Need advice(Physics, prac)

[Kandinsky]

Hi,

Again, I need help =) To all those, who underwent practical paper... Are there a lot of students that request help from invigilators, and is this help really beneficial? I mean, if one does not know how to install an apparatus, is it better to ask an invigilator? And will it affect the overall A-level mark considerably?

Thanks

 

[leosco1995]

Hi,

Again, I need help =) To all those, who underwent practical paper... Are there a lot of students that request help from invigilators, and is this help really beneficial? I mean, if one does not know how to install an apparatus, is it better to ask an invigilator? And will it affect the overall A-level mark considerably?

Thanks

If you are unable to set up the apparatus, and have attempted to spend over 30 minutes trying to do so, ask a supervisor for help. You will lose only 1 mark for minor help. Yes, only 1 mark. If you need major help (i.e. asking the supervisor to set up the apparatus entirely from scratch), you'll lose only 2 marks. That is hardly anything. I'm not sure how many people ask their supervisor for help but it's not a major loss so don't worry about it. You sacrifice 3-5% of the total paper percentage but at least you'll get correct readings. Keep in mind there's very little marks for the actual values you obtain. Most of the marks are from setting up a proper table, writing correct units, noting answers to a suitable number of s.f, suggesting ways to improve the experiment and so on.

I think you can only request help in question 1, but I'm not entirely sure. But either way, I strongly suggest you do what I say - only ask for help if 20-30 minutes have passed and you still can't set up the apparatus. Don't worry about losing marks. You only lose 1 or 2. More weightage is given to other things in the practical. In the entirety of the physics paper, losing 1-2 marks isn't a big deal.