Studying Physics? Here’s What’s Good for You and What’s Not

The move from O-level physics to A-level physics is exciting but at the same time challenging. In the early days, during your H1 physics studies, you could get away with a basic understanding of the topics. However, as you enter H2 physics, such basic knowledge is not enough. You’ll face more calculations and you have to discern what is good for you and what doesn’t.

Below are a few ideas that can help you decide.

Text Books

Many students go into H2 physics without a good appreciation of the amount of effort they will need to put in to succeed. Ensure that before and after every lesson, you read about the topic from available resources. If you have signed up for H2 physics tuition in Singapore, discuss with your tutor problem areas and use test questions in your textbooks to address them.

Whatever you do, persist until you get a good understanding of the main concepts, and how to apply them to different situations. Avoiding tricky concepts will only cause you problems when you encounter them in the future.

Revision

The word revision actually means looking at something you want to learn again. But is this beneficial when it comes to H2 physics?
No.

Going over something you are already familiar with triggers our ability to recognise it, and not the ability to recall it.

Take care to not spend too much time on areas you are already familiar with. Instead, focus on the areas you are least comfortable with, not what you know best. Unfortunately, the human brain craves for the familiar and we derive more satisfaction from revising what we know than what we don’t.

Ask your physics tuition teacher to design lessons that address your weaknesses. Spend some time on this and you’ll feel so much more confident in your physics ability.

Practice Using Different Approaches until You Can’t Get it Wrong

Basketball legend and former Boston Celtics star, Larry Bird was once asked to participate in the making of a TV commercial. The commercial involved a part where Mr. Bird would miss a shot. It took more than 25 attempts for the directors to get the right “missed shot” simply because Larry Bird wasn’t missing any! He had trained for so long how to get it right from different positions until, this point when he was getting paid to miss a shot, he couldn’t.

The same principle applies to your H2 physics. Now that you are aware of what you are not familiar with, keep practicing it until you cannot get it wrong. A good start would be during your H2 physics tuition sessions, warm up with the easy stuff and allow your teacher to guide you through the tough areas.

Finally, Cramming

You may have already guessed from the first few points: an A in H2 physics will only come only through consistent work throughout the year. Rushing around with last minute cramming is not helpful.

If you feel nervous about what you learned early in the term, just retake the class in the form of a quiz and reinforce what you are not too certain about. Or if you need further explanation, physics tuition will be a huge advantage as it’ll give you an in-depth look at these areas.