AQA A-Level Physics guide FAQ (7408)
Guide overview All 13 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
AQA A-Level Physics: questions and answers
Specification 7408. Two sets, because students and parents ask different things.
For students
Which option do I do on Paper 3?
Your school chooses one of Astrophysics, Medical Physics, Engineering Physics, Turning Points in Physics or Electronics. It is Section B of Paper 3.
All five are in the guide because schools choose differently. Work yours and skip the other four. Each is a separate page.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1 is measurements and errors, particles and radiation, waves, mechanics and materials, electricity, and periodic motion. Paper 2 is thermal physics, fields and nuclear physics, and assumes the Paper 1 content.
Paper 3 is practical skills and data analysis plus your option. The full breakdown is here.
Do I need to memorise the equations?
Some of them. AQA supplies a formulae booklet in the exam but it does not carry everything, and an equation you have to hunt for costs time. More to the point, the booklet never tells you what each symbol means or the conditions under which a relationship holds, and those are examined.
What is on Paper 3 Section A?
Practical skills and data analysis, drawing on the required practicals and on unfamiliar experimental data: apparatus, technique, uncertainty, graphs and the evaluation of results.
Is the maths heavy?
At least 40 per cent of the marks across the papers involve mathematical skills, which is the highest of any A-Level science. Logarithms in decay, radians in circular motion and oscillations, gradients and areas, and uncertainty propagation are all examined.
How long does one session take?
About twenty minutes for one subtopic, all three steps. Topics run from 87 to 462 questions, so work by subtopic.
Can I do it in my head instead of writing?
Write. Physics definitions are marked on precision. The method page sets out the evidence.
Do I still need past papers?
Yes. The method puts the physics into memory. Past papers train the multi-step calculation under time and the extended responses. AQA publishes them free.
For parents
What is this, in plain terms?
A PDF of 3,682 exam-style questions covering the whole of AQA A-Level Physics including all five Paper 3 options, with the answers printed after each topic.
My child only studies one of the options.
That is correct. Paper 3 Section B is one option of five, chosen by the school. All five are in the guide because schools choose differently, and the four not taken are skipped.
How do I check it is the right course?
The specification code is on the exam timetable. AQA A-Level Physics is 7408.
My child says physics is about understanding, not memorising.
Both are true and they are not in competition. A student who cannot state a law precisely, or who has to derive something they should know, loses the marks and the time. The understanding is taught in lessons; this makes it retrievable under a clock.
How do I know if it is being used properly?
There should be handwritten answers on paper and three passes over the same questions, and two scores per session to compare.
How much is it compared with a textbook?
£8.00 for the whole specification including every option. An endorsed AQA A-Level Physics textbook is usually £30 to £40.
How much time does the whole course take?
146 subtopics at roughly twenty minutes each is about 49 hours for everything, and closer to 35 once the four unused options are skipped.
AQA A-Level Physics Active Recall Guide
3,682 questions with their answers, 146 subtopics, one file.