Hello!
Does anybody who studied physics and math extension2 could share some of their experiences of both subjects. I am in yr 11 rn am stuggling between choosing extension 2 in year 12 or keeping physics. I personally want to do ext 2 because I enjoy math a lot, and I feel like the physic teacher at my school cannot explain things clearly. However, I am also worried that extension 2 would be too hard. ( I've heard that I would need to know 100+ ways of integration in ext 2. ) Also should I start my extension 2 tutoring this year? ( p.s i am doing my ext 1 and adv math hsc this year).
you can always take both to start with and then drop whatever you don't really like, but here's my experience with both:
physics:
- definetly a slow burn, it took me until about a year before everything clicked into place, and i started to really understand the subject
- you need a very good understanding of the fundamental concepts, but once you get that down, you will be successful
- usually less resources/past papers than ext2, so it can be a bit more difficult to find new questions to keep testing your knowledge
- don't forget writing component is usually 50-60% of the subject, so if you struggle with writing consider scratching up on that (it's not english type writing though, it's usually just talking about a situation and why things work or about experiments)
ext2:
- a lot of resources, so there's a lot of opportunity to do questions to keep testing your understanding
- a bit less visual than physics, sometimes you have a long algebra section that will go nowhere
- most of the topics just add another layer to ext 1 content (vectors, mechanics, integration, only new topics are complex numbers and proof)
- heavier emphasis on just math compared to physics obviously, no long response at all
both:
- can feel like hell when you don't understand things properly
- you will always get questions you have never seen before, so you need to have a greater understanding of how things work, aka you can't just rote learn everything (memorise)
- will require you to stare at a question for a long time banging your head against the wall, until something clicks (i'm sure u know this from some ext1 questions though)
- both have some pretty abstract concepts that will require your imagination to visualise (or may be impossible to properly visualise like quantum physics)
also taking both is a pretty good combo, they test pretty similar skills.
ext 2 is not thattt hard, yes it is difficult but if you are doing well in extension 1 if you put in the effort i can almost guarantee you will succeed in ext 2 (and no theres not 100+ integration methods lmaoo, theres like 5 at most). i guess you can start going to ext 2 tutoring now, but most definitely it's not a requirement to be successful (i didn't go to tutoring for math and did pretty well).
if you think your physics teacher is not great, there are always youtube videos (i recommend science ready, mit opencourseware and floathead physics) and textbooks, possibly tutoring if you're really that desperate. but if i was u id just take both, and if you don't enjoy one of them then it's easy to drop them.