Exams

[Alice 26]

I will be taking my GCSE's in a few weeks and am having real trouble remembering all the equations and formulas. Does anyone have any good ways of remembering them?

[NetSquirrel]

Equations can be hard to remember because, at first, they appear to be meaningless sequences of numbers and letters.  When you fully understand what an equation is saying then it becomes easy to remember, like remembering your address.

Understanding equations can seem difficult unless you know where to start.  Try to deduce how an equation was thought up in the first place.  For example, if you want to learn F=ma you might think: "In free space, how would a constant force acting on an object affect the object's speed?"

Break the problem into smaller parts (always a good start):

1. Exerting a force on (i.e. pushing) an object will change its velocity.

2. Because a constant force is being applied in the same direction, a constant increase in speed will result, i.e. the force accelerates the object.

3. Surmise that an object of double the mass will require double the force in order to accelerate at the same rate.  Put another way, an object of double the mass pushed by the same force will accelerate at half the rate.

4. Collect together all deductions:

� Acceleration is proportional to force.
� Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass.

5. Assemble these into an equation:

� a ∝ F
� a ∝ 1/m
So a ∝ F/m
or F ∝ ma

So F is proportional to ma - this is the answer.  Furthermore, because standard units were used to express the equation(kilograms, newtons etc.), the "proportional to" can be replaced with "equal to" giving F=ma.

Ok, I have probably explained this in the worst way possible, but do try this for yourself on your equations.  Something you understand often sticks in the memory far better than something that makes no sense.  And good luck with your exams!

[acw]

Alice,

Have you checked with your teachers about formula sheets?  Make sure you know which ones you will be given, and just focus on the rest!

I learnt many formulas by triangles.  I hope the formatting will let me demonstrate here:

 

F

M                  A

Then you cover up the one you want, and you know how to work out the rest.  If you want A, it's F divided by M or F/M. 

 

Otherwise I can only recommend the old technique of sticking them on bits of paper around the house.  I think you will find visual learning better here (so sleeping with a tape/CD/mini disk of your reivison notes playing won't help).  I remember I wrote equations out on paper, put the paper inside those clear plastic pocket things and stuck them to the tiles in my shower so I would see the equations every day as I washed my hair!!!

 

Good luck!!!!  I'm sure you'll do really well! :-)

[magicdice]

arrange them so there are no divide signs (so instead of R = V/I, do V=IR) and learnt the half-word it almost makes (ditto the reactivity series - none of this long-winded making-a-story-out-of-the-first-letters business, just write down the chemical symbols of the ones you need to know & try to pronounce it. it sounds stupid, but it really does help remember it)

also, try writing things on brightly-coloured post-its and sticking them places that you look at a lot - i still do this & have a load of pink post-its round my mirror, although acw's shower idea is inspired! - and recite each formula before you look in the mirror or whatever. just remember what everything stands for.

knowing how to get from the formulae you are given to the ones you need to know helps, as well. as does knowing base units of quantities & definitions of things.

alternatively, you could draw a "map" of sorts, with all your variables linked to one another. whatever works best for you. good luck with your exams!

[flashpig]

From what I remember you are given most of the equations in the back of the exam papers.

[newtron]

There are obviously many different ways to memorize equations, but I think NetSquirrel's advice is the best.  Having a basic understanding of the equations makes it much easier to remember them.  If you know the units of each of the terms and understand  how the most basic equations work, then you can easily derive  other equations from them.  To check to see if your equation is correct always check to see if your units work out.  For example, for F=ma, mass x acceleration correlates to Kg(m/s�), which is a newton (N), a unit of force.  If the units don't work out, then something is wrong.  Good luck!

[Lillabet]

There are many good tips given already. So I'm giving you a negative one. Someone is bound to suggest recording your notes and playing them back to yourself when sleeping. There are many good ways to learn. Listening to such a recording whilst awake would be one. Learning whilst unconscious is not effective. At bedtime just sleep. You need to be well rested for exams and such a tape is more likely to disrupt your sleep than to improve performance.

[magicdice]

it's more the recording of such a tape than listening to it that helps. i did this with my french & german oral exams, repeating the answers to the questions enough times to fill the tape really helps get them in your head. even if you never actually listen to the tapes.

[ck1]

What I always used to do was make a list of all the equations and assign a number to each one. When learning the equations make sure you know which number is assigned to each equation, so when you hear number 12 for example you will instantly know which equation that relates to, its just like somebody telling you the start of the equation and you just have to finish ot off but you are never going to forget your numbers its quite fool proof. Also, you will know exactly how many equations you are supposed to know so the chance of forgetting one is much smaller - and if you do forget one you will know which one it is, does this make any sense...?

[magicdice]

as a last resort, you can always just write them all down as soon as you step into the exam - that way, you don't need to worry about remembering them all quite so much. it's very relieving to know that once you've written them down, you don't have to concentrate on recalling them

[(2^2)n3!]

Memorise the worked solution to a typical question on each topic.