Physic and Ext 2 (1 Viewer)

[Caitlin63]

I am studying 4 units of maths this term, we have only done complex numbers so far and while it is harder than 3 unit for sure, I have coped with it very well.

However, my teacher and other people say the 4 unit goes on to relate to physics alot. This worries me as I don't do physics and didn't even do it in yr 11. When we did the bits of it in yr 10 it was always my weakest area and I had great difficulty understanding any of it at all which is why I never considered picking it for year 11.

I am the top maths student in my year at the moment, I was wondering if not doing physics will put me at a disadvantage.....?

Anyone who has done the course without physics in the past, your advice would be particularly appreciated

Thanks
Cat!

 

[Poad]

Hey, Im pretty much in the same boat as you, except that in Yr 10 I was rather good at physics but hated it with a passion. Needless to say, I didnt pick it in Yr 11.

At first I was a little worried as well, but my teacher was saying that you're at no disadvantage if you don't do physics as long as you can grasp the mathematical concepts. And anyway, while some things may be similar in the courses, the approach to answering questions is totally different (well, thats my understanding of it) so its not like Physics people already have a 'head start'.

I'd still like to see other peoples responses too...

 

[Caitlin63]

Well I'm glad to know that there are other physics haters out there too haha!

I have nothing against people who do physics though, a lot of my friends do, perhaps they will have to help me if I need to understand a physics based concept for maths.

And I have seemed to grasp most maths concepts I have come across reasonably well, even if it took a little time to get there so I hope your teacher is right!

I'm with you Poad, hopefully some other people will give their opinions too

 

[shinn]

no you won't. physics concept ain't that hard.

 

[roadrage75]

don't worry i didnt do physics, and it was fine.... in fact some of my friends said doing physics can often be a disadvantage because you must approach questions in a totally different way

 

[SoulSearcher]

You should be fine with Mechanics in the extension 2 maths course, the HSC physics course doesn't give much, if any, sort of advantage to the students doing both physics and extension 2 maths. Just understand the mathematical concepts and you should do alright in it

 

[nottellingu]

Re: Physics and Ext 2

HSC Physics is non calculus physics and so as many ppl have already mentioned the approach to the questions is ultimately going to be different. However, physics students will have an advantage in that they do theoretical parts in depth such as newton's laws of motion circular motions ect.

Dont worry if u cant do physics im sure u will be fine. Many students have done ext 2 maths without physics and aced it.

 

[wogblogger]

ur goneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
lol jkz
....dw only thing is people who do physics will argue with their teachers when they do mechanics
people who dont do physics will ask for help

haha im looking forward to argueing

 

[Trebla]

A bit of HSC and Preliminary Physics helps in understanding the situation of Mechanics but not the mathematics behind it.

I'd imagine that the concept of vectors in Mechanics would take a while for non-Physics people to grasp whereas people who are familiar with Physics will be likely to grasp it straight away. Similarly, this can be said for the circular motion concepts.

This also applies with projectile motion. A number of people who didn't do Physics didn't know about the horizontal velocity being constant in projectile motion despite the equations telling them so. Some took a while to accept that an initially horizontal projectile starting from a certain height h will hit the ground at the same rate as an object just falling vertically from the same height h. To them it seemed a bit counter-intuitive.

So Physics does give a bit of a head start in understanding the concepts of what is happening, but the mathematics behind them are NOT covered in Physics so in terms of the algebra, you're on the same boat as everyone else.

 

[vds700]

I do Physics and I think it should help with mechanics. We learnt about vectors, forces, components, circular motion and banked circular tracks in yr11 (not in great detail though). If you haven't done physics, you may need to spend a little more time learning these basic concepts which are used in mechanics.

 

[natblank]

im 1 of 2 ppl in my class doin both subjects
for the motion topic in physics, the maths really isnt hard and the questions are more bout having to understand and apply formula.
haha if only 4 unit was that easy!!!!!
but no, you'll be compleatly fine

 

[Kujah]

I'm the only person out of a class of 4 who doesn't Physics

 

[Caitlin63]

My class has 8 people in it (pretty good seeing as my year only has 50 students) and there are 3 of us that don't do physics

 

[elite]

I am studying 4 units of maths this term, we have only done complex numbers so far and while it is harder than 3 unit for sure, I have coped with it very well.

However, my teacher and other people say the 4 unit goes on to relate to physics alot. This worries me as I don't do physics and didn't even do it in yr 11. When we did the bits of it in yr 10 it was always my weakest area and I had great difficulty understanding any of it at all which is why I never considered picking it for year 11.

I am the top maths student in my year at the moment, I was wondering if not doing physics will put me at a disadvantage.....?

Anyone who has done the course without physics in the past, your advice would be particularly appreciated

Thanks
Cat!

Hi my name is Steven
The Extension 2 course does not require a deep understanding of physics it requires basic understanding of the laws of motion the year 10 and parts of year11 physics will be prerequisite knowledge to cover the module mechanics in extension 2 you need to know force centripedal force and energy

 

[Caitlin63]

ooh gosh if that's the case im stuffed lol never understood any of that stuff, tis ok though some of my friends are good a physics, they will help me

 

[kevinant]

Re: Physics and Ext 2

No, Most extension 2 Mechanics stuff do not overlap with physics course, In fact, There were Mechanics stuff in Physics old syllabuses (pre-2001) But not in the new syllabus. The only thing that Extension 2 course overlaps with the physics course is Newton's three laws, which is very easy to understand and Most school taught these laws during junior years in science. Hardly any student gained advantage in mechanics by doing Physics.

I thought Extension 1 overlaps with physics much more, in fact, It overlaps with almost half of first physics module. And people were actually disadvantaged in the projectile topic exam as physics student had more practices with these sort of questions.

So don't worry about Physics and Extension 2.

 

[Slidey]

Re: Physics and Ext 2

I just skipped all the questions on probability, circle geometry and mechanics in my HSC (05). I got 92 for MX2 and 97 for MX1.

Though I think I did some of the easier circle geo, probability and mechanics questions in MX1.

 

[ssglain]

I actually had the same concern last year that I might find Mechanics difficult because I didn't do Physics, but I turned out all right. I'd even say it's one of my favourite topics from MX2.

At the beginning I did find force diagrams a bit confusing - but mostly because text book diagrams tend to have arrows everywhere and sometimes even where they shouldn't be. It took me a while to realise that there's a difference between "forces acting on the particle" and "forces which result from the particle's motion" and that only the former should be represented in the force diagram. As with learning anything for the first time, you start off with an empty slate. It doesn't necessarily puts you at a disadvantage. 11 years of schooling should have prepared you well enough for a few new pieces of information.

 

[barryballstine]

I'd say the content in the 4 unit course is way more related to physics than the content of HSC physics. The maths in HSC physics is a joke, it doesnt even approach a 2 unit advanced standard. It's all just memorising the history of physics. Physics has been dumbed down to a pile of useless shit.

 

[ssglain]

I'd say the content in the 4 unit course is way more related to physics than the content of HSC physics. The maths in HSC physics is a joke, it doesnt even approach a 2 unit advanced standard. It's all just memorising the history of physics. Physics has been dumbed down to a pile of useless shit.

Sadly, the same applies to all other HSC science subjects. They should allow extension units for the sciences for students who want to learn some real science.