Exam Prep Guide
Applied Physics Exam Prep
A topic-by-topic guide to what's actually covered in Applied Physics, how to prepare for it properly, and the mistakes that cost students the most marks.
What's Typically Covered
Vectors
- Introduction to Vectors
- Complementary & Supplementary Angles
- Addition & Subtraction
- Properties of Vectors
- Vector Components
- Vector Resolution of Forces
Electric Fields: Charges
- Properties of Electric Charges
- Insulators & Conductors
- Coulomb's Law
Electric Fields: The Field
- Electric Field
- Field Lines
- Continuous Charge Distribution
- Motion of Charged Particles in a Uniform Field
Electric Fields: Configurations
- Ring of Charge
- Disk of Charge
- Point Charge in a Field
- Dipole in a Field
Gauss' Law
- Electric Flux
- Gauss' Law
- Applications of Gauss' Law
Electric Potential I
- Potential Difference
- Electric Potential
- Potential Difference in a Uniform Field
Electric Potential II
- Potential Energy
- Potential & Potential Energy (Point Charge, Continuous Distribution)
- Field from Potential
Current & Resistance
- Electric Current
- Current Density
- Resistivity & Conductivity
- Ohm's Law
- Electrical Energy & Power
Magnetic Fields I
- The Magnetic Field
- Magnetic Force on a Current
Magnetic Fields II
- Motion of a Charged Particle in a Uniform Magnetic Field
Magnetic Fields III
- Charged Particles Moving in a Magnetic Field
- Hall Effect
Sources of Magnetic Fields I
- Biot-Savart Law
- Ampere's Law
Sources of Magnetic Fields II
- Magnetic Field of a Solenoid
- Magnetic Flux
Faraday's Law I
- Faraday's Law of Induction
- Lenz's Law
- Motional EMF
Faraday's Law II
- Induced EMF & Electric Fields
- Maxwell's Equations
How to Actually Prepare
- Redo every vector-resolution problem with a clearly labeled diagram (angles, components) before computing anything — most lost marks are sign errors a clear diagram would have caught.
- Rebuild the logical chain “charge → field → potential → force” for every problem type — most confusion in this course comes from mixing up these related-but-different quantities.
- Practice applying Gauss' Law to the three classic symmetric cases (sphere, cylinder, plane) until picking the right Gaussian surface is automatic.
Common Mistakes Students Make
- Confusing electric field (a vector: force per charge) with electric potential (a scalar: energy per charge) — a very common source of sign and unit errors.
- Forgetting to account for direction when superposing multiple charges' fields or forces, not just their magnitudes.
- Misapplying the right-hand rule inconsistently between force-on-a-charge and field-from-a-current problems.
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