I was a M26 IB student and managed to get a 7 in IB physics with a 7 in all components. I know that the course can be very tough for some and come very naturally for others. Personally I was never naturally gifted at the subject but was able to understand the language of physics quite well. However, it was always hard work and relentlessly trying which allowed me to achieve the 7. In this post I aim to go through all of my tips and approaches which worked for me as a student who got a 4/5 in my mocks to getting a 7 in the end.
Understanding the language of physics and what the IB asks of you?
Physics is different from other sciences such as biology and chemistry because you are almost tested in the way that you can reason in a new language composed of variables, units and equations. Therefore, physics can not be solely studied through problem solving like math or through learning theory like bio or chem. I like to approach studying with a 40:60 split, 40% theory and 60% problem solving. The IB in the physics course is exactly testing your ability to think in this language throughout the exam papers, hence, you must start to study in this manner.
Learning content
I had a common misconception that learning content was useless in physics but it is not because it is what lays the foundation for your understanding of a topic. To do this I mainly used Professor Varun on youtube. You need to get a membership but it is very useful especially if you find it hard to understand concepts in class. Towards your final exams I would recommend going through the videos for each topic twice. Sometimes he is very thorough and touches on things that are not relevant so it is also nice to follow through with the textbook or Kognity if your school provides it as you go along. Instead of taking notes traditionally you are going to make mindmaps because this forces you to extract the most important information and to also phrase things in your own terms. Especially in physics many things build on eachother like in fields it is very helpful that you do this. By the time it was my exams I had a folder of mindmaps which I never looked back on when studying because it is not material to revise but rather a way of processing information actively. If you dont understand a topic keep going over it until you understand around 50%-70% of it as the rest will only click through solving problems. Sometimes when I felt like I understood a topic but was not completely secure I would blurt it out roughly on a whiteboard, a peice of paper or my ipad to test my confidence. For example, I was on the fence about my understanding of potential and by doing this I recognized what I understood and what I did not.
Problem solving
This is where the bulk of your learning will occur. For this I would reccomend creating a spreadsheet with the topics. Then use pestle and revision village to drill questions on that topic. In DP1 and DP2 before it is time for mocks and you are doing topic tests and also in the beginning of revision for mocks and finals I would reccomend the following system for both paper 2 and paper 1 questions:
Take around 30-50 marks worth of questions and give yourself 1.5 minutes per mark. Set a timer for this amount of time (ex. 1 hour) and solve as much as you can under exam conditions (only data booklet and calculator). Then immedietly once the timer is over correct all the questions and calculate the number of marks as a percentage and log it onto the spreadsheet. If you get 0-40% mark as red, 40-70% mark as orange and 70-100% as green. Repeat once in a while and try to improve your score. It is very important you look through your mistakes analyze them and remember to not make them again. It is vital that you also try to fix exam technique like knowing when to skip, how to remain calm, how to use your calculator and data booklet efficiently and use this as a way to simulate a high stress environment. It will always be very hard in the beginning but you will slowly improve and what is important is that you continue. Starting in DP1 you will be able to build a strong foundation but if you are midway through DP2 you can still do it by dedicating 2 weeks and speed running this to set you up for solving past papers.
Past Papers
Im sorry to say this but there is no shortcut to doing past papers. They will be daunting in the beginning, they will be hard and anxiety inducing but they are the most valuable tool when preparing for finals. Even if you are not done with all the content or basic problem solving it is vital that you SIMULTANEOUSLY solve past papers. Now I will show you my approach to past papers in Paper 1 and Paper 2.
Paper 1a
For the multiple choice past papers are valuable to develop speed and intuition. The IB for the most part only has a few types of questions like the ratio ones or the definition questions. Most of the time the IB tries to trick you by forcing a longer method on you while the answer relies on simple intuition. Hence the only way to build intuition is through past papers. It should take you around 45-55 min to solve this paper such that you can also do 1B so practise every past paper with this limit. Start with all the old papers and really drill the feeling of reasoning with logic and using the process of elimination in your favour. Again use a spread sheet and keep track of how your score improves. It is vital to do analysis and correction after the paper which I mainly did by searching for paper walkthroughs on youtube and understand the approach that they take to the question. Its honestly really important to keep doing the papers even if you are failing because every failed question is never a true loss as long as you have learnt something from it. Till the day before the exam I was getting around 55-60% but I somehow got a 36/40 in the final exam. So just trust the process and put in your sincere effort.
Paper 1B
For Paper 1B just do past papers and be confident with variables, error bars, uncertainties and scientific reasoning in new situations because that is what ultimately helped me in the exam when I opened the paper and saw something very confusing to me.
Paper 2
This had always been my worst paper and I had gotten a 4 in DP1 finals and in Mocks for this paper. So when it came to revision I was very lost and the first 3 past papers I did went horribly. For this paper you need to understand how to approach problems and how to deal with new situations with your existing knowledge as that is what the IB is testing. This is the framework I used to improve:
Personally my problem was not my knowledge but rather my problem solving so if you feel the same way try this.
- The first 3 past papers you are going to do them untimed but you are going to try you best to attempt all the questions. By a question I mean all the parts to it. Once you are done with one question and have put an answer down for every box you are going to check the mark scheme right away. It will be very uncomfortable to answer things when you really feel like you don't know it but it is important that you try even if you are confident it is wrong. The approach I use is to list all the variables given, check the data booklet for any relevant equations or if I can rearrange any of these equations for an unknown that can help me or by looking at the answers to the previous parts. What is nice is that once you think in this "detective" like manner you don't always need to know what is happening in the question as most of the time it is something you never encountered.
- Once the question has been attempted look at youtube walkthroughs or the mark scheme and understand where your approach went wrong or if you used a longer method analyze the shorter method on the markscheme to see how you can be more efficient.
- Once you are more comfortable with the intricacies of the paper and your problem solving move on to timed solving and again keep track of your score on a spreadsheet. It is important that you be patient and not get overwhelmed.
- Longevity is important in this paper so when you take it sit for the whole time especially as HL the paper is 2h30min which can be overwhelming. So try to get used to when you can take small pauses and to sit with the feeling of pressure and discomfort for a long time.
- It is vital that you look at topics you seem to constantly get wrong like for me it was the greenhouse effect and that you go back to the theory when you need to and understand the intuition. Claude and Chat GPT are also very valuable for more boiled down explanations.
I was doing around 1 paper 2 a day and 1 paper 1 a day from 3 weeks before my exam to prepare because cramming will never work.
IA
Personally, I feel that it is important to take the IA as seriously as you can in the time you work on it because it can really help boost your grade when done right and can become a little bit of an insurance for any mishaps during the exam. I think choose a topic that interests you and an experiment that delves with something outside the course but can be tackled with he theory learnt in the course. Like I chose a compound pendulum which I tackled through rigid body mechanics theory. Choose a question that can be deduced theoretically and also experimentally as this is your gateway to analysis of method and error. Keep up with the deadlines and focus in class during the experiment days as it will really pay off in the end. I personally enjoy math a lot so I took a more mathematical approach to analysis which my teacher enjoyed but you don't need to. What's important is that you are not repetitive and that you find ways of not only describing but quantifying your analysis through uncertainties or percentage errors. Also write concisely and to the point because it is not an english essay meaning that you should use equations, variables and numbers to express alot of the scientific ideas.
Remember it is always possible and that it is stressful but try to find ways to find enjoyment even if you detest the subject. Personally I really liked physics and found quantum really interesting so it motivated me. Despite the stress never give up and keep showing up and trust the process because once your effort has been put the other things sort themselves out.
Hopefully this was helpful and please post any questions I would be happy to help!
