IGCSE Physics Tutor HK

Physics calculations at IGCSE are not conceptually difficult. They go wrong for mechanical reasons.

• Rearrangement that is slow, so time runs out on later questions.
• Unit prefixes. Millimetres entered as metres, kilojoules as joules. The physics is right and the mark is gone.
• Standard form, which students avoid and then mishandle.
• Not writing the substitution down, which forfeits the method mark when the arithmetic slips.

Every one of these is a habit rather than a concept, and habits change quickly with deliberate practice.

This is where strong mathematicians lose the grade. Definitions are marked precisely, and an approximate statement of what a quantity means earns nothing. Explanations of everyday phenomena, of the kind that ask why a thermos keeps liquid hot, need the specific mechanism named rather than a general gesture at insulation.

We teach these as learned answers, because that is what they are. There is a right way to state Newton's second law for the mark scheme, and knowing the physics is not the same as knowing it.

Graph questions carry marks for axes, scale, plotting and line of best fit before any physics is involved, and students lose them through haste. Gradients often need a tangent and a triangle drawn on the graph, which many students have never been shown.

The practical paper rewards learned phrasing about variables, control, precision and improvements. Cambridge and Edexcel assess practical work differently, so the preparation has to match the board. See Cambridge or Edexcel.

Where Physics is examined alongside Chemistry and Biology in fewer papers, the content is reduced and the revision problem changes: three sciences to hold in mind at once, with less time on each. We teach both routes and adjust the approach accordingly. See IGCSE subject choice for whether the separate sciences are the better route.