Product Description

Provides comprehensive study notes for the final year of A-level Physics, with several examples and practice questions. This title also matches the AS-level guide for A-level coverage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97066 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

Great Book
If you've purchased CGP books in the past, whether the KS3 ones, or GCSE ones, then you'll have a feel for the style they're written in. The AS and A2 books are no different. The CGP style is still there, however they're obviously targeting a more mature reader.

There isnt a great deal to say really, if you're not familiar with the CGP style, i'll explain. The books have a slight sense of humour to them, and are well laid out with colour highlighting important bits, key equations in boxes, and things like that. The style of explanation is simple, and easy to follow, and can help to make seemingly complex topics seem simple, which is great.

The book covers pretty much all sections for ALL courses, which is important. If you know what course you're doing, it makes it easier to read, as there are sections which say "OCR B only" or "Not AQA A" which can really help identify which bits you need to know.

All in all, a good revision guide (as with the A2 one) and I would highly recommend it to anyone doing A-level physics. I've always been a fan of the CGP books, and this one shows exactly why.

Fantastic book
This book was (like all the others) so helpful when doing A Level Physics. I was doing OCR B (Advancing Physics), and so long as you go through the book first and cross out bits that say OCR A only etc, it proves to be much more helpful and easier to read than the Advancing Physics book you get given. Definitely a must!

A decent revision guide...
I have found that this is a decent product with well written guidance to much of the subjects studied at Physics A-Level however, many flaws have also come to light.

The read is relatively concise (There are better but this is still above a lot) and thorough at the same time, I also find that it can make things a lot easier to read, with witty remarks put in, here and there, which always makes things pleasant. It also covers quite a large amount and can be quite intriguing, I have found myself reading parts I don't even need to learn just for the fun of it.

Now I'm not going to lie, there are several major flaws, the main being it's lack of focus and order of specific courses. Since this is a reference to several courses of different exam boards, I have found myself skipping a lot of pages to find what I am looking for, anyone doing A Level Physics will now the importance of time and order. There is also the frustrating task of deciphering what I do and don't need to know, sometimes chapters are merged with each other and the order is terrible, once again, the problems here are obvious. The last upset I should highlight is the lack of ability at tackling exam technique, there is a huge lack of experiment knowledge, something that is a considerably dominant part in Physics exams and focuses, rather, on things I don't need.

Overall, I don't believe I would recommend this book to someone studying a course at A Level. The problems really do outweigh the perks. I have found myself very frustrated trying to find things I need to know and don't and wouldn't want another to experience this if they don't have to. Most people would be much better off getting a book specifically tethered to their course, which is based around tackling exam technique rather than pure knowledge. I have found many books that are much better at highlighting what I need to know; the best example I found, for the AQA course I am doing,is the "NAS - Make the Grade - Physics" by "Nelson Thornes"; the cover and design aren't particularly appealing and the lack of information can sometimes leave one feeling as if they've missed something but I assure it is a very good book that won't beat around the bush, giving all the knowledge one needs to pass the EXAM, because that's what counts, not knowing everything (Even thought that would be nice too).