Take lessons with a physics teacher in Leicester

Finding the Perfect Physics Tutor

Physics is the study of the universe and with so much to cover, it's hardly surprising that it fascinates and confuses students and can take years of experience to master. Given that its subject matter is so important, it's taught in primary and secondary schools all over the country as part of science classes or as a subject in its own right alongside chemistry and biology.

With that in mind, let's see why you should study it, the challenges faced by physics students, what they cover in GCSE physics, and how to find a qualified and experienced private physics tutor.

Why It's Important to Study Physics

Physics allows us to understand the universe through understanding energy, force, movement, motion, and matter and helps explain the behaviour of everything from atoms to galaxies.

If you need a pragmatic reason to pay particular attention to your physics studies, it's a compulsory subject so every student in the UK will have to study physics until the day they finish obligatory full-time education.

If you do well in physics, you'll probably do well in other sciences and maths, since physics sits at a crossroads between a lot of the hard sciences and mathematics. Physics is the study of everything so a good grasp of it will help you in a lot of other academic subjects and can lead to a university degree in physics or related subjects like engineering.

There are also plenty of jobs that can be done with a degree in physics so if you're interested in a job in physics or related subjects, studying it at university can open a lot of doors to you in the future!

Challenges in Physics

Much like chemistry, biology, and maths, there's so much to cover in physics and a lot of the topics covered in physics are either too big or too small for us to see with the naked eye. This can be difficult to conceptualise for students. While you can see forces and motion in action on everyday objects, when you start trying to study concepts at an atomic or galactic level, it can be trickier for students to understand.

Physics also regularly involves mathematics and an understanding of numbers. Students who struggle in maths will probably also struggle in physics. Put simply, if you can't do the math, it'll be much harder to do well in physics.

Areas of Physics Studied at School

Since almost every secondary school student in Leicester will study physics as either a single science or as a science GCSE, let's see what topics they'll need to be familiar with before they finish their obligatory schooling.

While the exams differ depending on the exam board, there's a lot of overlap. We've taken the AQA exam as an example here.

Energy and Electricity

Students will look at energy, how energy stores change, power, work, and efficiency, energy and heating, and energy demands. They'll also need to be familiar with electricity, electrical circuits, mains electricity, and static electricity.

Particle Model of Matter and Atomic Structure

The physics GCSE also includes models on atomic structure and the particle model of matter. These topics cover the density of materials, temperature changes and energy, particles in gases, models of the atom, atoms, isotopes and ions, radioactive decay, radiation, and nuclear fission and fusion.

Forces

As an important aspect of physics, GCSE physics students will study scalar and vector quantities, contact and non-contact forces, gravity, forces and elasticity, moments, levers and gears, pressure in fluids, describing motion, forces, acceleration and Newton's Laws.

Waves, Magnetism and Electromagnetism

Waves and the electromagnetic spectrum fall under the jurisdiction of physics, too, and anyone studying GCSE physics will need to understand the properties of waves, transverse and longitudinal waves, reflection and refraction, lenses, black body radiation, magnetic fields, and electromagnets.

Space Physics

In addition to all the tiny things studied on the physics GCSE, students also have to cover the Solar System, the life cycle of a star, and the expanding universe.

Private Physics Tuition

As you can see, even at GCSE, physics piles a lot onto its plate so it's hardly surprising that students might want some help covering it all with home tuition.

If you need help studying any aspect of physics, a private physics tutor is a great idea. Since they can tailor the lessons to the student, you can cover the specific topics that you struggle with. Similarly, a private tutor will adapt their teaching style to the student so that they get the most out of every minute with them.

For primary and secondary school students, there's no shame in getting help from a private tutor. With physics being a compulsory subject at GCSE (either as a single science or double award), ensuring the best grades in the subject is a smart move, especially given how much it'll help you get better at the other sciences and maths.

Finding a Physics Tutor in Leicester

If you've decided to enlist the help of a private physics tutor, just search for one on Superprof. You'll be able to view each tutor's profile, see how much they charge per hour, and read reviews left by their previous students.

Many of the tutors on Superprof also offer free taster sessions for the first hour of tuition. Use these free lessons to try out a few different tutors, see how they like to work, and the type of teaching they offer before deciding on the best one for you. Make sure you ask them about their qualifications and experience, how they can help you, how much they'll charge, and when they can teach you.

For those on a budget, group tutorials allow you and some other students to attend private physics lessons. While the lessons can't be tailored to just you, since several students will be paying for the tutor's time, it works out at less per student per hour.

Finally, if there aren't any physics tutors in Leicester to your liking, you can always get online private tutorials. These aren't prerecorded online tutorials and guides but rather live tutoring from an experienced and qualified physics tutor. Thanks to modern technology, anyone with a webcam and a stable internet connection can enjoy private tutorials in almost any subject from tutors all over the world.

However, if you are studying a GCSE or A Level in physics, you might want to make sure that your tutor is familiar with these courses and what's on the exams. For primary and secondary school students, a lot of the tutoring may be in science rather than physics specifically. A lot of the tutors at this level will offer physics, chemistry, biology, and maths tutoring together.

At higher levels, however, you'll find that they'll focus solely on a single science as they're probably a university graduate or currently studying physics rather than various sciences.

The important thing is that you view your options before making your final decision.