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This page will help you to support your ability to work through numerical questions.
This page will help you to support your ability to work through numerical questions.
Most questions will need you to convert some units, rearrange an equation and then present the answer in the right way.
This page has been split up into sections to support each of these steps.
Need More?
Need More?
We recommend the Maths for Physics Youtube playlist by Physics Online.
They cover everything you could possibly need!
- Converting Units + Prefixes:
Prefixes are the word that goes infront of a unit. It is a written shortcut to save you writing lots of zeros. For example km (kilometer) means 1000 meters.
You need to know what the symbols mean and how to convert between them.
What Prefixes Mean
How to use Prefixes
2. Rearranging Equations
2. Rearranging Equations
Rearranging and equation (once you have chosen the one you need from the formula sheet) is essential if you want to find the quantity being asked for.
There are 2 ways to rearrange equations: with and without using a triangle. Use the method that you feel most comfortable with.
How to rearrange equations
How to use the triangle method
If you feel confident to answer a question, use this step-by-step guide and video to learn how to present your answers.
Remember: showing your method is rewarded by the examiner, even if you get the wrong final answer.
GUESS: Given and Unknown (values in the question), Equation (select one), Substitute (put the values into the equation), Solve (use a calculator).
Using the GUESS Method
COMMON Model Ans using Guess.pdfStep-By-Step Guide
Numerical questions follow these rules:
3 marks = rearrange + give the answer
4 or 5 marks = same as 3 marks + unit convertion and need to give answer to correct sig figs
6 marks = rearrange and use 2 different equations
Use the Upskilling presentation and then the video to work up the difficulty levels to a 6 marker!
These questions are worth trying!
Solving multi-step Questions
3. Significant Figures
3. Significant Figures
When a questions asks you to give your answer to a specific number of significant figures, it wants to you only write down the digits that are meaningful.
These videos expain how to achieve this!
Grade 5-6
Grade 6-7
(Grade 8-9)
These videos expain how to apply what you can now do to Physics questions.
The button below take you to a website where you are given numbers and you need to work out what the number of sig figs are:
Sig Figs and Motion Equations
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