How do I study for Paper 1?

[thecsstudent]

Since exams are approaching so soon I am really really worried about the Physics Paper 1. I usually get solid 7s in Papers 2 and 3 and for some reason I got a 5 in my mock paper 1 and have been doing pretty badly in most paper 1s. I have revised the theory many times but somehow I always get confused at MCQs. Does anyone know any effective exam/revision techniques for paper 1?

[kw0573]

About 20-30% of P1 questions are some form of rearranging equations to find some relationship between two variables. This may be as implicit as as having an electron in both a electric and magnetic field and it does not defect, what would an alpha particle with same initial velocity do. There may be no numbers given but you should still do algebraic manipulations to see that the alpha particle also does not defect. You should not guess your way through these problems. 

Other question types are plugging in values into equations, conceptual understandings, solving problems qualitatively (eg setting up FBDs) and getting values for a graph. These 70-80% are more like do you know how to use the equations and the concepts behind why they work.

 

[Physics Tutor]

See it like a game. The more you practice, the more you see underlying patterns. It's not only about the knowledge in science. As kw suggests, there are 'styles' of questions, you need to identify them. In addition, there is a 'way' to read the text of the questions. That is also something you need to figure by yourself. Just train on a good bunch of past papers, and you'll get the hang of it.