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Supervisions: Work to Do

Instructions

Easter Term 2025

Date of SupervisionWork for IA Nat. Sci. MathsWork for IB Physics AWork for IB Physics B
(Course A)(Course B)
28th April - 3rd MayNo supervision this week.Holiday work.
5th-10th MayHoliday work.Questions 1 and 2.Questions 15 and 16 if possible.
12th-17th 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 3-6.Questions 17-20.
19th-24th MayQuestions 11-17.Questions 12-26, omitting 20 and 21. Optionally add X34 or X35. Question 7, then 1-5 from the new sheet.Questions 22-25. Optionally add 21.
26th-31st 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.
2nd-7th JuneQuestions 5-9. 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.Questions 2-6 (*). Add X37 if you have nothing better to do. 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.

(*) Maths B students who are very badly pressed for time due to impending exams may omit any of questions 2, 4, and 5 from the final week's work. It is important to attempt questions 3 and 6, however, as they cover material shared with course A.

I've produced hints and some solutions to the 2018 past papers in IA NST Maths which you can use if you want. There are worked solutions to several years' past papers in physics on the Cavendish's website.

Easter Holiday Work 2025

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.)

IA NST Maths: Course A

The work is due in by 12 noon on Wednesday 30th April, at Selwyn or Trinity Hall.

IA NST Maths: Course B

The work is due in by 12 noon on Wednesday 30th April, at Selwyn or Trinity Hall.

IB Physics A

The work is due in by 12 noon on Monday 28th April, at Selwyn or Trinity Hall.

IB Physics B

The work is due in by 12 noon on Monday 28th April, at Selwyn or Trinity Hall.

Lent Term 2025

Date of SupervisionWork for IA Nat. Sci. MathsWork for IB Physics AWork for IB Physics B
(Course A)(Course B)
21st-25th JanuaryNo supervision this week.Holiday work.
27th January - 1st FebruaryHoliday work.More holiday work. (Add Q1 if you like.)More holiday work.
3rd-8th FebruaryS1, S2, S3, S4, 5, 6, 7, 8.{S1g or X24}, S1j, S2c, S2f, S3b, S4b, 5, 6a, 6b, 7, 8a, 8b, 8c.Questions 1-6.Questions 10-15.
10th-15th FebruaryQuestions S9, S10, and 11-13. Questions 9-13. Optionally add X26 (or even X25).Questions 7-11.Questions 16-21.
17th-22nd 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.
24th February - 1st MarchQuestions 9-13. Part (ii) of 12 is difficult and optional.S3 and questions 10-16. Optionally omit 13(ii) and 16(c).Questions 6-12.Questions 28-33.
3rd-7th MarchQuestions 14-19, omitting 16(iii).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.
9th-14th MarchS1 and questions 2-9. 8* and 9* are optional, but do attempt them if you can.S1, S2, and questions 6-13. Questions 5-9.Questions 39-41 from fluids, and 1 and 2 from thermodynamics.
16th-21st 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 then 1 and 2 from question sheet 4.Questions 3-8.

Holiday Work: Christmas 2024

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 from Monday 27th January, but this work is due in by 10am on Wednesday 22nd January.

IB Physics A

I'll begin supervisions in IB Physics A from Tuesday 21st January. The first supervision will be for going through the examples sheet and 2019 paper 1, which must be handed in (or sent in online) by noon on Thursday 16th January. The rest of the holiday work must be handed in on paper by 10am on Wednesday 22nd January; we shan't go through it in the first supervision.

IB Physics B

I'll begin supervisions in IB Physics B from Tuesday 21st 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 16th January. The rest of the holiday work must be handed in on paper by 10am on Wednesday 22nd January; we shan't go through it in the first supervision.

Work to Do: Michaelmas Term 2024

I plan to update this table on Tuesday evenings.

Date of SupervisionWork for IA Nat. Sci. MathsWork for IB Physics AWork for IB Physics B
(Course A)(Course B)
14th-19th OctoberNo work set. (But bring with you any questions you have from the online preparation that you did.)No supervision this week.
21st-26th 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 1-7, omitting 6(b).Questions 1-6.
28th October - 2nd NovemberSections 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 8-15, omitting 10.Questions 7-12.
4th-9th NovemberQuestions 1-13 from section F. If you are already good at 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 16-18 from experimental methods and 1-4 from the OWO course.Questions 13-18.
11th-16th 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 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11.Questions 19-24.
18th-23rd NovemberH8 to H15.M1, M2, M3, N1, N2, N4, O1, {P1(d,g) or X11}*, P2(c,d,e), P3(b), P4.Questions 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.Questions 25-30.
25th-30th 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 17-22.Questions 31-37.
2nd-7th 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, the starred parts are optional.)Questions 23-29, omitting (a) and (d) from question 24 (unless you are very keen to do them).Questions 38-44.

General notes

Where to find the questions

Computational questions in IB 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 MATLAB, use a different language, such as Python. 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.