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Physics HL - new syllabus


Eydie

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I've heard from a science teacher at my school that the new syllabus which is used for the year 11s this year, made physics HL an extremely long course. She even said that it's so long it's literally impossible to finish teaching every topic before the exam.

Does this 'new syllabus' exist?

If it's true, can someone who's doing physics or know someone who do tell me a bit about the difficulty?

(I know it's definitely one of the hardest subjects and am willing to work hard, but is it really that bad?)

Edited by Eydie
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Here's the syllabus. The first exam governed by this was in May, I'm thinking. That wouldn't exactly make it a brand new syllabus if your teacher was using it for the Nov09 and Nov2010 candidates, but 'new' is fairly relative. ehh

Anyways, some teachers can cover the same amount of material more quickly than other teachers. The IB guides teachers on how many hours to spend on each topic, but I've seen two styles of teaching that I think are relevant to your case. My physics teacher last year told us at the beginning of the year that he had a certain amount of material to cover and planned his time very carefully. He would not be going slower even if people didn't understand the material. If they needed extra help, that was their responsibility. And it's not like he didn't provide resources--he was just frank. [it wasn't an IB class, but it had, I would guess, the same amount of material that the HL core has, plus one option. It was a one year class] My biology teacher is some kind of miracle. He spends 20-30 minutes just talking about why he selected a picture on his notes on the first day of the unit, and we just take notes at a steady/slow pace. And we ask as many questions as we want, often getting off topic. Then on the day before the test, he covers over 1/3 of the material when we spend a week or whatever covering the other 2/3 of it. [that's Bio HL for me, and it's a 2 year course]

Anyways, if your teacher is overwhelmed, that's a really bad sign. Really bad. So you have to be on your toes and willing to work in there, which you said you are. What I'd do is ask your teacher [nicely!] what her plan is. Which topics does she think she isn't going to cover? The physics I've taken is comparable to HL, so work with me here. It's difficult. Some of the labs are kinda dumb. The material requires a lot of reading plus a lot of comprehension plus a lot of application. It's asking quite a bit from you. What I say is if you're interested and excited, even, it should be worth it. I found I bonded more with peers in my hardest classes. We did it together, after all. There are going to be some really low points, but you have to figure out if the end [and I don't mean the diploma... I mean finishing that class and getting the best score you can on the exam] is worth the troubles. You can build stamina taking other courses, and you can certainly get the IB credit with other courses.

Some find physics really easy. They're naturals. Others struggle more. From my experience, you can find satisfaction either way. I feel like I'm a bio person, but I have to work really hard in physics. I love both nonetheless. And I get to do really cool labs in physics. Especially angular momentum and electromagnetism! Biology.. yay microscopes :D

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Thanks heaps sweetnsimple! Extremely helpful and reassuring.

There's no one in this year's Yr 12 chose to do HL physics so i think that's why the teachers have no real experience about teaching it.

However luckily there are at least three girls who will do HL in the Year above me so I can see how they go before i choose to do it HL at the end of Yr 11. : )

I agree that the teacher make a huge difference. And, luckily again, I'll have my favourite teacher to teach physics next year! I had him this year and he's super organised + nice.

I chose to do both physics and chem coz i love science subjects - but i had to give up theatre art for chem... anyway glad you're enjoying the sciences!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Physics HL's new syllabus involves topics like Climate Change and Digital Technology.

It is quite simply one of the hardest subject in IB. The portions are huge but with a good teacher I am sure you can complete the syllabus comfortably. In fact I am taking the May Exam and our portions are already complete. So now we are doinf 2 more options just as a safegaurd apart from the the two options that we are required to do. in the exam ill have a choice to take whichever potion I want to write :D

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Guest IBsucksdonkeydick

Physics HL's new syllabus involves topics like Climate Change and Digital Technology.

It is quite simply one of the hardest subject in IB. The portions are huge but with a good teacher I am sure you can complete the syllabus comfortably. In fact I am taking the May Exam and our portions are already complete. So now we are doinf 2 more options just as a safegaurd apart from the the two options that we are required to do. in the exam ill have a choice to take whichever potion I want to write :D

yeah i'm an IB Physics HL student and my physics guide says that topic 8 is energy, power and climate change and topic 14 is digital technology for first examinations 2009

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  • 2 weeks later...

Physics HL's new syllabus involves topics like Climate Change and Digital Technology.

It is quite simply one of the hardest subject in IB. The portions are huge but with a good teacher I am sure you can complete the syllabus comfortably. In fact I am taking the May Exam and our portions are already complete. So now we are doinf 2 more options just as a safegaurd apart from the the two options that we are required to do. in the exam ill have a choice to take whichever potion I want to write :S

yeah i'm an IB Physics HL student and my physics guide says that topic 8 is energy, power and climate change and topic 14 is digital technology for first examinations 2009

Yup, energy, power and climate change. The syllabus also says that it should only take about eight hours though so it should be alrightttttt

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  • 2 months later...

is new syllabus difficult then the old 1??

Depending on which one you mean old, but the one we are doing now has its first exam in 2009, which is what I take as the new one. My teacher says that it is longer than the old one. The volume has increased but not necessarily the difficulty. It's definitely one of the hardest subjects (or the hardest from my perspective), but the content is really interesting. If you like physics and have a good teacher than it would still be enjoyable.

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