How to improve your KS3 Physics results

Do you dread your Physics homework?  Are there Physics lessons where you haven’t understood a word of what the teacher has said?  Would you like to feel more confident in your Physics lessons?

Here we share 3 tips that will help you build your confidence and understanding in KS3 Physics.

🔢 Learn all the necessary equations

In Physics at KS3 and KS4 there are a large number of mathematical equations you need to learn and be able to use. As you get shown them, make sure you learn them now then you will be confident with them in tests as you carry on through secondary school. If the equation can be placed in a formula triangle, then learn that. We also suggest that you practise writing the equation out in different ways. For example, you need to know how to calculate speed but a question may want you to calculate the distance travelled at a specific speed, to do this you will need to rearrange the equation for distance. If you have practised this it will be easy to do. We also suggest that you have a list of equations that you add to every time you get a new one, so you have a point of reference ready for test revision.

🧲 Learn the different energy stores and transfers

We find that this topic continues to be a tricky one for students at KS3 and into KS4. So to help you, make sure you learn the 7 energy stores and example situations where they can occur. You may be given a picture and asked to identify as many as you can. Or more simply, test questions may show you different experiments and you have to name the stores. We find that if you make sure you have learnt energy transfers as well, this makes energy stores easier to understand and explain. You will then be able to identify the stores and how the energy is transferred. We recommend you learn the 7 stores and the 4 transfers separately, then practise writing sentences to link them, which will then give examples of energy transfers.

💡 How good are you at drawing circuit diagrams and force diagrams?

There are two topics that require you to draw and understand diagrams. The first is Forces, here you need to be able label forces involved in a situation. Also remember you can represent the size of the force by the size of the arrow and then to show if the force is balanced or unbalanced. The second topic is Electric Circuits. You need to learn all the different circuit symbols, be able to name them and draw them correctly in a circuit diagram. To do this correctly you need to know what each component does. Our top tip is to make sure you know how to draw a cell and a battery (as they are slightly different and often get muddled). The diagram should represent a working circuit so assume someone was going to use it to build a circuit. This will help you to see any errors you have made.

Hopefully these tips will help and make learning and revision a little easier and less stressful. For further hints and tips on different KS3 Science topics have a look around the rest of our website, join our email list and be the first to hear  as new resources are released each week.