Hang me a benjamin How did y'all find that?

[Ancient Geezer]

Originally Posted by pancorjack

I thought that it was pretty much what I was expecting, the cell biology stung me a bit as did the circular motion questions. Also the last 5 on sect 1 were tough (you know about Foucault's writing). Some questions that came up were virtually identical to previous years. Just hope i made the cut is all.

Circular motion questions? Do you mean the pendulum in the car? Thinking back, I screwed the last one of those, which ain't too good for a physicist. That Foucault text was hideous. I am diametrically opposed to post modernism, and that crap was bringing me out in a nasty rash.

[Deagle]

Hope everyone survived! Some poor lad I was talking to had turned up thinking it was just a load of mcq aptitude stuff like UKCAT and that he'd be home by lunchtime.

Thought sect I started okay but got more difficult as it went on. There were far more long wordy passages than in the practice papers that ate up loads of time. Was hoping for a bit of respite with some nice diagram interpretations but they never came.

Wasn't particularly happy with my essays. As there's a predictable pool of topics they chose from some more background reading and practice would have helped me a lot here. Am trying to stop kicking myself over stuff I should have put. I pity the poor bugger that's got to read and mark the drivel I wrote. Just hope it’s worth 55+.

For sect III far more biology + interpretation than I expected and less hardcore, reaction-recognising organic chemistry. Bit more physics than I was expecting too. Was pushed for time trying to comprehend all the pathways & diagrams so guessed 5-6 of the longer looking last few.

Circular motion questions? Did I black out and miss a page? Probably.

I doubt with any more science revision I'd have done any better as virtually none of the equations I'd memorised came up. Even if I'd slaved over it for ever and a day I wouldn't have come across the terminal velocity of a red blood cell in plasma...

At least it should make a-level chem and biology exams feel a breeze.

[pancorjack]

i meant the question with the car going round a circular track, you know where you have to work out the forces on the wheels, was ok with that pendulum stuff.

[Ancient Geezer]

I think pancorjack is alluding to the pendulum in the car. The pendulum does follow circular motion even if the circular motion itself was not relevant to the questions themselves. I just googled "Foucault bullshit". Lots of hits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_Affair

[Deagle]

No recollection of a car on a circular track whatsoever. Someone said they 'try out' 10 questions in sect III each year that don't get marked. Any chance these vary across question papers?

[Ancient Geezer]

Pancorjack: you had questions regarding a circular track? I don't remember that. That is interesting. I heard that 10 of the 110 questions are not marked but preliminary trial questions. Maybe these differ from site to site, or are part of some kind of cheat detection system?

[Ancient Geezer]

Great minds...

[Deagle]

Knowing my luck our trial questions were one of the pathways I wasted loads of time on. Or the amino acid naming thing I was over the moon to understand... Or how about the press up questions? - didn't think the correct answer was listed for one of them (like I'd know...).

Ancient G - don't suppose you were in sunny Sheffield?

[pancorjack]

Yes, it looks like these 10 trial questions vary from paper to paper, may I ask what location you sat the gam at? I was in birmingham.
They probably trial diff. question in different places. Its quite annoying to think of potentially slaving over questions and maybe wasting time on them just so some Aussie can do some research with it. Oh well, gives them more time to watch the cricket!

The circular motion question involved the use of the formula F= (mv^2)/r . It was all about a car going round a track and calculating the forces on the inside wheels and the outside wheels, was nails hard for the very last question in this series (i'm no maths or physics slouch these are probably my strongest subjects).

[Ancient Geezer]

I was London.

Off the top of my head, questions I found hard were: bedbugs, rats-melatonin; a short one about some kind of valerate polymers; one about rabbits that was probably simple but my brain was going into spasm at that point; later parts of the cell question, especially the energetic favourability based on concentration. Lots more too.

Edit: Deagle: no, I am from just north of London.

Edit: just found this on valerates - looks good
http://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodiu...ethyl-ghb.html