ahsanxr

So I've been self-studying for the Physics SAT II test. I've done all 7 mechanics chapters which covers about 36-42% of the questions on the test. Which other topics can I do in the two weeks left, properly so that I can cover at least 80% of the questions and get a final score above 720? I'd consider that a good achievement since this is the first time I'm studying Physics.

I read some of Electric Forces and Fields but I did not get it since it was talking about stuff like protons, nuetrons etc which I don't know squat about. What others should I do? Waves? Optics? Thermodynamics?

mp22

Mechanics covers 36-42% of the test
Electricity and Magnetism cover 18-24% of the test
Waves cover 15-19% of the test

These 3 will cover around 80% of the test.
For a score higher than 720 i would study all of the above and at least read once
what I wrote bellow.

Heat, Kinetic Theory, and Thermodynamics 6-11
Modern Physics 6-11
Miscellaneous (measurement, math skills, laboratory skills, history of physics, and questions of a general nature that overlap several major topics) 4-9

ahsanxr

Lol, that basically covers the whole content of the test :P

Anyway, I've been doing Heat, Kinetic Theory and Thermodynamics for the past 2 days. Not bad.

Gonna start Electricity and Magnetism today or tomorrow and try to end it within the next 5-6 days. Possible or not?

F-13

Optics is relatively easy. Not a lot of formulas or information, and it's easy to understand. Waves are easy too, and relate to other fields, but you need to pay more attention to those.

Thermodynamics is problematic. The arithmatic (WITHOUT A CALCULATOR!!!! :@ :@ ), is plain annoying. Skip if you have to, but don't blame me if a lot of it comes on the test.

As for others, pay attention to Mechanics and Electronics, and skim the Quantum and Nuclear Physics, and you're made!!!! (hopefully)

ahsanxr

^ Fortunately I've done Thermodynamics and found it relatively easy. I got 9 out of 10 questions I did afterward correct, but I did use a calculator.

So far I've done all Mechanics and Thermodynamics (42-50% of the test). Will doing Electricity and Magnetism, Waves and Optics and doing them well i.e not cramming but understanding properly suffice for a score above 720?

ido.potter

If you can get your hands on Princeton's physics book you can cover most of the test in two weeks (it took me 3 weeks to cover all the book) I got 740 with it

ahsanxr

Yes, that's the book I've been using since the beginning. And 3 weeks? Did you have any previous knowledge of Physics?

ido.potter

Yes I studied in high school (but I am an international and nontraditional) so 5 years had passed.

the thing is with SAT 2 physics that it isn't that mathematical there is a lot of just remember the formula question:
like in oscillation how do you make it go faster or if g is now 4g what will happened (so as long as you remember the formulas you have at least 5-10 more question)
another example is gravity , what will happened if M1,M2 and R changed

I think you should go one the book quickly in a week and get the concise knowledge of everything and then mechanics electricity and optic&waves (they are the most common topics)