Most Important Point
All the formulas are found on page 2 of the exam booklet. You don't have to remember most of the formulas you use in the entire Gateway course. Your teacher will have told you the ones you need to remember. Every other formula for calculations is printed in your exam booklet...Use it!
Which one do I use?
This is the first step in getting the top marks...Identifying the right formula. Sure you can remember which formula goes with what but far easier is to work it out.
Look at this exam question...
The car has a weight of 12 000 N.
It was driven by driver A with a driving force of 1500 N for a distance of 700 m.
Calculate the work done moving the car.
The first thing to do is highlight the values you are given and what you need to work out. In this question we have:
So look back to page 2 and spot the formula that has work done, force and distance in it.
We find only one:
Work done = Force x Distance
Substitute in the numbers from the question and write this working down. This means even if you mis-calculate, you still get 1 mark for correct working.
Word done = 1500 x 700
Work out the answer on your calculator and write it down.
Word done = 1050000
This will get you the two marks for the question.
Look at this exam question...
The car has a weight of 12 000 N.
It was driven by driver A with a driving force of 1500 N for a distance of 700 m.
Calculate the work done moving the car.
The first thing to do is highlight the values you are given and what you need to work out. In this question we have:
- Driving Force 1500 N
- Distance 700 m
- Work done is what we need to work out
So look back to page 2 and spot the formula that has work done, force and distance in it.
We find only one:
Work done = Force x Distance
Substitute in the numbers from the question and write this working down. This means even if you mis-calculate, you still get 1 mark for correct working.
Word done = 1500 x 700
Work out the answer on your calculator and write it down.
Word done = 1050000
This will get you the two marks for the question.
Higher Tier Calcuations
If you are sitting the higher tier paper, you may get calculations worth 3 marks. This is your signal that it is a two step calculation. So you will need to use two of the formulas from page 2. It may be to calculate power when given the force and distance. There is no formula for that but force and distance lets us work out the work done and if we have work done and time, we can calculate the power.
Again, highlight the values you are given and look back to page 2. This will help you spot what formulas to use.
Again, highlight the values you are given and look back to page 2. This will help you spot what formulas to use.