General advice and information
In year 12, you will have nine lessons of physics each fortnight: 3 with me, and 6 with Mr. Taylor. In common with your other AS subjects, you should expect to spend about an hour of out-of-class time on academic work for each lesson of material covered in class.
Physics is best learned (and revised) by doing problems, making your own notes about the material, reading around the topics, and thinking about the physics carefully. You will need to work independently at home, doing all of these things, in order to be successful.
You will work mainly on A4 file paper, and so you will need a ring binder (the lever arch type are best) to keep all your work in. There is no need to bring this to every lesson - it is probably worth getting some kind of A4 document wallet to transport a few sheets to and from home in your bag without their getting dog-eared - but I shall want to see the notes you are keeping from time to time, and shall let you know when to bring your files in.
For each lesson, I expect you to print off and read the notes in advance from the course E:HEBER site, fill in any gaps during the lesson, making any additional annotations in the margins, and write up your own version in neat in your files (you will find it is much more effective to write your own version of the notes rather than just filling and filing). Be prepared to think, take part and answer questions in lesson time, too! Every few weeks, there will also be a practical which will have to be written up in neat; you will get more guidance on how to do this at the time.
Once a fortnight, I shall take in some work for marking, and this is when I might have a brief look at your notes from the previous week. You should be doing much more than just the compulsory work, though, attempting extra questions from the textbook in addition to those which we do in class or for marked homework. If you have difficulties or need help on any problems which you try, I am happy to give assistance in my office hours (see below).
Finally, it is your responsibility to take charge of your own learning in the sixth form, from deciding when to complete your studies, to seeking extra help when you need it. I shall make myself available each week for office hours, and you can come to discuss any problems you may have with the course (even the homework problems - this is NOT cheating). Please take advantage of this opportunity if you have any difficulty in understanding something, and don't leave it until the week before the examinations!
I hope you enjoy AS physics.
