Physics

It’s probably fair to say that IA Physics is a significant step-up from A-level, more so than any other IA subject. This is one if the most conceptually challenging courses at Cambridge and most people will find it pretty tough compared with other subjects. Supervisions are absolutely crucial for this subject due to the challenging concepts you cover and therefore you should make sure you get the absolute most from them by making sure you have had a solid attempt at any work set. If you do get stuck, there’s a good chance someone else is also stuck, so ask other students, maybe even work in groups. Remember that your supervisor is there to help you, so don’t be shy to ask them lots of questions in your supervision.

The Physics course was changed significantly last year. The course covers the fundamentals of Physics, including Dynamics, Electromagnetism and Thermodynamics. It also throws in a few more modern concepts like Special Relativity and Quantum Theory. There is also a very short course on experimental methods which many students skip, but actually it’s a very easy course and questions often come up on the exam, so it’s worth going to it.

Physics practicals are once a fortnight in the Cavendish Laboratory, and last for four hours. It can sometimes be a bit of a rush to get them done, so it’s best to get there on time. The practicals in the first term get off to a slightly slow start (rolling a ball down a slope…) as they introduce ideas required for the later ones, but be assured they do get more interesting! They are continuously assessed, but don’t worry too much about this, it’s normally quite easy to pick up marks. Nobody cares if you get the ‘correct’ answer or not, what they do care about is whether or not you’ve considered the sources of error in the experiment.

You’ll also have to write a formal report on one of the Michaelmas term practicals over the Christmas holidays. This report won’t be assessed but it is practice for the report you write over Easter, based on a Lent term practical of your choice, which is assessed. Don’t worry about them too much; you are given guides and an example report to help you.

All of the material you need is in the lecture notes, but it can sometimes be difficult to understand some of the concepts. Supervisions are useful for this, but if you’re brave you could also try reading the Feynman Lectures on Physics. These are very lengthy and go way beyond the scope of the course, but some sections are very readable. They’re expensive, but if you’re a hardcore Physicist they could be worth the investment, as they explain most topics from first principles incredibly well and will be useful in later years. Look out for them at the NatSci book sale!

Link to course website: http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/