How to read a physics exam question

Reading is a skill in physics examinations, and it is trainable. Most students read a question once, in a hurry, and begin writing. The following process takes about twenty seconds and repays it several times over.

Read the last line first

Find out what is being asked before you absorb the story. The final instruction tells you which quantities matter, which makes the rest of the stem far easier to process.

Identify the command term

• State: give the answer, no reasoning required.
• Describe: give an account of what happens, without needing a cause.
• Explain: give reasons or causes. A description alone will not score.
• Deduce: reach a conclusion from given information, showing the link.
• Justify: support a claim with physics, usually with a specific principle named.

Mark the given data

Underline every number with its unit, and note anything given implicitly: a phrase such as "released from rest" is data, as is "smooth surface" or "constant velocity". Constant velocity, for instance, is a statement about the net force:

Decide the principle before the equation

Name the physics out loud: conservation of energy, Newton's second law, Kirchhoff's loop rule, conservation of momentum. Then choose the equation that expresses it. Choosing an equation first is how students end up with three lines of algebra that describe nothing.