Supervisions: Work to Do

Instructions

Easter Term 2023

I usually update this table on Wednesday mornings.

Date of SupervisionWork for IA Nat. Sci. MathsWork for IB Physics AWork for IB Physics B
(Course A)(Course B)
24th-29th AprilNo supervision this week.Holiday work.
1st-6th MayHoliday work.More holiday work. (Add Q1 if you like.)More holiday work.
8th-13th MayQuestions 1-10. Omit 4(d) and 9(a)(iii).Questions 1-11. In question 3, only deal with the first three products (A^2, AB, AC).Questions 2-5. (Plus 1 if not done last week.)Questions 17-20.
15th-20th MayQuestions 11-17.Questions 12-26, omitting 20 and 21. Optionally add X34 or X35.Questions 6 and 7, then 1-4 from the new sheet.Questions 22-25. Optionally add 21.
22nd-27th MayQuestions 18-20 from question sheet 1, and 1-4 from question sheet 2.Questions 27-31 from question sheet 1, and question 1 from question sheet 2.All of the remaining questions on the question sheet. Also bring with you (but do not hand in) any questions that you have about the past papers that you are doing to prepare for the exam.
28th May - 3rd JuneAll of the remaining questions on the last question sheet. Also bring with you (but do not hand in) any questions that you have about the past papers that you are doing to prepare for the exam.No supervision this week.

Holiday Work: Easter 2023

As always---and especially this holiday with Tripos looming---it is important to do lots of revision over the holiday.

When doing past Tripos papers, I think it's always a good idea to try them under timed conditions first, to practise working under time pressure, and then to go back and spend longer---in some cases much longer---to fix what you couldn't do in the time and make the best answers that you can. (You don't need to tell me which bit is timed in the work that you submit, though; please make sure that all of your final answer to a question is in one place, and just submit that.)

At the end of lectures in the Easter term, I'll make available worked solutions to the 2018 past papers in IA NST maths and IB Physics B, so it might be a good idea to save those papers for revision shortly before the exams. (Those for the 2018 Physics A are on the TiS, as are solutions to both Physics A and Physics B for several other past papers.)

IA NST Maths: Course A

The work is due in by 12 noon on Wednesday 26th April. I'll begin supervisions from Monday 1st May.

IA NST Maths: Course B

The work is due in by 12 noon on Wednesday 26th April. I'll begin supervisions from Monday 1st May.

IB Physics A

The work is due in by various deadlines. I'll begin supervisions from Monday 24th April.

IB Physics B

The work is due in by various deadlines. I'll begin supervisions from Monday 24th April.

Lent Term 2023

I usually update this table on Wednesday mornings.

Date of SupervisionWork for IA Nat. Sci. MathsWork for IB Physics AWork for IB Physics B
(Course A)(Course B)
17th-21st JanuaryNo supervision this week.Holiday work.
23rd-28th JanuaryHoliday work.More holiday work. (Add Q1 if you like.)More holiday work.
30th January - 4th FebruaryS1, S2, S3, S4, 5, 6, 7, 8.S1g, S1j, S2c, S2f, S3b, S4b, 5, 6a, 6b, 7, 8a, 8b, 8c.Questions 1-6.Questions 10-15.
6th-11th FebruaryQuestions S9, S10, and 11-13.Questions 9-13; optionally also X26 (and/or X24 or even X25).Questions 7-11.Questions 16-21.
13th-18th FebruaryQuestions S1 to 8. The second part of 8 is optional.Questions S1a, S1c, S2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9.Questions 12 and 13, then 1-5 from the new sheet.Questions 22-27.
20th-25th FebruaryQuestions 9-12. Part (ii) of 12 is difficult and optional.S3 and questions 10-16. Optionally omit 13(ii) and 16(c).Questions 7-12.Questions 28-33.
27th February - 4th MarchQuestions 13-18, omitting 16.Questions 17-22. Question 20 is optional (but do attempt it if you can). Optionally add X30(a).Questions 13 and 14, then 1-4 from the new sheet.Questions 34-38.
6th-11th MarchQuestion 19, then S1 and questions 2-7 from question sheet 3. Optionally include 9* and/or 8* as well.S1, S2, and questions 6-13.Questions 5-9. (Omit 9 if the lecturer hasn't lectured far enough.)Questions 39-41 from fluids, and 1 and 2 from thermodynamics.
13th-18th MarchQuestions S10-S13 and 14-18.S3, S4, and questions 14-23. Omit 22, and optionally omit 15.Questions 10-12 from question sheet 3 (adding 9 if not done last week) then 1 and 2 from question sheet 4.Questions 3-8.

Holiday Work: Christmas 2022/23

Whichever course you're doing, the first item of holiday work is to revise the work from the Michaelmas term. Many of you have tests coming up! And if there are questions that you didn't get right the first time, and you haven't re-attempted them yet, then it's good to do that over the holidays.

IA NST Mathematics

I'll begin supervisions for IA NST Maths on Monday 23rd January, but this work is due in by 10am on Wednesday 18th January.

IB Physics A

I'll begin supervisions in IB Physics A on Tuesday 17th January**. The first supervision will be for going through the examples sheet and 2018 paper 1, which must be handed in (or sent in online) by noon on Thursday 12th January. The rest of the holiday work must be handed in on paper by noon on Wednesday 18th January**; we shan't go through it in the first supervision.

IB Physics B

I'll begin supervisions in IB Physics B on Tuesday 17th January**. The first supervision will be for going through the examples sheet and 2013 paper 1, which must be handed in (or sent in online) by noon on Thursday 12th January. The rest of the holiday work must be handed in on paper by noon on Wednesday 18th January**; we shan't go through it in the first supervision.

** These dates were wrong in an earlier version of this page - sorry.

Work to Do: Michaelmas Term 2022

I plan to update this table on Wednesday mornings this term.

Date of SupervisionWork for IA Nat. Sci. MathsWork for IB Physics AWork for IB Physics B
(Course A)(Course B)
10th-16th OctoberNo 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.
17th-22nd OctoberAll 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 oscillations, and question 1 from experimental methods.Questions 1-6.
24th-29th OctoberSections 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 6-8 (including** 7) from oscillations, and questions 2, 3, and 4a from experimental methods.Questions 7-12.
31st October - 6th NovemberQuestions 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 9-13 from oscillations, and questions 5 and 6 from experimental methods.Questions 13-18.
7th-12th NovemberF14-15, all of section G, and H1-7, optionally omitting H1(b,d,f,h), H2(b,d,f,h), and H5(d).{H4 or X9}*, H5, I1, J1, K1, K2, L1, L2.Questions 14-17 (omitting 16(b) unless you really want to do it) from oscillations, and 7-9 from experimental methods (without doing 8 very thoroughly).Questions 19-24.
14th-19th NovemberH8 to H15.M1, M2, M3, N1, N2, N4, O1, {P1(d,g) or X11}, P2(c,d,e), P3(b), P4.Questions 18-21 from oscillations (where 19(b) is optional), and 10 and 11 from experimental methods.Questions 25 to 30.
21st-26th NovemberH16, H17, all of section I, J1, J2. {P5(d) or X17},{P5(g) or X18}, P6(all), P7, P9, P10, P12, P15, Q1, Q2, Q4, Q6.Questions 22-26 (omitting 24(a) and 24(d)) from oscillations, and questions 12-14 from experimental methods.Questions 31-37.
28th November - 3rd DecemberThe 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, you may want to miss out the hardest bits.)Questions 27-32 from oscillations (where 31 is optional) and 15-16 from experimental methods.Questions 38-44.

General notes

Where to find the questions

Computational questions in Physics A

These questions are just as important as the algebraic ones. You need to be able to set up computational models. Furthermore, these questions illustrate important physics. If you don't like the programming language they suggest, use a different one. Many of the questions can even be done with just a spreadsheet given a bit of determination.

I only need to see the output graphs and your comments. If possible, submit this all on paper with the rest of your work. If your college's printing facilities aren't working, you can e-mail the graphs to me instead, naming the files with a name that includes your crsid.

I don't need to see your code if it works. If you can't get it to do anything at all, and it's in Python, you can send it to me by e-mail, along with any error messages you're getting, and I'll try to work out what's wrong with it. I'm not debugging languages other than Python; if you use them, you'll have to fix the problems yourself.

What I will mark

Re-arranging supervisions

I'm happy to re-arrange supervisions for almost any reason, providing that I have a week's notice. This means that you need to talk to me about it in the previous supervision (i.e. the supervision before the one that you want to rearrange), when all of the affected people are in the same place.

There's no need to read the rest of this section unless you are looking to re-arrange a supervision with less than a week's notice.

Sometimes students ask me to re-arrange their supervisions by e-mail, giving me less than a week's notice. The trouble with this is that it requires a number of e-mails to establish a possible alternative time that all three or four people affected can make, and for me to book a room. This series of e-mails usually takes a few days, by which point some possible rearranged times have already been and gone, and during which I have to allow not only for my regular timetable and the time of the rearranged supervision, but also for a number of hypothetical timetables based on rearrangements that might never happen. This is inconvenient, and if several students are asking for such rearrangements at once, can become impossible. And I don't think it fair to provide a flexibility to some students that I can't give to everyone. Furthermore, I consider that providing a reasonable amount of notice for rearranging supervisions is a basic level of professionalism with regard to their academic commitments that can reasonably be expected of students. Therefore I shall not re-arrange any supervision with less than a week's notice except for academic or health reasons.