GioPhysics University Physics · Physics I–V, Quantum Mechanics I–II, Advanced QM and QFT I
University Physics practice examinations
A midterm and a final for each of the nine University Physics courses, from calculus-based mechanics to quantum field theory, with a mark-by-mark answer to every part and questions graded from entry points up to the derivations that separate the top grade.
Written by GioPhysics from its own University Physics course maps. These are practice examinations in a university style: they are not the examinations of any university, contain no past-paper questions, and carry no academic credit. For a course you are taking, your instructor's syllabus and past papers remain the authority. GioPhysics University Physics course maps
- Courses
- 9
- Papers
- 18
- Questions
- 292
- Marks
- 1713
How these courses are examined
Each course has the two papers a university course is examined by: a midterm on the first half of its units, and a cumulative final weighted towards the second half. Every paper combines short conceptual multiple-choice items with structured problems, a data or estimation question, and at least one extended derivation. Constants are given where a question needs them; a calculator and your own formula sheet are assumed.
Pitched at what a strong course grade requires rather than at what a homework set rehearses. Routine substitutions carry few marks; most sit on problems that have to be set up before they can be solved, on derivations from a named law, and on checking a result against its limits. Every paper still opens with entry points, so you can tell which marks you should be securing first.
University Physics I
The University Physics I course map
Calculus-based mechanics through energy: units, uncertainty and dimensional reasoning; motion in one and two dimensions; force models built from system boundaries and connector constraints; work done by variable forces; and potential-energy landscapes analysed with an explicit system and reference level. Every written question is set so that the model has to be built before anything can be substituted.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
13 questions · 73 marks · 90 minutes
→UPI · FinalUniversity Physics I — Final examinationThe whole of calculus-based mechanics, weighted to the second half of the course: momentum and collisions, rotational kinematics and dynamics, angular momentum and precession, static equilibrium and elasticity, gravitation and orbits, and oscillations, with fluids as an extension. Kinematics, Newton's laws, work and energy are sampled from the first half, and every answer is expected to name the system, the conservation law and the approximation it rests on.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
18 questions · 116 marks · 150 minutes
→University Physics II
The University Physics II course map
Electrostatics through magnetic forces: charge and Coulomb's law, electric fields and Gauss's law, electric potential, capacitance and dielectrics, DC and multi-loop circuits with RC transients, and the Lorentz force on moving charges. Most marks sit on setting up a field, circuit or force model before calculating, and on testing every result against symmetry, conservation and limiting cases.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
13 questions · 72 marks · 90 minutes
→UPII · FinalUniversity Physics II — Final examinationA cumulative final on calculus-based electricity, magnetism, optics and modern physics, weighted towards sources of magnetic fields, electromagnetic induction, inductance and AC circuits, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic waves, geometric and physical optics, and the photon and matter-wave evidence of modern physics. The earlier units return through superposed Coulomb forces and stable equilibrium, electric potential, capacitor design, internal resistance, RC transients and charged-particle motion.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 117 marks · 150 minutes
→University Physics III
The University Physics III course map
Oscillations, mechanical waves and wave phenomena, geometric and physical optics, and temperature and kinetic theory: derive the equation of motion, the total phase or the molecular flux before quoting a formula, then test each result against the approximation that made it valid.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
14 questions · 74 marks · 90 minutes
→UPIII · FinalUniversity Physics III — Final examinationThe whole of University Physics III, weighted towards its second half: oscillations, waves, optics and kinetic theory, then thermodynamic cycles and entropy, special relativity, the Schrödinger equation, the hydrogen atom and nuclear energetics. Most marks are for building a model from a named law, auditing it against conservation laws and the second law, and checking where its approximations break.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 118 marks · 150 minutes
→University Physics IV
The University Physics IV course map
Where classical physics stops and what replaces it: Planck's quanta and the photoelectric evidence, the Lorentz boost and four-momentum, photons and matter waves, and the Schrödinger equation solved for the square well and the harmonic oscillator.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
13 questions · 73 marks · 90 minutes
→UPIV · FinalUniversity Physics IV — Final examinationThe whole of modern physics and introductory quantum mechanics, weighted towards the second half of the course: angular momentum and spin, the hydrogen atom, many-electron atoms, solids, nuclei, particles and the frontier, with the evidence for quanta, special relativity and the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation sampled throughout. Every result is expected to survive its classical or non-relativistic limit.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 116 marks · 150 minutes
→University Physics V
The University Physics V course map
Examines Units 1 to 10: states and Hermitian operators in Dirac notation, the experimental case for quanta, Born's rule and unitary evolution, the box, the finite well and tunnelling, the oscillator's ladder, commutators and the Robertson bound, and angular momentum and spin one-half.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
14 questions · 72 marks · 90 minutes
→UPV · FinalUniversity Physics V — Final examinationA cumulative final on University Physics V, weighted towards its second half: the hydrogen atom, multi-electron atoms and spectroscopy, nuclear structure and decay, fission and fusion, particle classification, the Standard Model, conservation-law audits and quantum information, with the state-space, spin and oscillator methods of the first half sampled throughout.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 120 marks · 150 minutes
→University Quantum Mechanics I
The University Quantum Mechanics I course map
The first eight units on one paper: the experiments that forced a wavefunction, the Schrödinger equation and its probability current, operators, measurement and uncertainty, the free particle, the infinite and finite square wells, and tunnelling at steps and barriers. Every probability is an integral of |ψ|², and every coefficient is matched region by region before it is quoted.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
14 questions · 74 marks · 90 minutes
→UQMI · FinalUniversity Quantum Mechanics I — Final examinationThe whole of Quantum Mechanics I, weighted towards the second half of the course: the harmonic oscillator by series and by ladder operators, Dirac notation and two-state systems, angular momentum and spin-½, and the Schrödinger equation in three dimensions through to hydrogen. The wavefunction, operators, measurement, wells and tunnelling from the first half are sampled throughout.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 118 marks · 150 minutes
→University Quantum Mechanics II
The University Quantum Mechanics II course map
The first eight units of Quantum Mechanics II on one paper: the spherical harmonics and the hydrogen radial functions derived rather than quoted, spin and charge in magnetic fields, composite systems and density operators, rotations and the addition of angular momentum, time-independent perturbation theory, identical particles, and the fine structure of hydrogen. Every degenerate perturbation is diagonalised in the basis its symmetry picks out, and the results the course quotes rather than derives, such as the Thomas factor and the Darwin term, are given in the stems.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
14 questions · 74 marks · 90 minutes
→UQMII · FinalUniversity Quantum Mechanics II — Final examinationThe whole of Quantum Mechanics II, weighted towards the second half of the course: external fields and hyperfine structure, the variational principle, WKB, time-dependent perturbation theory and radiation, Berry's phase, and scattering. The spherical harmonics, hydrogen, spin in fields, density operators, angular momentum, perturbation theory and identical particles from the first half are sampled throughout.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 118 marks · 150 minutes
→University Advanced Quantum Mechanics
The University Advanced Quantum Mechanics course map
The first eight units of Advanced Quantum Mechanics on one paper: time reversal and Kramers degeneracy, identical particles scattering with spin, the Klein–Gordon equation and its exact Coulomb levels, Dirac's free spinors and their boosts, the exact Dirac–Coulomb spectrum, and the Klein step, Zitterbewegung and hole theory. The extended derivation takes the Dirac equation to its non-relativistic limit and derives g = 2, the spin–orbit term with its Thomas half and the Darwin term, which Quantum Mechanics II quoted.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
14 questions · 74 marks · 90 minutes
→UAQM · FinalUniversity Advanced Quantum Mechanics — Final examinationThe whole of Advanced Quantum Mechanics, weighted towards the second half: quantised fields and spin-statistics, second quantisation, the radiation field and spontaneous emission, Bethe's Lamb shift, open systems and the Bose gas. Symmetries, identical-particle scattering, the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations, g = 2 and exact Dirac hydrogen are sampled from the first half.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
18 questions · 114 marks · 150 minutes
→University Quantum Field Theory I
The University Quantum Field Theory I course map
The first eight units of Quantum Field Theory I on one paper: the Feynman propagator derived by contour, the Gell-Mann–Low formula and Wick's theorem, symmetry factors and Feynman rules read off a Lagrangian, Källén–Lehmann and LSZ, decay rates and cross-sections carried to seconds and barns, one-loop φ⁴ in dimensional regularisation with its beta function and Landau pole, and the signs and traces of Yukawa theory with Dirac fermions. The data question fits a resonance against the s-wave unitarity limit, and the extended derivation quantises the photon covariantly, derives its propagator in every covariant gauge and checks the Ward identity on Compton scattering by a charged scalar, down to Thomson's cross-section.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
14 questions · 73 marks · 90 minutes
→UQFTI · FinalUniversity Quantum Field Theory I — Final examinationThe whole course, weighted towards its second half: QED at tree level by traces and crossing, C, P and T on quantised fields, the self-energy and the Ward–Takahashi identity, vacuum polarisation and the running of α, g − 2 with the infrared cancellation, and the Lamb shift at order α(Zα)⁴, with the first half's propagators, rates and one-loop φ⁴ sampled.
- Multiple choice
- Structured
- Data analysis
- Free response
19 questions · 117 marks · 150 minutes
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