Cambridge Entrance Examination – Physics (1981)
In response to a request to a while ago when I posted the Mathematics paper, here is the Physics paper I took as part of the Cambridge Entrance Examinations way back in 1981.
I’ve decided to try out Qu. 13 on my third-year students doing Nuclear and Particle Physics this year just for fun. Other comments on the content and/or difficulty are welcome through the box below!
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In the Dark 
February 27, 2012 at 1:39 pm
– These get more depressing with each one you post! If that is what you need to know BEFORE you go to university!
– I really like the idea, which i’ve never seen before, of having 15 mins to read the paper before you are allowed to start writing. I think that would not be a bad idea for all exams.
– I would be genuinely interested to read a well explained “model answer” to question 13. Anyone?
– What text book does anyone use at university for nuclear (as opposed to particle) physics? “Krane” was used in my day.
Regards Steve
February 27, 2012 at 3:33 pm
The instructions are about the hardest part of the thing. How do you ‘complete a “birdcage”‘?
February 27, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Thanks a lot for posting this. I wont look at it now because at some point I want to do it properly in exam conditions so I can compare it to my STEP (Sixth term examination paper) paper I took in 2001.
By the way I never responded to your comments about A level physics exams being roughly the same difficulty now as when you took them. Have you given your students questions from that A level paper in 1981? I’d be surprised if they could answer many of them.
February 27, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Yes, I did. They weren’t unduly troubled by those questions. I’m not sure how well the staff would cope, however…
November 22, 2017 at 5:01 pm
Hi – do you have a copy of a general paper. Students studying The History Boys would find it a great help. Thanks.
I took these exams in 1978 any of the ones I would have taken as an engineering student would be greatly appreciated.
November 22, 2017 at 5:02 pm
I may have the general paper. Let me see if I can find.
November 22, 2017 at 5:14 pm
Actually I posted most of it already:
https://telescoper.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/general-paper/