PHYS1121 or PHYS1131? (1 Viewer)

unholybuddha

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2008
Messages
66
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Which one should I choose PHYS1121 - Physics 1A or PHYS1131 - Higher Physics 1A for my engineering degree. I was pretty decent at physics and maths at school but from what i heard high school physics =/= university physics and that heaps of people fail physics at uni.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,146
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
You got a Band 6 in Physics - why not try Higher Physics?
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Messages
354
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Which one should I choose PHYS1121 - Physics 1A or PHYS1131 - Higher Physics 1A for my engineering degree. I was pretty decent at physics and maths at school but from what i heard high school physics =/= university physics and that heaps of people fail physics at uni.
I reckon u should prob just do physics 1a , I did higher physics because they said it was complusory for electrical engineers, but it is the EXACT same content , just that the people doing higher get a harder exam and get scaled higher , I dont think its worth doing higher physics though, for the final exam I reckon I only got like maybe 50% if I was lucky , and it was weighted 40% and my final mark for Higher Phys 1A was 69
 
Last edited:

Timothy.Siu

Prophet 9
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
3,449
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
up to you, u learn the same stuff, do the same labs etc. but the exams just harder.
If you think you'll enjoy it then I think you should. But if you're not that interested and just want to pass, then do normal phys.
I did higher, not sure if i regret it or not.
 

davidbarnes

Trainee Mȯderatȯr
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,459
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Defiantly do normal, NOT higher! I got a band 6 in HSC physics (which is nothing like uni physics at all) and still struggled immensely with Physics. Normal physics and higher physics are the same except for a (slightly) harder exam at the end of the semester basically.
 

Omie Jay

gone
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
6,673
Location
in my own pants
Gender
Female
HSC
2007
yeah normal physics was super hard when i did it, apparently they had to dumb it down last year, lol.

if it's not compulsory then theres not really much point in going for it.
 

cutemouse

Account Closed
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
2,250
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Either way you're going to die in the final exam in the part set by Joe Wolfe.
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Messages
354
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Either way you're going to die in the final exam in the part set by Joe Wolfe.
hey couldnt even be nice enough to put a standard 3unit math like projectile question in the exam , doesnt like easy tests so he puts in a question about rotation , wtf, who studys that , I hardly got topic when we did it in the lecture anyway.
 

cutemouse

Account Closed
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
2,250
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
hey couldnt even be nice enough to put a standard 3unit math like projectile question in the exam , doesnt like easy tests so he puts in a question about rotation , wtf, who studys that , I hardly got that shit in the lecture anyway.
I liked the final exam personally. But then again I like Physics. But yes most people hated that exam.
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Messages
354
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
I've chosen the normal one. Thanks for your help guys!
well im still not sure , maybe it is better to do the higher physics. The higher physics students never got to see what questions were in the plain physics 1A paper. I looked at the past exams they had for like 2006, 2007 2008 and the physics 1A and higher physics 1A papers had pretty much the exact same question, except there was 1 out of the 6 questions that were different between physics 1A and higher physics 1A

im wondering if it is like 4unit, where if you do the higher physics 1A you only need to get a raw mark of like 50% and it gets scaled to 80%

I dont even think I got 50% raw on that final exam, but it makes it a bit hard when you dont get to see your marked exam papers or the breakdown of your final mark.

Another thing, they need to get a better range of past papers in my opinion , there were tons of semesters that were left out in the past papers archive and some of the papers didnt have solutions. There is a big difference between textbook questions and exam questions and imo they need to put more past papers/ exam style questions up with solns on the first year website.
 

cutemouse

Account Closed
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
2,250
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Pretty much what was in the final exam for JW's section was covered in his lectures in one way or another. Yes he didn't directly say that it would be in the exam but for instance that rotation/string question. He went through it on the very last lecture with an actual pract/demo.
 

sinophile

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2008
Messages
1,341
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
I remember PHYS1131 being really, extremely, excruciatingly hard for me. I only managed to pass because I leeched answers off my friends for the last few quizes and got very lucky in that the exam asked a disproportionate number of questions in the only topic I learned decently. If you like physics then do higher, otherwise, theres no real point in doing higher.

Just be careful not to get caught off guard by the fast pace of lectures.
 

shady145

Banned
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
1,687
Gender
Female
HSC
2014
I remember PHYS1131 being really, extremely, excruciatingly hard for me. I only managed to pass because I leeched answers off my friends for the last few quizes and got very lucky in that the exam asked a disproportionate number of questions in the only topic I learned decently. If you like physics then do higher, otherwise, theres no real point in doing higher.

Just be careful not to get caught off guard by the fast pace of lectures.
just teach yourself. it was much easier reading it from the book.

the final exam is harder and so is the mid exam if you do higher physics. *mid exam was online last year but i think they changed it.
 

kaz1

et tu
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
6,960
Location
Vespucci Beach
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2009
Uni Grad
2018
Do NOT do higher if it is not required. I don't even think it helps that much with scaling.

I think 2009 HSC was the luckiest year online mid sem and almost everyone got 100%. I think they changed it now lol.
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Messages
354
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Do NOT do higher if it is not required. I don't even think it helps that much with scaling.

I think 2009 HSC was the luckiest year online mid sem and almost everyone got 100%. I think they changed it now lol.
i didnt :|

and thats because everyone got together in like groups of 20 to share the questions and work them out as a group , bloody rediculous
 

kaz1

et tu
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
6,960
Location
Vespucci Beach
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2009
Uni Grad
2018
i didnt :|

and thats because everyone got together in like groups of 20 to share the questions and work them out as a group , bloody rediculous
Why didn't you do it in a group? I did all my online uni stuff in groups lol.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top