Best Physics Book

IloveConverse

Hey guys,

Will be doing Physics in September by myself. As a result I'm looking out for the books that I'll need at the minute.

From your own experience which text-book is the best, and what other books will be helpful? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :cool:

finality

real world physics by Dan o regan is the standard one I think.

Bears and Vodka

Also exam papers and marking schemes! I would advise you to do what my teacher has done: invest in paper and a cartridge and print off an exam question on one side of the page and the marking scheme solution on the other. Best way to revise in 6th year.

IloveConverse

Do many people here use Investigating Physics?

http://www.omahonys.ie/catalog/investigating-physics-p-263910.html

Thanks.

Bears and Vodka

Never heard of it. Real World Physics and exam papers is all you need.

noname123

IloveConverse wrote: »

Do many people here use Investigating Physics?

http://www.omahonys.ie/catalog/investigating-physics-p-263910.html

Thanks.

I used it for my Leaving Cert. It can be good but is way too wordy and some of the explanations were almost impossible to understand.

Real world physics is excellent by all accounts. The accompanying workbook is meant to have some of the best questions in terms of maths.

Owen_S

Real World Physics, although the experiments may be outdated depending on the equipment you use in class. It's worth getting the exam papers in 5th year too, along with the marking schemes.

Aoifums

Real World Physics for sure.
I bought Investigating Physics at the start of sixth year for extra revision but I barely used it. The maths questions are much more difficult in it and I completely freaked out the first time I used it, since it was much more difficult than I had expected. The ones in Real World Physics are closer to the types of questions in the exam.

IloveConverse

Thanks for all replies.

How did you find Physics for the LC? I've heard that it's very time-consuming, but at the same time, very rewarding. :cool:

Owen_S

IloveConverse wrote: »

Thanks for all replies.

How did you find Physics for the LC? I've heard that it's very time-consuming, but at the same time, very rewarding. :cool:

I don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be. Section A is easily predictable, while on Section B you have a good choice(along with guaranteed material in Q10).
Familiarise yourself with what's in the log tables(the units section can prevent you dropping marks) and go over the exam papers. The exam papers can be time consuming, but you could have most of the course finished in 5th year.
There are some useful online resources too, I wish I used these before Easter of 6th year:
http://www.thephysicsteacher.ie/leavingcertphysicshome.html
http://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/

Chuchoter

I really enjoyed Physics and found it the most interesting of the sciences. Real World Physics is a very good book, but doesn't have everything you need, so make sure you research online/grinds/etc. Personally I see it being a very hard subject to do by yourself

Bears and Vodka

Chuchoter wrote: »

I really enjoyed Physics and found it the most interesting of the sciences. Real World Physics is a very good book, but doesn't have everything you need, so make sure you research online/grinds/etc. Personally I see it being a very hard subject to do by yourself

I think it does. That and papers is really all you need imo.

bluesky94

Chuchoter wrote: »

I really enjoyed Physics and found it the most interesting of the sciences. Real World Physics is a very good book, but doesn't have everything you need, so make sure you research online/grinds/etc. Personally I see it being a very hard subject to do by yourself

If anything, I think Real World Physics has more than you need. Some of it is interesting to read but a lot of the narrative isn't necessary. All answers are acceptable in point form (you'll see this in the marking schemes) so I think you could cut it down and make your own notes using the syllabus, exam papers and marking schemes. If you are doing it all yourself though it might be hard to work out what exactly you need to know.
I also used the Revise Wise Physics but only towards the very end and only for the section with the definitions, derivations and demonstration experiments. This was pretty handy as they had all the definitions over 6 pages but you could make that list yourself if you were so inclined.

Mr. Tambourine Man

Chuchoter wrote: »

Real World Physics is a very good book, but doesn't have everything you need

Definitely right. However, if you combine the accompanying workbook along with it, it probably does.

Take for example, the question in 2006 (i think) where they asked you to describe an experiment to show the doppler effect. Real world physics had like two lines on it, for a 15 mark question!

If I was doing it all again, I would use thephysicsteacher.ie as this was last updated in 2008, and it bases its notes on the syllabus and the past exam papers. RWP was published in 2000 so its not geared towards the exam papers (although the workbook is).

IloveConverse

Got Real World Physics and workbook today.

Thanks for all the advice. :cool: