelength of monochromatic light.

stealinhorses

Yeah, an experiment on sound looks likely. Probably something with trolleys and ticker tape for the mechanics section in the experiments.

Presumably a more "down-to-earth" question for mechanics in Section B? As in, linear/circular motion rather than gravity/planets?

Walton-Cockcroft experiment in particle physics?

Also, maybe Joule's Law or resistivity of a wire in experiments.

Maybe_Memories

You should all check out Boyle's Law experiment. Hasn't been up since 2003. We all thought it was certain last year because our teacher never shut up about it.
Here's an exact quote:

"Now lads, if Boyle's Law was to come up it'd be the exact same as every other boyle's law question. Boyle's law is boyle's law and you can't change boyle's law because boyle's law is boyle's law and it will be the same as every other time boyle's law came up."

By the amount of times he said Boyle's Law in that sentence we assumed he knew some kind of inside info :cool:

doctorg

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

You should all check out Boyle's Law experiment. Hasn't been up since 2003. We all thought it was certain last year because our teacher never shut up about it.
Here's an exact quote:

"Now lads, if Boyle's Law was to come up it'd be the exact same as every other boyle's law question. Boyle's law is boyle's law and you can't change boyle's law because boyle's law is boyle's law and it will be the same as every other time boyle's law came up."

By the amount of times he said Boyle's Law in that sentence we assumed he knew some kind of inside info :cool:

But did it come up then!! :P

randylonghorn

doctorg wrote: »

But did it come up then!! :P

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

Hasn't been up since 2003.

We all thought it was certain last year ...

*cough*

danoboy254

Would i be crazy to do all the experiments but to leave out electricity and mechanics. Just couldnt be bothered with that stuff. like u'd get 4 questions outta the short questions,the 4 parts q, the option question and light/waves/nuclear. No?

doctorg

randylonghorn wrote: »

*cough*

Hence the ' :P '


*cough* :P

stealinhorses

danoboy254, there's bound to be an experiment on mechanics AND on electricity, you can't really afford leaving out both of them, as you have to do three experiment questions.

But for Section B, you could get away with it, depends on the questions. Sometimes electricity ties in with magnetism as a separate question, so if they mix things up you might be in trouble. And by the looks of it, the SEC are really into lumping loadsa sections into one question this year!

mahon93

danoboy254 wrote: »

Would i be crazy to do all the experiments but to leave out electricity and mechanics. Just couldnt be bothered with that stuff. like u'd get 4 questions outta the short questions,the 4 parts q, the option question and light/waves/nuclear. No?

DONT LEAVE OUT ELECTRICITY.

takes up approx 2.5 of the Section B questions each year, it the section worth revising the most if you ask me. The questions are generally straight-forward. Leave out mechanics if anything.

Cardor

Mechanics is the most important topic because it ties in with so many other chapters..

I'm studying for section A

-Mechanics
-Light and wave motion
-Heat
-Nuclear Physics
-Particle physics

I asked my teacher could I leave out electricity and she said that i'm restricting myself to only being able to answer 6 questions out of 8 but that If I study the other chapters really well I should be fine...

This is how I think it'l be this year!

Question 5 - easy
Qusstion 6 - Mechanics
Qustions 7 - Light/wave motion
Question 8 - Nuclear physics
Question 9 - Resistance
Question 10 - Particle Physics
Question 11 - Circuits in the home
Question 12
a - Mechanics
b - Magnetism
c - Electrostatics
d - Radioactivity

I think this year's paper should be good.. fingers crossed.. my teacher thinks different to me.. so maybe I should be listening more to her.. :P She thinks theres gonna be a big question this year on heat, magnetism and momentum.. so i'm looking over heat and momentum.. but i'm leaving out magnetism.. :P

LilMissCiara

Experiments:

Boyle's Law
Calibration of a thermometer
Speed of sound in air
Metallic conductor (variation of current...)

Also study Momentum, Joule's law and Frequency of a strenched string with length.

Areq

Hey is the physics exam going to be different in any way because of the new math tables came out ? my teacher last year said that they aren't going to give them "tips" at the end of the question, the constants etc he meant.

I don't believe it really .. so is that true ?

LilMissCiara

Areq wrote: »

Hey is the physics exam going to be different in any way because of the new math tables came out ? my teacher last year said that they aren't going to give them "tips" at the end of the question, the constants etc he meant.

I don't believe it really .. so is that true ?

The constants are in the log tables but the variables will be at the end of the question!

LimboPanto

I'm feeling way in over my head with Higher Physics. Got a D1 in the mocks, really did my best to put the work in since then, but with all the other subjects and exams, I've sort of let it slip for the past two weeks. It's a bit late now to attempt to go through the whole textbook, and I'm at a total loss as to how I should make use of the three days I have before the exam. Any tips, advice, help out there? Thanks in advance =]

ride-the-spiral

I found Exam Edge for Physics a great help when revising.

kevmcdonnell

just a heads up for people revising for the physics exam, excellent website at http://www.thephysicsteacher.ie/ for revision notes with all relevent leaving cert questions and answers at the end of each question

epicwinning

I got an A2 in the mocks. Love how my worst 2 questions were the short questions and the mechanics question, even though I do Applied Maths... :rolleyes:

sh1tin-a-brick

Highest in my class for the mock was 55% - me! All I did was learn the definitions and glanced at a few experiments. To be fair chemistry helped a lot with the radioactivity stuff....

Worried now though, I want a B2 at least (damn Queens and their obsession with B2s) and I havent done anything really since the mock. My teacher is up on cloud nine, reckons we'll go up 2 grades from the mock - ie an A for me. Unlikely to say the least!

Can I leave out last years experiments? Any other good tips as to what might come up? My teacher is obsessed with electricy, says it's "easy" so it's all he talks about, doesnt believe in predictions

DM360

I've got my money on magnetism to come up. Hasn't appeared for 2 years, which is crazy seeing as it usually comes up in some shape or form every year. The questions aren't particularly difficult, just wordy.

And know your option and modern physics well, they can be absolute gifts in the middle of a tough exam

augmented reality

I'm just doing an experiment question now from my mocks, it's measuring the speed of sound in air with the glass tube.
They give values for frequency and length and ask to draw a graph, then to calculate the speed of sound in air using the graph.

Do I need to change anything first before plotting??
How do you calculate the speed using the graph??
Really think something like this will come up.
Thanks!

epicwinning

c = f*4(l + 0.3*d)

OR:

wavelength = 4(l + 0.3*d)

Graph fq vs 1/(wavelength).
fq - x-axis
1/wavelength - y-axis
c = fl

Slope = 1/c