• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Physics Predictions/Thoughts (3 Viewers)

Balajanovski

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2017
Messages
67
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
More applying theory than regurgitating it. I liked it compared to the old syllabus.
 

psmao

Member
Joined
May 14, 2019
Messages
93
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
wtf is question 1 A???

Edit* nvm that guy is trolling lol
 

psmao

Member
Joined
May 14, 2019
Messages
93
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
DBCCD
ADBDA
CCBBC
That’s all I can remember
 
Last edited:

psmao

Member
Joined
May 14, 2019
Messages
93
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
Yeah, the thing is that was my favourite topic in physics and it sucks that I wasn’t able to convey my ideas to the markers. If I’m only losing 2-3 I’m happy with that, as long as I don’t lose more than 4-5 I’m good. Did end up filling the spaces though, so I guess I crammed as much as possible in
I just realized how stupid I was, we have to put in qualitative analysis into that 9 mark calculation F, I totally forgot

But didn’t the question say the intensity of sun radiation *at distance r* is 1340?so why would we need inverse square law
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
I just realized how stupid I was, we have to put in qualitative analysis into that 9 mark calculation F, I totally forgot

But didn’t the question say the intensity of sun radiation *at distance r* is 1340?so why would we need inverse square law
P = I/4pi r^2
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
after an extensive look at the paper. I have made a conclusion. Here are my thoughts

The paper is still just as shit as the old syllabus papers. Literally all it has is 3 'actual' calculations that aren't just trivial substitution.
Lol what a joke, this kind of exam provides nothing but an illusion for future Physics majors. Unless you've done contest Physics, this crap is still useless.

20) - I would say it's a bit too easy just because it's literally a standard scenario students learn in the syllabus. You know the theme park one where there's people inside a centrifuge and the centrifuge is spun but the people stay stuck to the wall. Same thing.

29) - Come ooon. 3 marks for this what a joke. Way too easy. All there is to it is



Should've been 2 marks

30(a) - Poorly written. Instead of a ball, the use of a block would've been ideal. Being a ball it also has a rotational Kinetic energy given by



Like come on say it's a block so you don't break the laws of Physics :\

35 - Useless question. It's so trivial to do and is literally a standard result in Maths Ext 2. Doing 4u literally gives you an advantage :\

Rest of the paper - Total shitshow

*End of rant*
Bruh, my dude be fuming 😂. I agree with what you said, but you also have to remember a lot of people that do this course don’t do high level maths and are just looking for a BASIC understanding of physics. In that sense I feel they improved, by applying it to more real life scenarios and giving more calculations; it gives them a taste of physics, albeit a very minute one - still a feel for what it’s like. I feel HSC courses are more (than content) just vessels that you stretch you through skills and preparation for equivalent uni courses teaching you how to study (as there’s not even much theory that the exam assesses).
 

Drdusk

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 24, 2017
Messages
2,022
Location
a VM
Gender
Male
HSC
2018
Uni Grad
2023
Bruh, my dude be fuming 😂. I agree with what you said, but you also have to remember a lot of people that do this course don’t do high level maths and are just looking for a BASIC understanding of physics. In that sense I feel they improved, by applying it to more real life scenarios and giving more calculations; it gives them a taste of physics, albeit a very minute one - still a feel for what it’s like. I feel HSC courses are more (than content) just vessels that you stretch you through skills and preparation for equivalent uni courses teaching you how to study (as there’s not even much theory that the exam assesses).
Trust hsc physics will no where near prepare you for uni Physics. I’ve done contest physics so I was fine, but you should’ve seen the number of people complaining about how hard first year physics was because all they’d done was hsc physics.

Which brings me to that hsc physics should require at least 2u maths. Either case hsc physics is nothing but a hsie course which as a Physics major is quite disturbing to see. It shouldn’t really be called Physics.
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
Trust hsc physics will no where near prepare you for uni Physics. I’ve done contest physics so I was fine, but you should’ve seen the number of people complaining about how hard first year physics was because all they’d done was hsc physics.

Which brings me to that hsc physics should require at least 2u maths. Either case hsc physics is nothing but a hsie course which as a Physics major is quite disturbing to see. It shouldn’t really be called Physics.
Does 4u mech relatively prepare you for phys? Cos thats one of my fave topics and I’ll love uni phys if it has a lot more calc and fun integrations.
 

blyatman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
89
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Does 4u mech relatively prepare you for phys? Cos thats one of my fave topics and I’ll love uni phys if it has a lot more calc and fun integrations.
Mechanics is one very small topic in physics, which is typically only covered as a single chapter in 1st semester physics. After that, you won't see it ever again lol. Even then, the math in the mechanics topic is pretty straightforward - 3u (or even 2u) will suffice. 4u mechanics is serious overkill, and won't really help much.

You won't do a that much integration in physics. 99.9% of real world integrals cannot be solved (or are at least too difficult to solve). In physics (and engineering), a lot of assumptions and simplifying approximations need to be made. In the end, you'll get an analytical approximation of an integral, and you use that result to solve problems in your assignments/exams. You don't really directly integrate very often, and when you do, the expressions you integrate are usually quite simple. There's also a lot of vector calculus involved, and when you deal with double/triple integrals, most of the time you're just manipulating the integrands/integrals using various theorems to reduce it into a differential form, and rarely involves directly integrating any expressions.

If you want to just integrate stuff, then you'll do almost all of it in the 2nd yr vector calculus math course, rather than in a physics course.
 
Last edited:

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
Mechanics is one very small topic in physics, which is typically only covered as a single chapter in 1st semester physics. After that, you won't see it ever again lol. Even then, the math in the mechanics topic is pretty straightforward - 3u (or even 2u) will suffice. 4u mechanics is serious overkill, and won't really help much.

You won't do a that much integration in physics. 99.9% of real world integrals cannot be solved (or are at least too difficult to solve). In physics (and engineering), a lot of assumptions and simplifying approximations need to be made. In the end, you'll get an analytical approximation of an integral, and you use that result to solve problems in your assignments/exams. You don't really directly integrate very often, and when you do, the expressions you integrate are usually quite simple. There's also a lot of vector calculus involved, and when you deal with double/triple integrals, most of the time you're just manipulating the integrands/integrals using various theorems to reduce it into a differential form, and rarely involves directly integrating any expressions.

If you want to just integrate stuff, then you'll do almost all of it in the 2nd yr vector calculus math course, rather than in a physics course.
That still sounds fun. Vector calc is still fun, the integration problems by applying Stokes' and Greens' theorem is pretty cool and the idea of contour integrals and stuff. The stuff you do in physics I still find pretty neat regardless from what I’ve taught myself, especially Fourier transforms (that’s amazing 😍).
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
Although I'm still conflicted whether I wanna do pure math or physics at uni, I don’t know if its worth double majoring.
 

Drdusk

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 24, 2017
Messages
2,022
Location
a VM
Gender
Male
HSC
2018
Uni Grad
2023
Although I'm still conflicted whether I wanna do pure math or physics at uni, I don’t know if its worth double majoring.
I would recommend choosing one of those only and then combining it with an 'actual' degree. I say this as a Physics major because if you look at statistics a degree in just math or physics has the worst post uni outcomes in terms of employment. Sure if your just set on doing one of those you can still become an academic at a uni or something but it will be a struggle.

Like for e.g. I'm doing Physics just for fun. I don't expect to go into a Physics field at least in Australia and I don't want to move to the US. This is the case with most Physics majors I know.
 

blyatman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
89
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
I would recommend double majoring, since it doesn't take you any longer to finish your degree. You can also double major while combining with another degree, like I did. Generally speaking, it is recommended that physics majors also get a math major, especially if they plan to do graduate-level physics.
 

sida1049

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
926
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
I would recommend double majoring, since it doesn't take you any longer to finish your degree. You can also double major while combining with another degree, like I did. Generally speaking, it is recommended that physics majors also get a math major, especially if they plan to do graduate-level physics.
I second this. If you don't double major, you'll end up with a lot of spare units in your degree which you'll either (a) waste away on irrelevant stuff you're not really interested in, or (b) end up spending those units on your "second major" anyway.
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
I would recommend double majoring, since it doesn't take you any longer to finish your degree. You can also double major while combining with another degree, like I did. Generally speaking, it is recommended that physics majors also get a math major, especially if they plan to do graduate-level physics.
Oh okay thanks. How hard is it to balance the both?
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
I second this. If you don't double major, you'll end up with a lot of spare units in your degree which you'll either (a) waste away on irrelevant stuff you're not really interested in, or (b) end up spending those units on your "second major" anyway.
Oh really? I didn't know you were forced to take 'spare' units otherwise. So does that mean just like useless electives that I don't even enjoy? And by double majoring does it effectively cancel out all the extra units I have to take?
 

blyatman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
89
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Oh okay thanks. How hard is it to balance the both?
It's no different to a single degree. You still take 4 subjects per semester (exempting UNSW), so it doesn't change your workload. It just takes you a year or two longer to graduate.

Oh really? I didn't know you were forced to take 'spare' units otherwise. So does that mean just like useless electives that I don't even enjoy? And by double majoring does it effectively cancel out all the extra units I have to take?
Yes you still need to complete a minimum number of credits to graduate. Typically you need to use those credits on subjects within the science faculty, so you might as spend it in one area to get another major rather than spreading them out amongst several areas.
 

Husky

Active Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2019
Messages
108
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
Anyone planning on releasing solutions any time soon? I’m procrastinating myself to death at the moment on whether or not I answered some of the questions correctly
 

Arrowshaft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2018
Messages
565
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2019
Anyone planning on releasing solutions any time soon? I’m procrastinating myself to death at the moment on whether or not I answered some of the questions correctly
What’s there to procrastinate on if there’s nothing to study 😉. Also, take a break mate, you’ve earned it. Leave the worrying till December 16th there’s nothing we can change now. That being said, Matrix should release their solutions soon.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 3)

Top