Measurement
Metre rule
Reading to the millimetre, and measuring from the right end of the thing.
Practise this skillSkills
Short drills on single parts of a physics practical. Each card says which practicals use it.
35 skills to practise0 of 35 practised
Measurement
Vernier calliper
Main scale, then the vernier division that lines up, and what that adds.
Practise this skillMeasurement
Micrometer screw gauge
The sleeve, the thimble, the ratchet, and the zero error before any of it.
Practise this skillMeasurement
Analogue meters
Working out what one small division is worth before reading the needle.
Practise this skillMeasurement
Protractor
Measuring from the NORMAL rather than from the surface, to half a degree.
Practise this skillMeasurement
Stopwatch
Timing many oscillations rather than one, and starting at the centre.
Practise this skillMeasurement
Parallax
Why a needle in front of a scale reads high from one side, and the mirror strip.
Practise this skillMeasurement
Zero error
Finding it before you start, and which way to correct for it.
Practise this skillObservation
Finding a null
Bracketing a balance point instead of creeping up on it from one side.
Practise this skillObservation
No-parallax
Moving your head to test a setting, rather than judging it from one position.
Practise this skillObservation
Resonance by ear
Going past the loudest point and coming back, because the peak is broad.
Practise this skillObservation
Judging balance
Letting a rule settle rather than steadying it with a finger.
Practise this skillRecording
Table headings
Quantity, solidus, unit, and never a unit repeated in every cell.
Practise this skillRecording
Decimal places
Every figure in a column to the same places, set by the instrument.
Practise this skillRecording
Least counts
Writing down what each instrument can be read to, before the table.
Practise this skillRecording
Derived columns
T squared, sin r, 1/f, worked from the figures you wrote, not from truer ones.
Practise this skillCalculation
Rearranging a formula
Getting the unknown alone before a single number goes in.
Practise this skillCalculation
Unit conversion
cm to m, grams to kilograms, and the factor of a hundred that eats gradients.
Practise this skillCalculation
Substitution
Putting your own figures in, and carrying an error forward rather than hiding it.
Practise this skillCalculation
Standard form
Powers of ten, and quoting an answer to the figures the readings justify.
Practise this skillGraph
Choosing a scale
1, 2 or 5 per square, filling at least half the grid.
Practise this skillGraph
Labelling axes
Which quantity goes where, and why that choice decides the gradient.
Practise this skillGraph
Plotting points
Inside half a small square, which is the slack an examiner allows.
Practise this skillGraph
Line of best fit
Among the crosses, as many above as below, not dot to dot.
Practise this skillGraph
Gradient
A large triangle, read off the LINE, with the subtraction shown.
Practise this skillGraph
Intercepts
What the line says at zero, and why the axis has to start there to read it.
Practise this skillGraph
Curves and turning points
When the readings bend, and reading a minimum instead of a slope.
Practise this skillGraph
Straightening a relation
Squaring, inverting or logging a column so the graph becomes a line.
Practise this skillInference
What the gradient is made of
Comparing your relation with y = mx + c term by term.
Practise this skillInference
Proportionality
What a straight line through the origin proves, and what it doesn’t.
Practise this skillInference
Checking an answer
Is it the right size, the right sign and the right unit for the quantity.
Practise this skillEvaluation
Sources of error
Which measurement limits the answer, usually the coarsest instrument.
Practise this skillEvaluation
Systematic error
The kind averaging can’t remove, and how it shows up as an intercept.
Practise this skillEvaluation
Precautions
The two this apparatus needs, not the coat-and-goggles list.
Practise this skillEvaluation
Improvements
What you would change, and why it would make the answer better.
Practise this skillNext, do a full practical or try WAEC-style practice.