In Paper 1, students are assessed on topics 1 to 4. These are Energy, Electricity, Particle Model of Matter and Atomic Structure.
Students are given an equation sheet with 12 equations. These are the equations for: – Pressure in a column of liquid – The constant acceleration equation –Force and change in momentum – Elastic potential energy – Change in thermal energy – Wave frequency and period – Magnification – Force on a conductor in a magnetic field – Thermal energy for a change of state – The transformer equation – Power in coils of a transformer – Boyle’s law for an ideal gas
Students are expected to be able to recall equations for: – Speed – Acceleration – Newton’s second law – Weight – Density – Hooke’s Law – Moments – Momentum – Kinetic energy – Gravitational potential energy – Work done – Efficiency – Power – Pressure – Wave speed – Current and charge – Energy and charge – Ohm’s law – Electrical power
Students can only access a grade 9 in AQA GCSE Physics by sitting the higher tier papers. Questions are split into standard demand and high demand - the latter is aimed at grades 8 and 9. 30% of the marks in GCSE physics test mathematical skills, so to achieve a grade 9 students must be confident with multi-step calculations. 40% of the questions are application questions, so in addition to having a knowledge of the necessary scientific principles, students must be comfortable using their knowledge in new scenarios. The best way to practice these skills is to answer as many exam-style questions as possible and get a feel for AQA’s mark schemes and question styles.
While AQA GCSE Physics and Edexcel GCSE Physics have a lot of similarities, they are different courses run by different exam boards. Your school will choose which course its students take. Most topics are the same but taught in a different order, and the differences are very subtle. For example, AQA says that gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg while Edexcel says it is 10 N/kg. The resources at Save My Exams are course-specific so you can be confident you are learning the right content for the course you are studying!
There are 8 topics in AQA GCSE Physics, but the last one (Space Physics) is only for students taking GCSE Physics as opposed to Combined Science. For a full list of all the topics and sub-topics in the AQA GCSE Physics course, check out our revision notes.