Why is A-Level Physics difficult?

Look at any student survey about the relative difficulty of different A-Level subjects and you will find Physics near the top. Often it is right at the top, considered the most challenging subject by many. But why? And why is it that some people do not find it challenging at all? What’s their secret?

1. The jump in mathematical complexity

This is possibly the biggest hurdle for most. Actually, the mathematics required for A-Level Physics is not much more complicated than at GCSE Level. It’s the same four operators (+,-,×, and ÷), but we need students to be fluent with using them and rearranging equations. We do introduce a few new mathematical concepts, such as logarithms. Students ought to be comfortable with calculus for the derivations (although this will not be examined in A-Level Physics). Students learn calculus, logarithms and more advanced trigonometry in A-Level Mathematics anyway, but often we need to use them in Physics before they’re taught in Mathematics. You can practise mathematical skills using the web apps I have developed and shared on the dashboard for enrolled tutees.

2. More abstract concepts

Students can see cars rolling down ramps, gears, and wind turbines, but they cannot see electric fields, wave-particle duality, quarks and time dilation. As we progress through A-Level Physics, we move away from what is directly apparent and towards what defies everyday intuition. But I would argue that GCSE concepts such as energy, potential difference, and electromagnetic induction are also abstract. Maybe there’s just more of it at A-Level.

3. Synopticity

In A-Level Physics, we find far more links between topics to the point where we have to be cautious to avoid mentally isolating each one. Compartmentalisation may be a useful pedagogical tool, but it can hold students back when they have to solve problems. (More on that later.) I often tell my students that to be successful in A-Level Physics all they have to do is know all things at all times. Simple.

4. Specificity in answers

One thing I love about physics is that it does not require a lot of rote memorisation. However, there are still some things that need to be committed to memory by brute force. For example, at A-Level, you cannot get away with saying things like “the current is induced” when talking about electromagnetic induction and Faraday-Lenz Law. No, electromotive force is induced. Yes, that electromotive force causes a current to flow through a conductor in a complete circuit. By that logic you could often get away with talking about induced current at GCSE level, but not at A-Level.

There are things that a student just has to sit down and memorise. A small deviation from the correct statement can cost valuable marks. For another example, it is current that causes a wire to increase in temperature, not a potential difference across it, even though you need that potential difference for there to be a current.

5. More emphasis on solving problems

For many students it is a shock to the system: they cannot memorise a bank of solutions to problems, they have to be able to creatively solve problems themselves. The scope of Physics is too wide to be able to learn a catalogue of solutions by heart! Actually, most physics problems can be solved by applying algebra and/or trigonometry to the fundamentals in a creative way. The fundamentals are things like Newton’s Laws of Motion and the Laws of Thermodynamics. At A-Level, once we’ve mastered the fundamental principles of physics, nothing can hold us back, but those fundamentals are not always intuitive. It is remarkable how many students think they understand Newton’s Laws of Motion but actually don’t get it, and don’t realise they don’t get it because they’ve successfully memorised a few sentences.

Conclusion

Mathematical complexity can be overcome with practice. Actually practice is the key to overcoming all of the other hurdles too, except on: abstract concepts require humility. Students have to start their A-Level studies fully cognizant that their everyday view of the nature of physical reality is flawed, and be humble enough to accept guidance from others. Even the most accomplished Nobel Prize winning physicists happily admit that they do not understand the material universe, because its true nature is too subtle and fantastic to be conceptualised fully by our simple human minds. I personally find that exciting, and more reason to study it! We are all ignorant, but let’s not be complicit and wilful in our ignorance.

If you are in Year 11 and want to get a head start on your A-Levels (after your GCSEs, obviously) bookmark this playlist to use over the Summer.