BMAT Physics Checklist & Specification

Advice & Insight From BMAT Specialists

The Physics section is comprised of 7 MCQ questions. There are 7 areas from which questions are formed. These questions draw upon topics that an applicant would normally encounter at secondary level and provide a test of deduction and analysis of both verbal and visual MCQs.

The 7 topics in the Physics section would be classed as follows:

Electricity:

Understand Electrostatics: Understand insulator charging. Know that like charges repel and unlike charges attract. Understand applications and hazards associated with electrostatics, including the role of earthing.

Understand Electric circuits: Recognise circuit symbols. along with ac and dc. Understand conductors and insulators. Apply terms for current, resistance and voltage. Know use of voltmeters and ammeters. Know properties of NTC (negative temperature coefficient) thermistors, LDRs (light-dependent resistors) and ideal diodes. Understand series and parallel circuits. Calculate total resistance.

Magnetism: Understand properties of magnets. Use the terms north pole, south pole, attraction and repulsion. Know the magnetic field pattern around a bar magnet. Understand soft and hard magnetic materials and induced magnetism. Know Magnetic field strength and currents around straight wires and coils/solenoids. Understand permanent magnets and electromagnets. Know the motor effect. Understand Electromagnetic induction. Know step-up transformer and step-down transformer. Know the voltage ratio. Understand power transmission.
Mechanics: Kinematics: Know scalar and vector quantities. Understand distance and displacement and speed and velocity. Perform calculations using gradients and areas under graphs. Apply the equation of motion. Understand forces, friction, magnetic, electrostatic, thrust, upthrust, lift and tension. Interpret force diagrams. Understand resultant force. Interpret force–extension graphs. Understand elastic and inelastic extension, and elastic limits. Apply Newton’s laws and Hooke’s law. Understand Mass and weight with gravitational field strength. Know the law of conservation of energy with both useful energy and wasted energy. Know percentage efficiency.
Thermal physics: Understand thermal conductors and insulators with rate of conduction. Convection: Understand effect of temperature on density of fluid. Understand thermal radiation and heat capacity.
Matter: Know states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. Know particle motion and the forces and distances between the particles. Explain pressure and temperature. Understand melting point and boiling point. Know latent heat of fusion and latent heat of vaporisation. Determine density and pressure.
Waves: Understand transfer of energy without net movement of matter. Know transverse and longitudinal waves and electromagnetic waves and sound. Understand the terms: peak, trough, compression and rarefaction. Use the terms: amplitude, wavelength, frequency and period. Understand wave behaviour including reflection and refraction and related effects. Know and understand the Doppler effect.

Optics: Draw and interpret ray diagrams to describe reflection and refraction. Apply: angle of incidence = angle of reflection.

Understand the production of sound waves and the relation of loudness to amplitude and pitch to frequency. Understand longitudinal waves. Understand that reflection causes echoes. Recall range of human hearing. Know properties of electromagnetic waves.

Radioactivity: Understand Atomic structure. Know the relative charges and masses of protons, neutrons and electrons. Understand the terms isotope, nuclide, and nuclide notation. Understand ionisation. Know alpha, beta and gamma radiation and emission. Use nuclear equations. Know decay effects on atomic number and mass number. Understand ionising radiation. Interpret graphical representations of radioactive decay Understand half-life and apply half-life calculations.

An applicant would be expected to have a working knowledge of the above topics along. A methodical revision of each of these areas would provide a firm foundation to complete the physics questions in section 2 of the BMAT test.