Admissions Test Preparation · Practice Set 14
ESAT Physics Mock Module 2 of 2
27 a full 27-question module, the same length and shape as one sitting of the real test. Electricity and magnetism, forces and motion, energy, thermal physics, matter and pressure, waves and optics, and radioactivity. Every question states the specification sub-topic it was written against.
How to use this set
Every question carries a target time, and no question needs a calculator. Attempt each one against the clock with the solution collapsed. If you are still setting up algebra when the target time passes, stop and open the solution: the shortcut is what the question is testing, and the arithmetic is not.
Read the Key Idea before the full breakdown. If the key idea alone lets you redo the question in under a minute, the method has landed and you can move on. If it does not, work the step-by-step breakdown and then return to the question a day later.
The Common Mistake section on each question is the slower route that still reaches the right answer. Under exam conditions that route is usually the difference between finishing the module and running out of time.
Modules in this set
Select a module below to view the questions and their step-by-step worked solutions:
Physics
27 questions, 40 minutes in the real test. Electricity and magnetism, forces and motion, energy, thermal physics, matter and pressure, waves and optics, and radioactivity. 27 worked solutions.
Shortcut index
Use this as a revision checklist. If you can state the shortcut before opening the question, you already have the mark.
Physics
| # | Topic | Shortcut rehearsed |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Boyle's law | At constant temperature, pV stays the same |
| Q2 | Density and unit conversion | Convert the units once the number is found, not before |
| Q3 | Pressure on a surface | Force over area, with the area in square metres |
| Q4 | Pressure at depth | Depth pressure depends on depth, not on the shape of the container |
| Q5 | Transverse and longitudinal waves | Compare the oscillation direction with the travel direction |
| Q6 | The wave equation | v = f λ, rearranged for whichever quantity is missing |
| Q7 | Timing an echo | An echo covers the distance twice |
| Q8 | Refraction at a boundary | Slower medium means bent towards the normal |
| Q9 | Reflection at a plane mirror | Angles are measured from the normal, never from the mirror |
| Q10 | Total internal reflection | Two conditions, both required, and both easy to check |
| Q11 | The electromagnetic spectrum | All electromagnetic waves share a speed and differ only in frequency |
| Q12 | Reading a nuclide symbol | Top is nucleons, bottom is protons, and the difference is neutrons |
| Q13 | Alpha decay | Balance the top and bottom numbers across the arrow |
| Q14 | Penetrating power | The best ioniser is the worst penetrator |
| Q15 | Counting half-lives | Count halvings, do not solve anything |
| Q16 | Magnetic fields and their sources | A field around a wire is circular; around a solenoid it looks like a bar magnet |
| Q17 | Recoil | Starting at rest means the two momenta are equal and opposite |
| Q18 | Final velocity from acceleration and time | Pick the equation with the three quantities you already hold |
| Q19 | Finding a mass from force and acceleration | Rearrange before substituting, not after |
| Q20 | Gravitational potential energy | Three factors multiplied, with height measured vertically |
| Q21 | Calculating momentum | Mass times velocity, and the direction travels with it |
| Q22 | Current from voltage and resistance | Rearrange V = IR before substituting |
| Q23 | Resistors in series | Series resistances simply add |
| Q24 | Wave speed from frequency and wavelength | Multiply frequency by wavelength |
| Q25 | Travel time at the speed of light | Distance over speed, with the indices handled separately |
| Q26 | Force from pressure and area | Force is pressure times area |
| Q27 | Finding a half-life from the count rate | Count the halvings, then divide the total time by that number |