Archived question lists - 2020-21
This page does not contain current information. For this year's questions see the homepage.
Work to Do: Easter Term 2021
This term supervisions will by default be online, but may be in person from 17th May onwards if all students in the group want that, and e-mail me in time.
Date of Supervision | Code | Work for IA Nat. Sci. Maths | Work for IB Physics A | Work for IB Physics B | |
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(Course A) | (Course B) | ||||
26th April - 1st May | No supervision this week. | Holiday work (see below) | |||
3rd-8th May | Holiday Work (see below) | Question 1 if time permits. (Code: E1.) | Question 1 if time permits. (Code: E1.) | ||
10th-15th May | E2 | Questions 1-10. Omit 4(d) and 9(a)(iii). | Questions 1-14. In question 4, only deal with the first three products (A^2, AB, AC). In question 9, omit the first two products. | Questions 2-6. (Plus 1 if not done last week.) | Questions 2-5. (Plus 1 if not done last week.) |
17th-22nd May | E3 | Questions 11-17. | Questions 15-28, omitting 21 and 23. | Question 7, then 1-4 from the new sheet. | Questions 7-11. |
24th-29th May | E4 | Questions 18-20 from example sheet 1, and questions 1 to 4 from example sheet 2. | Questions 29-33 from examples sheet 1 (where 33 is optional) and question 1 from examples sheet 2. | No supervision this week. | |
31st May - 5th June | E5 | All of the remaining questions on the question sheet. |
Exam preparation
As always the best way to prepare for the exams is by doing past papers. When the exams are getting close, it is a good idea to attempt the 2018 past papers. I have prepared some numerical solutions, hints, and partial worked solutions to these papers so that you can check your work. We can also discuss past paper questions that you are stuck on in the last few supervisions.
I'll also make some time available for optional drop-in sessions to discuss questions people are stuck on; further details will follow.
Holiday Work: Easter 2021
- As always, the first item of holiday work is to go over everything from the term and make sure that you understand it. Re-attempt questions that you couldn't do, or didn't have time for, during term.
- It's currently unclear what the format of next term will be, but I'd like all of the holiday work to be submitted online in any case. Details are along with the work; note the early deadlines.
- If you want to do more Tripos questions than I set, then do. The more practice you get, the better. I'll only mark the work set in the table, but I'm happy to talk about anything else that you are stuck on in a supervision. Don't do the 2018 past papers yet, though: save them for revision nearer to the exam. (And, physics A students, don't attempt 2012 paper 1 question B6, which is ridiculously difficult.)
- It is good to attempt past papers under timed conditions, so that you get practice in working to time pressure. Afterwards, you should spend lots of time---far more than you'd have in the exam---correcting and completing everything as best you can.
- You'll need to submit several files of work, with the codes in the table. As far as possible arrange the questions in ascending numerical order. If that isn't possible, then number your pages and give clear page references.
- Details are below for IA (first-year) and IB (second-year) students.
Holiday work for IA
- This work is due in by 12 noon on Tuesday 27th April (as e-mail attachments in the usual way).
- I'll begin supervisions for IA students from Monday 3rd May. I'm hoping to use similar times to the Lent term---let me know if there will be any difficulties---but depending on whether there is in-person teaching the timetable may not be exactly the same.
Work for IA Nat. Sci. Maths | |
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(Course A) | (Course B) |
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Holiday work for IB
- This work is due in by 12 noon on Friday 23rd April (as e-mail attachments in the usual way).
- I expect to begin supervisions for IB students from Monday 26th April. I'm hoping to use similar times to the Lent term---let me know if there will be any difficulties, especially with the time for the first supervision---but depending on whether there is in-person teaching the timetable may not be exactly the same.
Work for IB Physics A | Work for IB Physics B |
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Work to Do: Lent Term 2021
I plan to update the table on Tuesday mornings this term, except for physics A, which may update later in the week.
Date of Supervision | Code | Work for IA Nat. Sci. Maths | Work for IB Physics A | Work for IB Physics B | |
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(Course A) | (Course B) | ||||
18th-23rd January | No supervision this week. | Holiday work. | |||
25th-30th January | Holiday work (which was handed in last week). | Question 1 (Code: L1) | No work set: the supervision will be for going through the rest of the holiday work. | ||
1st-6th February | L2 | S1, S2, S3, S4, 5, 6, 7, 8. | S1g, S1j, S2c, S2f, S3b, S4b, 5, 6a, 6b, 7, 8a, 8b, 8c. | Questions 2-7. | Questions 10-15. |
8th-13th February | L3 | Questions S9, S10, 11, 12, and 13. | Questions 9-13; optionally also X26. | Questions 8-12. | Questions 16-21. |
15th-20th February | L4 | Questions S1 to 8. The second part of 8 is optional. | Questions S1a, S1c, S2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9. | Questions 13-16, then 1 and 2 from the new sheet. | Questions 22-27. |
22nd-27th February | L5 | Questions 9-12. Part (ii) of 12 is difficult and optional. | S3 and questions 10-16. Optionally omit 13(ii) and 16(c). | Questions 3-9. | Questions 28-33. |
1st-6th March | L6 | Questions 13-18, omitting 16. | Questions 17-22. Question 20 is optional (but do attempt it if you can). | Questions 10-14. | Questions 34-38. |
7th-12th March | L7 | Question 19, then S1 and questions 2-7 from question sheet 3. Optionally include 9*, and 8* if you are very keen. | S1, S2, and questions 6-13. | Questions 1-5. | Questions 39-41 from fluids, and 1 and 2 from thermodynamics. |
14th-19th March | L8 | Questions S10-S13 and 14-18. | S3, S4, and questions 14-23. Omit 22, and optionally also omit 15. | Questions 6-8 from question sheet 3, and questions 1-3 from question sheet 4. | Questions 3-8. |
IA students at Selwyn, Jesus, and Corpus: if you want to re-live your start-of-term test you can download a copy.
Supervisons via Zoom
Many of you are already veteran users of Zoom. Here are a few notes for those who aren't so used to it.
- Zoom wants to install itself on your computer, and it's probably easiest if you let it. But if you can't or don't want to install it, you can join a Zoom meeting via a browser instead, by refusing any downloads and clicking on the button in the page where the Zoom link lands.
- There's a button for turning video on and off near the bottom left of the screen. It's nice to have it on. But if the Internet is being slow it can be worth turning it off for a bit to conserve bandwidth.
- There's a button for turning audio on and off near the bottom left of the screen. Clearly we need audio to be on when you're talking. If you're somewhere fairly quiet then you can leave it on all the time. But if there's significant background noise where you are it's better if you have it turned off when you're not saying anything and just turn it on when you want to speak. One way of doing that is to hold down the space bar, which un-mutes you temporarily when audio is off.
- For reasons that physics A students should appreciate, we can sometimes hear an echo of our own voices on Zoom when other people aren't using headphones, especially if they have set the volume high and their speakers are close to their microphone. This normally isn't too much of a problem, but it can be prevented completely if people use headphones. So that's a good thing to do. If you don't use headphones, just make sure that the speaker volume isn't too loud.
- According to the University's policy, you can record supervisions provided that:
- The recording is only for your personal use; you agree not to make it available to anyone else or to upload it anywhere that others can access it; and
- All of the participants are happy to be recorded.
- You may instead just want to take screenshots of what I'm writing. You don't need permission for that. (I'm not going to provide technical support for how to do it on different devices, though!)
Holiday Work: Christmas 2020
- Whichever course you're doing, the first item of holiday work is to go over everything from the term and make sure that you understand it. Re-attempt questions that you couldn't do, or didn't have time for, during term. Most of you have college tests to revise for.
- I may have to ask some students to change groups and/or times next term. I'll be in touch about this nearer the start of term if applicable. But I hope that in most cases you'll be able to keep the same groups and times---let me know (as soon as possible) if you need to change.
- If you want to do more Tripos questions than I set, then do. The more practice you get, the better. I'll only mark the ones I've set (so don't hand any others in) but if you're stuck on or want to talk about any other questions then bring them along to a supervision, and if there's time we can talk about them.
- Details are below for IA (first-year) and IB (second-year) students.
Holiday work for IA
- I shall begin supervisions for IA NST maths on Monday 25th January, but the holiday work is due in by 12 noon on Wednesday 20th January, according to the instructions on this page.
- In the work below there are Tripos questions. They are difficult; they are supposed to be difficult. You will need to take longer (probably much longer) than you would have in an exam in order to produce the best answers that you can.
Work for IA Nat. Sci. Maths | |
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(Course A) | (Course B) |
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Holiday work for IB
- I shall begin supervisions in IB Physics A and IB Physics B on Monday 18th January. This first supervision will have to be online due to University regulations, even if I normally teach you in person. Let me know if you won't be able to make your usual time that week. The work is due in by 7pm on Sunday 17th January, preferably online, according to the instructions on this page.
- Tripos questions are difficult; they are supposed to be difficult. The best thing to do is first of all to try them under timed conditions---to practise dealing with the time pressure---but then to go back and produce the best answers that you can, taking as much time and reference material as you need. There's advice on the advice page if you want it.
Work for IB Physics A | Work for IB Physics B |
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Work to Do: Michaelmas Term 2020
I plan to update this table on Tuesday mornings this term.
Date of Supervision | Code | Work for IA Nat. Sci. Maths | Work for IB Physics A | Work for IB Physics B | |
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(Course A) | (Course B) | ||||
12th-17th October | - | No work set. (But look back over the maths work that you've done before arriving, and consider if there's anything that you want to ask about it.) | No supervision this week. | ||
19th-24th October | M1 | All questions from sections A and B on the question sheet, except that you may omit A1 and A3 if you like. | Questions A1, A3, A4, A5, A7, A8, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B10, B11, and B13. | Questions 1-5 from experimental methods and question 1 from osciallations. | Questions 1-6. |
26th-31st October | M2 | Sections C, D, and E. | C1(iv), {C3(ii) or X2}*, C4, C5(i, ii, iii), C7, C9, C10, C12, D1, D2, E2, E3, E4, F1(b, e, g, h). | Questions 6-9 from experimental methods and 2 and 3 from osciallations, omitting the part of question 3 that is about cheese. | Questions 7-12. |
2nd-7th November | M3 | Questions 1-13 from section F. If you are already very good with complex numbers, omit question 1 completely, and only do parts (b), (d), (f), (h) and (j) from question 2. | {F3(c,d) or X4}*, F4(c), {F5(c) or X7}, F6, F7(b,d,e,f,g,h,i,k), F8, F10, F11, F13(b), F14(e), F15(d), F17, F18(c,e), F19, G1, G3(b,e), G4, H1(e,f,h), H2(a,c,e), H3. | Questions 10-14 from experimental methods, and 4 and 5 from oscillations. | Questions 13-18. |
9th-14th November | M4 | F14-15, all of section G, and H1-7, optionally omitting H1(b,d,f,h), H2(b,d,f,h), and H5(d). | H4, H5, I1, J1, K1, K2, L1, L2. Optionally add X9. | The rest of the experimental methods questions, and 5-9 from waves and oscillations. | Questions 19-24. |
16th-21st November | M5 | H8 to H15. | M1, M2, M3, N1, N2, N4, O1, P1(d,g), P2(c,d,e), P3(b), P4. Optionally add X11. | Questions 10-15. If you don't want to use a computer for 15 then it can be done by algebra. (But this may take longer!) | Questions 25 to 30, unless you didn't get question sheet 2 in time for last week, in which case 23 to 28. |
23rd-28th November | M6 | H16, H17, all of section I, J1, J2. | P5(d,g), P6(all), P7, P9, P10, P12, P15, Q1, Q2, Q4, Q6. Optionally add integration-based extension questions such as X17. | Questions 16(a), 17, 18, 19(a), 20, and 21. Add 16(b) and/or 19(b) only if you want an extra challenge. | Up to question 37 (or up to 35 if you are still 2 questions behind as above---but try to catch up if you get a chance). |
30th November - 4th December | M7 | The rest of section J, and questions 1 and 2 from section K. | P14, Q8, Q9, {R1 or X23}*, R2, R3, R4, R5, R7, R8, R9. [If you do X23, don't try to find the mean and standard deviation in (f).] | Questions 22-28. Omit 24(a) and 24(d). | Up to question 44. |