IB · Group 4 · Standard Level
Physics SL
This course provides plenty of material for those curious about Physics, while challenging you to improve your analytical and mathematical skills.
Where the marks go
Six things that cost students the grade.
Physics at Standard Level rewards clear reasoning far more than it rewards memory. Students who treat it as a set of equations to memorise tend to plateau around a 4 or a 5, however hard they work.
Space, time and motion
Forces and free-body diagrams
Knowing how to draw free-body diagrams and apply Newton’s laws to them is like a magic trick that unlocks a lot of marks in kinematics questions.
Wave behaviour
Constructive and destructive interference
Every single exam has a question on this topic, yet students very often fail to understand the concepts properly.
The particulate nature of matter
Circuits
Drawing circuit diagrams, understanding what potential difference is, and how energy works in an electrical circuit — these are key skills in this topic that are often lacking in students.
Fields
Magnetic fields
Everyone has their own version of the hand rule, and it is common to not really grasp what is going on with it. Definitely one of the hardest topics in SL.
Assessment
Uncertainties and graphs
Many students drop significant marks on Paper 1B, which is all about understanding experimental technique and uncertainties. Studying this as a separate topic really pays off.
Assessment
The Internal Assessment
A fifth of the grade is for the IA, and a lot depends on how you choose your topic, and how you analyse the data. These are things that we can work on together to maximise your marks.
A student on this course
“He clearly has a deep understanding of both his subjects and the diploma… he helped me get two sevens in Physics and Maths AA SL.”
Try a trial class
Show me your biggest obstacle.
Circuits, momentum, or something else entirely — perhaps the IA? Let’s meet for a free 30-minute class, no commitments, and we will tackle it together.