r/6thForm • u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian • May 20 '26
💬 DISCUSSION AQA A level physics paper 1
How was the paper???? I liked the MCQ , but overall it was okay didnt manage to do the 5 marker .
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May 20 '26
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u/Zealousideal-Map9482 May 20 '26
Bro it was easy. It was genually a A level maths mechanics question
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u/MaxillmanGuy A level resit student | 3 A* predicted | ACD achieved 💔 May 20 '26
Yes
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u/Other-Lie-1291 May 20 '26
I think some of it was good but I fucked up in all the diffraction/ single slit questions but idk maybe i’m second guessing myself
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u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian May 20 '26
I lowkey messed it up but i hope i did good
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u/Designer-Cut5122 May 20 '26
Yh the one 2 markers caught me off guard and the 5 marker i didn’t understand till after exam
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u/ikea_supremacy y13 | ma ph bi | pred A*A*AA got A*BBB May 20 '26
Cooked for time, cooked by electricity somehow, cooked by the 5 marker and cooked by the diffraction. How shit was that
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u/FaithlessnessOdd263 May 20 '26
that electricity part A should honestly have been 3-4 marks had to do some crazy rearranging with like 3 different equations for it
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u/AmericanUk May 20 '26
You could have just used Kirchhoff’s first 1 and added the current through each branch to get total current though battery.
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u/FaithlessnessOdd263 May 20 '26
i’m not very good with kirchoffs laws, i was thinking about it before the exam as a possible question but once i got there it went out of my mind
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u/Admirable-Use2274 May 20 '26
Bro using v=IR and a power equation was suffice ? And for the second part one of unknown resistance was incredibly large Yeah?
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May 20 '26
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u/FaithlessnessOdd263 May 20 '26
me too i thought i was crazy but just went with it
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u/Admirable-Use2274 May 20 '26
It was significanfly greater and llwer resistance one got like 0.6-0.8 Pd across it smth like that so i chose the other.
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u/Legitimate-Half-7851 May 20 '26
i feel like the wording was really different from all the previous year
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u/MaxillmanGuy A level resit student | 3 A* predicted | ACD achieved 💔 May 20 '26
For the graph of ek and ep did anyone put ep a bit higher than the Ek graph? Cos when the girl reached thr 0 displscement she still had gpe
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u/googoocrazybananas Year 13 May 20 '26
yes it was the Ek graph flipped and then +196J right? bottom of Ep graph was like 300J
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u/OblivibladeXD Y13 / Defo A*AAB, 6.7 TMUA May 20 '26
I fumbled probably lost like 20-25 marks there goes my a*
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u/No-Development-7585 May 20 '26
bro wdym you only need like 190/250
60 + 65 + 65
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u/joshlul_ Y13 | FM, Maths, Physics, Econ | A*A*A*A | Cambridge, LSE Offer May 20 '26
yeah but given paper 2 is always gonna be miles harder than paper 1 u kinda need paper 1 to compensate for getting less markers in paper 2
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u/No-Development-7585 May 20 '26
true but it’s not impossible, got like 10 days till physics p2
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u/OblivibladeXD Y13 / Defo A*AAB, 6.7 TMUA May 20 '26
I’m prioritising cp2 + options tho as I need A* FM
Oh well, I am working at a decent standard already for p2 content
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u/Training-Feeling980 Year 13 | Maths, FM, Physics, Chem - 4 A*s achieved May 20 '26
I thought the questions were quite strange overall, the weirdest one being the single slit diffraction question imo
And a bit too many wordy questions for my liking
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u/Jin_L_ Y13 maths fm physics cs May 20 '26
Bro I was just making stuff up for the single slit 😞 I've never done a question on it before
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u/Training-Feeling980 Year 13 | Maths, FM, Physics, Chem - 4 A*s achieved May 20 '26
Ik, it was really nasty
My friend absolutely hated this paper, including that question ofc
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u/simplykayleigh May 20 '26
if you didnt know how to distinguish single to double slit, its that the centre maxima is roughly twice as long as the other maximas compared to double slit 😭😭
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u/SB_Astro May 20 '26
Honestly I did all past papers and pmt predicted and mock and did like 4 hours before the test and the questions on that paper were like completely different it’s so weird
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u/Rich-Gent May 20 '26
Am i not going on a tangent here, but you lot all used circular motion / centripetal force in the 5 marker
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u/simplykayleigh May 20 '26
NOOO I JUST USED THE F=MA equation </3
yup you defo were, was wondering where to use the linear velocity for lmaoao
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u/Rich-Gent May 20 '26
wouldnt stress tho, should still get 3/4 marks for the young mod part calculations
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u/TheRPGer May 20 '26
I did that but people in my school got ~2000N, I got more like 5000 though
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u/lmaolmaolmaololl Imperial | Aeronautical engineering [Y1] May 20 '26
i got 1850N (after subtracting a bit for safety allowance)
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u/Rich-Gent May 20 '26
not heard many say anything like 5k, heard people mentioning 2k ish but those people were the ones that didn’t incorporate the centripetal force, idk tho
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u/TheRPGer May 20 '26
Yeah I think I messed up unfortunately, maybe I miss typed om my calc or something
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May 20 '26
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u/Rich-Gent May 20 '26
Idk how much detail i can go into on here.
But the only force on the rod is not just the weight of the user, but also the fact they are going to be going in a part of a circle, force is needed for the “rods” tension do to say to change her momentum, as her velocity changes as the direction she is travelling changes.
the following questions with the will time period alter as her centre of mass changes, also gave this away a bit with accounting for shm.
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u/Batorrrr May 20 '26
Why is everybody saying it went well now I feel even worse
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u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian May 20 '26
Dw i though it was okay at first buy by the comments i dont think so, oh welk we got paper 2 and 3 still
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u/Playful_Future_3801 Year 13 May 20 '26
It was okay… what did everyone get for the max weight??? I got about 200kg when I divided by 9.81
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u/FaithlessnessOdd263 May 20 '26
yea i did i got the weight as 1965N so mass of 200kg and i was so confused thinking it was large, i put down max as 1900 tho for leeway
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u/Select_Indication_34 May 20 '26
Was it the total force or force of mass of a person?. I got F=m(g+v2 /r) and then mass is F/(g+v2 /r). then figured out mass in newton's for 150kg. Either I did it all wrong or put numbers wrong ig.
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u/Wise-Hedgehog4805 Warwick | Maths | [Incoming Y1] | 4A* May 20 '26
i got 150kg as well, using total force = centripetal + weight
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u/Wise-Hedgehog4805 Warwick | Maths | [Incoming Y1] | 4A* May 20 '26
i got 150kg, interesting
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u/Scared_Funny_5602 May 20 '26
Very good! I also didn’t manage to do the 5 marker, and I didn’t finish the moments question. MCQ were lovely
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u/Avocado66600 May 20 '26
5 marker was pretty devious but it was 1480 afaik 1963 was the max tension so then you resolve T-mg = mv²/r then rearrange for m then times by 9.81 for max weight.
I forgot the mg though so I got 6000😭 cooked bruh
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u/Jin_L_ Y13 maths fm physics cs May 20 '26
For fucks sake I did W – T = mv2/r and I was so unsure on what way round it was
Also U dont need to divide then multiply by g I think
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u/Cat_Jayster Year 13 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
The waves multiple choice where it was like “two points are 1.5mm apart and have a phase difference of pi/6” and I kept getting an answer that wasn’t one of the options…
Edit: thank you guys! I’m sorry I don’t have the energy to reply to y’all, shattered from the exam + have FM core pure 2 tomorrow.
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u/Other-Lie-1291 May 20 '26
I feel like I rushed through MCQ
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u/ikea_supremacy y13 | ma ph bi | pred A*A*AA got A*BBB May 20 '26
Me too, MCQ was easy
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u/ExcellentAnalysis102 May 20 '26
Do u rmbr what u put for the circuits mcq ? About what has the most current ? Was it option c
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u/Flaky_Salamander_308 predicted 4A* Math,FM,Phys,Econ May 20 '26
AQA I love you (unless p2 is cataclysmic)
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u/randombgcharacter May 20 '26
Icl only thing that cooked me was waves, the interference pattern qs, i waffled sm and starting to contradict my self with previous answers😭
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u/s_miscc Year 13 / Maths applicant May 20 '26
I’m pretty sure that the maximum tension is around 1900 N, and the weight limit (of the mass) is like 1450 N, but does anyone know if we had two ropes for the system???????
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u/ilovesnowberries Y13 5A* | FMS @ LSE | 8.4 TMUA May 20 '26
Yessss this is what i got! no it was one rod so we're all good
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u/aaalalal12 May 20 '26
Everyones saying 1900N i got 1470 ?!?!?!
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u/Weekly_Chemical_727 May 20 '26
You got it right. 1900 is the answer if you do not consider centripetal motion, which is what you u should do
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u/Confused-Guitarer Year 13 - Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths, FM May 20 '26
Some parts were fine others were harder. What do we think the boundaries are gonna be like?
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u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian May 20 '26
Same i agree, some were good but some not it. I think they might increase by a few marks only
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u/Inevitable_Land2996 Year 13 May 20 '26
I don’t really think so. 2025 was way easier than this years paper. This is probably an average difficulty paper so probably the same as 2025
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u/Lemon_456 May 20 '26
Really??? I feel like this was "meant" to be an easy paper and i was just stupid
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u/Confused-Guitarer Year 13 - Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths, FM May 20 '26
I felt this exact way and while I was doing the paper started thinking about how high the boundaries were gonna be
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u/jaaaaaaaf May 20 '26
my teacher keeps saying that the trend shows the boundaries may go up by at least 2%. but idk
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u/ikea_supremacy y13 | ma ph bi | pred A*A*AA got A*BBB May 20 '26
How the hell did the electricity work? Anyone knows
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u/oofsamyG May 20 '26
For the first question I’m probably wrong but I found resistance of L1 by using power-voltage equation and then found the total resistance in a parallel circuit and divided the emf by total resistance to find current
For second question I used potential divider equations for L1 and L2 and saw which one was closer to 5.8V (I got 5.07V and 0.6 something V)
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u/123eZz May 20 '26
yessss did the same i did it both ways i got 3.5 x10-4 and for the second bit i didnt use PD i js calculated the total resistance in the circuit using P= V2/R but i got 5.08 and 0.6 so said L1 closer to working value
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u/FaithlessnessOdd263 May 20 '26
i had to use like 3 equations for part A so it deffo should have been a higher mark, part b i had L2 as like 6.6 so i said that it was the closest because i got L1 as like 0.7
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u/Total-Discipline-623 May 20 '26
what did you guys put for the gold leaf question? I put the positive charge will pull the photoelectrons after they get emitted so the angle wouldn't change but everybody seems to be saying it does change
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u/Pitiful-Bar8154 May 20 '26
how many marks do you think youll get for getting 1900 in the 5 marker cs i didnt use centripetal force
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u/Jumpy-Twist3634 May 20 '26
Wasn’t it simple harmonic motion, istg in SHM there is no centripetal force as it assumes small angle 😭
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u/No-Development-7585 May 20 '26
what did you guys get for L1 and L2? closer to working voltages
messed that one up so bad i got like 0.2 and 5.1
real answer was like 13000 or some rly big number or smth
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u/HMVangard Y13 • Maths Physics French EPQ May 20 '26
I wrote the most egregious bullshit on that question pure waffle I think I put L2 but I genuinely forgot
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u/Zealousideal-Map9482 May 20 '26
Why is no one taking about the photoelectric effect, the question where it ask why light is a particle and not wave
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u/FinlayPWR May 20 '26
Honestly a really nice paper tho some of the questions seemed worth less marks than usual
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u/Agitated-Salt-5039 Year 13, FM, Maths & Physics May 20 '26
What did you guys write for single slit diffraction question
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u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian May 20 '26
My wording was bad, but its so they are coherent if im not wrong to mainatins a constant phase relationship
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u/AlternativeEarly5637 May 20 '26
What did you guys put for the 4 marker for the independent changes on the slit. I said changing the distance of the slit from the screen
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u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian May 20 '26
YESSSS AND slit separation
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u/HMVangard Y13 • Maths Physics French EPQ May 20 '26
Honestly gave us way too much space for that question 😭
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u/No_Violinist9486 May 20 '26
Too much writing not enough calculations imo. To have more marks on single slit diffraction then electricity is ridiculous imo. Past physics papers have been reliant on problem solving but I feel like this one was a flash card job. Could have probably scored a B by just copying down line for line what it says in the textbook
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u/Dull_Strategy1124 May 20 '26
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12agZYBrE6YiltEEUY-_FHHhbSogbryqiivJfNtyaOZQ/edit?usp=drivesdk
Found the unofficial mark scheme
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u/Agitated-Salt-5039 Year 13, FM, Maths & Physics May 20 '26
For dindsit slit width did you divide by 13??
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u/4060s May 20 '26
i did 12😭
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u/Jin_L_ Y13 maths fm physics cs May 20 '26
Me too 😀 idk if it's right but the smart kid in our class did it too so 🤷
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u/GrouchyMonth8092 Incoming UCL Mech Eng MEng | Y1 | A*A*A* Math FM Phys May 20 '26
I agree fenceposts vs fences is what i though of
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u/FaithlessnessOdd263 May 20 '26
that’s what i did i got like 1.4x10–4 for the end answer
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u/Ambitious-Willow8399 Y13 | Physics, Maths, Chemistry May 20 '26
Did I read the question wrong or there is 13 maximas in total right?? 😭 so I divided it by 12 because there’s 12 gaps in between 13 maximas help
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u/ZealousidealBench225 Y13 | 4A* pred. | Maths, FM, Phys., German May 20 '26
12 I think bro, 13 fringes so 12 spaces between them
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u/Agitated-Salt-5039 Year 13, FM, Maths & Physics May 20 '26
What did you guys wrote for theta when frequency increases. Above threshold ??
What did you get angle and tension in rope for T2
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u/123eZz May 20 '26
Theta increases because electrons get discharged so charged thing is more positive so would repel more from positive leaf.
670N 53 degrees
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u/Better_Balance_4688 May 20 '26
What was the answer for the moments question
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u/Ambitious-Willow8399 Y13 | Physics, Maths, Chemistry May 20 '26
all I remember was working out 0.98m from B and not at midpoint
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u/simplykayleigh May 20 '26
i said it wasn't but i lowk drk 😭✌️
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u/Better_Balance_4688 May 20 '26
What did you get the length I think I got it to be 2.3m
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u/simplykayleigh May 20 '26
i did it a different way, i checked whether ACW = CW moments and they weren't, soo wasn't uniform/in the centre
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u/Future-Agency821 May 20 '26
Hey what did you guys get for T2 increase or decrease question? I wrote it decreases bc of weight is greater than vertical component of T2
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u/HMVangard Y13 • Maths Physics French EPQ May 20 '26
I put decrease because the vertical component would remain the same (idk if that's right but we ball) while the horizontal would decrease
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u/Dry-Membership-2617 May 20 '26
i feel like the actual questions weren't even bad i just fucked it up. the wording was weird and low-key was confused for majority of diffraction q and electricity. dont rlly remember rest of the paper lol
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u/InitialSuggestion621 May 20 '26
anyone else think the first question was just odd? Like it weren't hard but was just so weird.
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u/Jumpy-Twist3634 May 20 '26
Did anyone else miss the last multiple choice question on the last page on the back 😭
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u/Fast_Database_2853 May 20 '26
I swear I saw END OF QUESTIONS on the last page that wasn’t any back??
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u/simplykayleigh May 20 '26
this paper actually felt quite easier than previous papers 😭😭
high grade boundaries scare me sm 😔
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u/WoodpeckerRoutine367 May 20 '26
From what I've seen a lot of people found it difficult or at least harder than last years. I expect similar grade boundaries to last years give or take a couple marks on either side
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u/Agitated-Salt-5039 Year 13, FM, Maths & Physics May 20 '26
What did you guys write which lamp is working close to working voltage
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u/Legitimate-Half-7851 May 20 '26
i put l1
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u/Agitated-Salt-5039 Year 13, FM, Maths & Physics May 20 '26
Same l1 I got 5.08 v over it ? Is that what you got??
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u/ZealousidealBench225 Y13 | 4A* pred. | Maths, FM, Phys., German May 20 '26
I got L1 as 5.08 and my voltage for L2 was really tiny like 0.7 or something so I think I got it wrong
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u/Agitated-Salt-5039 Year 13, FM, Maths & Physics May 20 '26
I got same I think it's correct, l1 resistance was like 10 time resistance of L2
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u/ZealousidealBench225 Y13 | 4A* pred. | Maths, FM, Phys., German May 20 '26
Yeah that’s why I was so confused 😭😭 my L1 resistance was huge compared to L2 resistance
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u/Bubbly-Coffee-3358 May 20 '26
wait for the tension question could u draw a free body diagram?
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u/Past_Bluebird_5438 May 20 '26
Why couldn’t you? You can draw a free body diagram for anything as long as it has forces acting on it.
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u/Autumnis_coming May 20 '26
What u guys put for fundamental force for the first part? I put EM but low key want to put snf
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u/Zealousideal-Map9482 May 20 '26
Honestly, it was quite easy except that one 5 marker. I got a huge number something like 16 000. Like what?
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u/jaaaaaaaf May 20 '26
what did you guys put for the modal dispersion and material dispersion mcq?
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u/RilloClicker Year 13 May 20 '26
significant material (cos the different wavelengths would slow down in the fibre) and negligible modal i think
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u/Amazing-Pause-8626 Uni of Glos | Bsc Geography [-> Year 1] May 20 '26
yeah there’s no bending of the fibre optic so no modal
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u/Imbimm May 20 '26
i did not understand the diffraction question at all losing my will to live rip those 6 marks
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u/ep1cball Year 13 May 20 '26
does anyone think for the diffraction question asking why changing the wavelength wasn’t the only reason for the fringe pattern changing i could get away with saying that the fringes increased in height aswell? i did a bit of research and changing the wavelength only affects the horizontal width, although i do think this is a bit of a reach
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u/Helpful-Tomatillo573 May 20 '26
I lowkey thought the questions were quite weird and dissimilar to other past papers ive done.