I was looking through 2008 GCE O Level Additional Mathematics Exam Papers (Subject Code: 4038) and as expected, there was a Kinematics question (worth 6 marks) in Paper 1.
Kinematics is a application topic for Differentiation and Integration. To master this topic, you do not necessarily need to bring in your physics knowledge though it could be useful at times.
Instead, how I get my students to be a master in this topic is to be familiarize with a KINEMATICS VOCABULARY LIST.
Here's some of the vocabulary words that are useful and common:
- Momentarily at rest, instantaneously at rest, changes direction of motion, stationary
- Initial displacement, initial velocity, initial acceleration
- Greatest displacement, greatest velocity, greatest acceleration
- Distance travelled in the 4th second VS Distance travelled in the first 4 seconds
- Maximum distance from Point O
- Particle returns to Point O
- Constant Velocity
I would say for Kinematics, it is one of the few topics in A-Math which uses extensive vocabulary. This is also the reason for you to decipher the meaning behind these words.
So do you know the meaning behind these words? I would love to hear about it in the comments section.
I have also taken a few questions from my A-Math TREQ book (Topical Real Exam Questions) to illustrate some common exam questions on Kinematics, further highlighting the importance of knowing your Kinematics well. (Click on the image for bigger view)
I would be sharing the step by step solutions for Question 8 in the next post. Subscribe to my blog to be updated again!