Difficulty of SAT II Physics?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I am taking the U.S. History, Math II, and Physics this Saturday. I have done some prep for Math II and History, but still have few more chapters to go for Physics. I am taking physics online now and havn't touch on anything about electromagnetism and waves. If anyone of you used Princeton Review, did it help? Is there a lot of questions on the last few chapters in the Princeton Review book? Is the prep book easier or more difficult?</p>

<p>I have no idea about some of the stuff on there and I hope Princeton Review covers most of it! Did anyone of made a good score with merely practice from the book?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance for any inputs. I am very nervous about the coming up test.</p>

2

<p>You need to know electromagnetism and waves(optics too). If you do, it's really easy. Otherwise, it will rape you.</p>

3

<p>those are the ones I havn't cover:(</p>

4

<p>Classical mechanics is important too, it just only makes up 40% of the material...</p>

<p>Oh, and what about nuclear stuff?</p>

5

<p>I think I can handle classical mechanics and thermal physics. Do you guys know how many we can miss and still get a 700+?</p>

6

<p>I don't know exactly how many you can miss, but I think I answered 6 or so incorrectly and still got 800. I'm sure you can miss an absurd number of questions and still get 700+. </p>

<p>Optics looks hard when you're trying to learn it out of a book. All you really need to know about optics is that light bounces off of a mirror and bends through a lens.
Waves is the same stuff you've probably been learning since middle school. If you can add/subtract two waves together (constructive/destructive interference) I'm pretty sure you'll be fine.
Electromagnetism was always my worst subject in physics. I'm sorry I don't remember how much of that you need to know.</p>

<p>I think you need to know some nuclear stuff. Just know what the notation looks like and means for say, an alpha particle. Beyond that, it's just simple adding and subtracting protons and neutrons.</p>

7

<p>Definitely review the electricity and magnetism parts. They are always covered on the test. Same with optics as well. As for nuclear, the amount covered seems to vary from test to test.</p>

8

<p>Those are the ones I am having trouble with, but I will try to cover it before the test!</p>

9

<p>From, what I hear its not the questions that are difficult(assuming you know the material quite well), but the time constraint- which is the case for most SAT tests.</p>

10

<p>Oh yea! Calculators aren't allowed right? Are there any absurd calculations involve, or mostly conceptual questions?</p>

11

<p>it's a fairly difficult test, even if you know your physics, but fortunately the curve is good. 10 wrong is almost always an 800.</p>

12

<p>Anyone took the test with only knowledge of classical mechanics and thermal physics from school and the rest from Princeton Review book? The book says even if we get about half of the questions right, we can still get a 600+. Is that correct?</p>

13

<p>In my school we hadn't covered waves, optics, nuclear physics or electromagnetism. I looked up those topics using a Princeton Review book but I definitely didn't study obsessively. I still got a 780. Some questions (like optics) are sort of intuitive so I wouldn't stress about it too much. </p>

<p>Calculators really wouldn't be necessary. All the calculations are fairly easy. </p>

<p>I hope that was helpful. :)</p>

14

<p>When you say "get half the questions right", are you leaving the other ones blank, or answering them wrong?</p>

<p>Don't worry about calculators. You don't even need a calculator for the tests they let you use one on.</p>