IHETC School
Physics and chemistry — Upper secondary
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.
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
What this page covers
- concepts covered
- 5
- subjects covered in upper secondary
- 4
- stages to validate one concept
- 4
Concepts, not a textbook contents page.
All included in the same subscription.
The last one is assessed work.
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.
What the tutor does with your child
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 the moment an explanation misses
- It leaves the answer to the pupil and stays alongside until they find it
- It has the result checked by a second route
- It goes back to the missing prerequisite, even one from an earlier year
- It keeps the concept open until the pupil restates it in their own words
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.