Examination boards are very keen on asking students to apply their knowledge to real-world situations. One of the most important issues in the world today is climate change and one of the most important ways to address this is by switching from non-renewable energy sources to renewables. BP, which has long been thought of as … Continue reading Key Facts: Renewable Energy
Common Mistakes (part 2)
This is the second set of tips for avoiding some of the mistakes made by students sitting AQA GCSE Trilogy science papers. It is based on the exam board's advice, which can be downloaded from https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/science/AQA-GCSE-SCI-TG-MISUNDERSTANDINGS.PDF, together with observations and explanations of my own. To read the first part of this summary, see https://physbang.com/2023/05/01/common-mistakes-part-1/. 7. … Continue reading Common Mistakes (part 2)
Common Mistakes (part 1)
There is a very useful guide from the AQA exam board highlighting common misconceptions that cause students to lose marks in Trilogy papers: the full document is available here. The advice given below is based on the exam board's document combined with my own observations of ways in which students often lose marks carelessly. I … Continue reading Common Mistakes (part 1)
Command Words
Examination questions always include a word that specifies what you must do to get full marks. These are the command words and they are important because you must match your answer to what they are expecting. It is easy to lose marks by not paying careful attention to the command word so here are some … Continue reading Command Words
Standard Form
Every GCSE physics paper normally has at least one question with a mark for the correct interpretation or expression of numbers in standard form. This is a basic skill that is taught as part of GCSE mathematics courses but it holds a great deal of power for scientific calculations that is rarely mentioned at this … Continue reading Standard Form
Congratulations
The results are in and, overall, the AQA Trilogy course has been very successful. I have heard of some great individual results and I've been delighted to shake hands with some of you. I also know there have been some slight disappointments but that is the way things are: we live and learn (please never … Continue reading Congratulations
Revision 2022: The Final Straight
With Biology and Chemistry finished, it's all systems go in the final phase of science revision for the second Physics paper later this week (Thursday 23rd June). As was the case for Paper 1, I have created an index page of links to relevant physbang content using the Advanced Information provided by AQA. The index … Continue reading Revision 2022: The Final Straight
Radioactivity mini-test
There is a short online test that you can use to check your understanding of the key facts covered in the radioactivity topic for GCSE Physics. The test, available here, is hosted on liveworksheets.com so you will be able to see your score immediately after completing the test. Note that Q4 is not marked because … Continue reading Radioactivity mini-test
Specific Heat Capacity and Energy Stores
Two ways are suggested in GCSE Physics for measuring the specific heat capacity of a material. I have already explained the electrical method (see here) but it looks likely, from the advanced information supplied by AQA, that the other method will feature in this summer's Trilogy physics examination. So here's what you need to know … Continue reading Specific Heat Capacity and Energy Stores
Physics Paper 1: physbang revision Index
I previously provided an index of BBC Bitesize links for content that is most likely to appear in this year's AQA Trilogy Physics Paper 1 exam: I have now created a similar list for content posted on physbang, which you can access via this link. For convenience, you can swap from one index to the … Continue reading Physics Paper 1: physbang revision Index
Mr Tarrant's physbang 'blog 