Thinking about doing HSC Physics but have some questions on your mind?
Read through the most frequently asked question about HSC Physics to see if its for you!
Let’s get straight into it!
Q1. How does HSC Physics Scale?
Q2. Is HSC Physics harder or easier than HSC Chemistry or HSC Biology?
Q3. What will the exams be like?
Q4. Is Physics helpful for my Career Pathway?
Q5. How much time will I need to commit to Physics?
Q1. How does HSC Physics Scale?
Before I tell you the answer to this one, let me stress the importance of picking subjects you like! If you pick subjects you like you’ll perform a lot better!
There’s no point doing a subject you don’t like and doing poorly.
Scaling doesn’t turn a terrible mark into a good mark, that’s now how it works.
With that said, the answer is yes! HSC Physics absolutely scales well.
UAC publishes a lot of data about previous HSC results, you can find trends about scaling and percentiles in their data. You can really learn a lot, about the whole process.
Click here to read the scaling data from the 2018 HSC, it’s super long and detailed! Once again, you should be studying, don’t waste your time concerning yourself about scaling!
If we look at the distributions of scaled marks by course from the 2017 and 2018 HSC, some interesting results emerge.
Physics is the second best scaling subject in the sciences. In descending order of scaling the sciences are: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, Senior Science.
Q2. Is HSC Physics harder or easier than HSC Chemistry or HSC Biology?
If we go straight off how the subjects scale, one would anticipate that Chemistry is harder than Physics, which is harder than Biology and so on…
I on the other hand, couldn’t disagree with this approach more! It absolutely depends on you!
What makes a subject difficult isn’t some inherent quality that’s common to all! It really depends from person to person.
I personally found Physics way easier than Chemistry, whilst a friend of mine found Chemistry way easier than Physics.
What I can tell you is Physics is all linked together, the content sort of flows together making it easy to memorise. Chemistry is not like this you do a lot of topics, covering specific niches of chemistry.
If HSC Physics is being completely honest with itself, it’s not a traditional science course either, you have to answer a lot of questions relating to politics and society. There is some of this in Chemistry but less so.
Q3. What will the exams be like?
The HSC Physics exam is difficult to be surprised by, like all HSC courses it is driven strongly by a very specific syllabus.
If you master the syllabus, you’ll know exactly the sort of things you’re going to be asked in the exam!
For some more info on how to master the HSC Physics syllabus, check out our article on it here!
If you don’t prepare, and you just continue to wing it, then it will be just as difficult as any other exam, as always practice makes perfect.
Q4. Is Physics helpful for my Career Pathway?
HSC Physics is just a great course for life.
It teaches you about the world around you, so arguably it’s relevant to any degree!
You may find some of the content particularly useful in Engineering degrees, or of course a Physics degree.
If you’re considering a STEM pathway, HSC Physics should definitely be on your radar.
For some more info on picking the right science subject in Year 11 to pursue a STEM degree, check out our article on it here!
Q5. How much time will I need to commit to Physics?
The time commitment for HSC Physics I’d say is one of the lowest out of the three major sciences.
Unlike Chemistry, you never go into very specific detail for anything, and so the level of memorisation is just not on the same level as Chemistry.
I’d say the same in comparison to Biology, there is less content to memorise in HSC Physics so you may find this advantageous.
That being said, since questions are really wordy in HSC Physics, you’ll be writing a lot of paragraph responses.
It’s almost like an English course, the amount of writing you have to do to answer questions successfully, is significant.
Looking for some extra help with HSC Physics?
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We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby!
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Vamsi Srinivasan is looking to uncover the next hidden truth of the universe. He was fascinated by the beauty of Physics and Mathematics during his HSC. Now, he’s in his third year of a dual degree in Physics/Computer Science. Vamsi wanted to share his passion for Maths and Physics and has been an Art of Smart coach for the past 3 years. He coaches students in Physics as well as all ranges of HSC Maths from General to Extension 2. In his spare time you can find him watching Tennis or listening to his favourite podcast ‘Hello Internet’.
