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Physics Calculations (1 Viewer)

beehappy

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Dec 17, 2009
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Hi BOSers,
I really suck at calculations for physics. Can anyone recommend any books or resources that contains calculation questions that are relevant to the HSC course?
 

clementc

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Most books are really quite useless for calculations (because HSC physics is predominantly zombie essay writing). Books like Jacaranda look great with all their calculation examples when you first open it, but as you read on you realise every single example is exactly the same but just with different numbers.

I've uploaded an extract from Physics in Focus that provides around 30 questions or so on all the types of calculation questions that come up in the HSC. (Hope this isn't illegal LOL - technically it's less than 10% and it's for educational purposes...though that's the whole point of a textbook anyway...)
Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?abx6keuryvhxp8e
Physics in Focus is really good for both content and calculations (though I can't be sure as I've only read tiny bits of it). Hopefully someone else can elaborate on it.

Lastly, I would highly highly recommend Spotlight HSC physics. Though Spotlight is not really a book you would want to learn content from like mindless advantages/disadvantages (which sadly is the majority of today's HSC physics course), it is the best HSC book ever if you want an actual thorough understanding of the physics and exposure to every single kind of calculation.
Despite lacking all the flashy colour/fancy fonts of the other textbooks, it has way more (and heaps better) questions than any of them and extension questions/information. You can tell the other textbooks just kind of shoved in lazy questions to look complete. In my opinion Spotlight's worked examples are the hardest, and also the best for fully understanding the topic.

But ultimately (sorry for rambling so much), you don't need to waste your time with calculations for the HSC course, since most of it is essay writing. So this depends on who you are. If you just need the marks for your HSC course to do well and get into the course you want, then the Physics in Focus attachment should help enough, since the questions there the only type likely to pop up.
But if you're actually fascinated by physics and want to be challenged by harder questions, and have a further in depth understanding, Spotlight is right for you.
 

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