You are here: Sixth Form ● Y11-Y12 Transition Work ● Physics
Welcome to A-Level Physics! Let me first take an opportunity to introduce myself, I’m Dr French, Head of Physics and should you have any questions about the transition work, equipment, reading, or just have some excellent science you’d like to discuss feel free to email me at mmf@bws.wilts.sch.uk.
The Physics transition tasks are outlined below and serve several purposes;
• reinforce ideas and concepts from GCSE,
• extended your learning taking it beyond the GCSE syllabus
• provide a stretch and challenge to keep your mind active
• allow us to hit the ground running when you enter the A-level course in September.
When we start the next school year we will use some of the first lessons back to consolidate the work and information you have gained during these exercises so please keep this work safe.
Task 1 – Practice Makes Permanent There are 2 resource sheets at the bottom of this page which you will need to complete to help familiarise yourself with the content which you have previously covered but can be extended a little further. |
Task 2 – Extended Maths Problems Your GCSE would have featured a range of stretching maths problems very much like the sort of challenges you will face in the A-level. Using GCSE equations only you need to make your way through the list of problems on the question sheet “Unstructured Question Practice” and show clearly how you can arrive at a final value. Some of them may require a bit of estimation so you can use a ballpark figure or look one up. One of my favourite questions is “How far up Mount Everest could you climb using the energy in a Mars bar” – there are lots of potential ways to tackle this problem but they all involve good estimation work and an ability to combine equations. Q2. Unstructured Question Practice |
Task 3 – Isaac Physics 1. Set up an account on the Isaac Physics website: https://isaacphysics.org *One thing to be aware of – Isaac Physics is very picky when it comes to significant figures so read the question very carefully to see how many you should be using. If it doesn’t say then most of the *If you have some extra down-time you can try your hand at any “board” you don’t need to be assigned to it, be aware that some of the questions are very tricky (I use them as prep for our Oxford and Cambridge applicants) but you can select the difficulty from 1-6. |
Task 4 – Getting Equipment Before you start your A-level there is some equipment you’ll need for lessons and we can use this period to ensure you have everything ready. |
Extension Tasks and Other Ideas Wider Reading: Getting to explore new elements of Physics Physics Reading List Years 11-13 Science Fiction to keep the imagination alive; |
MOOC – Massively Open Online Courses |