IHETC School
Physics and chemistry — Upper secondary
The reasoning is right, the answer wrong by a factor of a thousand. This is not carelessness: it is the absence of a systematic checking reflex, acquired through repetition rather than understanding. A bright pupil can lose three marks a paper on this alone.
What is at stake in this subject
The subject becomes quantitative and demands rigour in units and method. Marks are lost less on understanding than on execution: a forgotten unit invalidates sound reasoning.
- Mechanics and energy
- Waves and signals
- Solution chemistry
- Reactions and transformations
- Experimental method and uncertainty
They lose marks on units and significant figures
The reasoning is right, the answer wrong by a factor of a thousand. This is not carelessness: it is the absence of a systematic checking reflex, acquired through repetition rather than understanding. A bright pupil can lose three marks a paper on this alone.
How the tutor works on it
The tutor requires dimensional analysis before any numerical work, and has the order of magnitude checked. Two short habits, which recover more marks than any amount of content revision.
- It changes angle when an explanation does not land
- It never gives an exercise answer
- It has the pupil check rather than correcting them
- It goes back to the missing prerequisite, even from an earlier year
Parents' questions
Do practicals count in the exam?
Experimental method is assessed, including in writing: reading a protocol, analysing a result, discussing uncertainty. That is the part we fully train remotely; handling the equipment itself remains the school's role.