I didn't do 'A' Level Physics, but looking at the Chemistry (which I did do) paper I have the same feeling as you. I understand the questions, but have no idea what the answers might be ... Use it or lose it, I guess.
I didn't do 'A' Level Physics, but looking at the Chemistry (which I did do) paper I have the same feeling as you. I understand the questions, but have no idea what the answers might be ... Use it or lose it, I guess.
The most useful thing I learnt was trig - and 3D trig. Used that loads with roof related calculations (areas of insulation, tiles, plasterboard etc).
Probability was useful to see whether investing in premium bonds was worth it (it is - if you can invest more than a certain amount).
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I've just looked at a 1967 Additional Maths Theoretical Mechanics paper on the same site and discovered to my enormous pleasure and surprise that I can actually answer the questions!
Careful. Martin Lewis might spring out of the woodwork.
And just for fun throw in the CGS system which I used for O and A level. SI was metric, Jim, but not as I knew it :(
I passed those actual papers I think.
No big deal in passing them today I wouldnt have thought, although remembering the exact formulae might be harder
I was taught SI units from the start (born in '66), but still use many Imperial units as they are more convenient for many real-life purposes.
I do remember a physics text book with an absolutely wonderful unit: a foot-pound per pennyweight-fortnight!
I can still do some, but would need a lot of revision for the rest.
SteveW
I like attoparsecs per microfortnight - whihc, if I remember correctly, is about an inch per second.
Looking at the physics, many I can do, but some, which at the time I could have done easily, I would now need to go and look stuff up first! (There are a couple there which I don't think were in the syllabus when I took it in '86)
In 1st year physics, our lecture made us do some homework in all sorts of random units, including furlongs - just so he knew we could maniplulate units...
furlong-stones. That would be an interesting unit of energy.
I think the furlong/firkin/fortnight system uses the "furlong-firkin weight". But it is a long time since I used it; and don't know what happened to the question whether the unit of mass was a firkin of water or of beer.
It's not a unit of energy.
My understanding, in Britain, is that a "pound" usually (or used to usually) refer to "pound-force" as opposed to pound-mass. That was certainly the case when I was growing up and the subject was broached by teachers.
So I would regard "stones" (being 14 pounds) as a unit of weight, not mass.
However, I acknowledge there is ambiguity and strictly no one every used "stones" as a measure of non weight related force to my knowledge.
But it's only a bit of fun.
It's tragic the way standards have been lowered - all in the interests of 'equality' - it was far easier to lower everyone to the same standard than to raise everyone to a higher one. And all without the knowledge or consent of those it was affect most.
Pretty well all of it was when I took O-level Physics in '83 - however it may have varied between exam boards. Most of our exams were with the JMB (Joint Matriculation Board), but Physics and Latin (IIRC - Physics definitely was, but I'd have to dig out my certificates to check if Latin was the other) were odd ones - they were with TWYLREB (The West Yorkshire and Lindsey Regional Examinations Board) and were NOT plain O-levels, they were 16+, a precurser to GCSE, where you could get any grade from a CSE fail to an O-level grade A from the same exams.
SteveW
We did AEB IIRC. I don't recall it covering any fluid flow dynamics / Stokes law though (although that could have been an omission in the teaching rather than the syllabus)
Our English (combined lit/lang) was like that. All the lit was done as a number of coursework essays (minimum of 8, with two under exam conditions).
The other slightly odd one I did was when at FE college doing comp sci A level, we did an AO level (which I think was an O level aimed at more mature students) in computer studies half way through it.
Our 16+s were exam only, the same as the O-levels of the time. There was no assessment by coursework. Just pass or fail on the day.
AO was always talked about as half an A-level at our school - which makes sense when it was taken half way through I suppose.
SteveW
Well, it's working...
Got AF Abbott's O-Level physics Ed 2 (I probably had Ed 3) - it's the right book alright - pictures are familiar.
Just asked the lad what he's done: "springs and forces".
"Done Hooke's law?"
"What's that?"
Right.... Here..
They're covering the subject headings, but I reckon about 20% of the detail is being omitted. It's very easy to pull an interested (or making an effort kid) up the last notch.
I won't do anything formal - I'll just track their teacher and add the missing bits. With any luck, should make GCSE easier for him.
Just need those O Level maths books now :) Off to check the SMP stuff.
Sounds like they should offer ferret-fettling diplomas
Now part of AQA.
Owain
To add confusion, there was also an OA qualification, I think that may have been the "O Level (Advanced)" version, but it could equally be the other way around!
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