Welcome to the second part of our five-part series on how to achieve a perfect score in your Physics Internal Assessment (IA). In this article, we will delve into Criteria A. While it's only 2 marks, it can be quite easy to miss out on these simple marks. Our Criteria B article is now out as well.
Moving on, this criteria assesses the extent to which the student engages with the exploration and makes it their own. Personal engagement may be recognized in different attributes and skills. However, the criteria has 2 main requirements:
- Requirement 1: The choice of the topic is justified through apparent personal significance, interest, or curiosity.
- Requirement 2: Evidence of personal input and initiative in the designing, implementation, or presentation of the investigation is present
Requirement 1: Apparent personal significance, interest, or curiosity.
This requirement is generally fulfilled in your ‘introduction’ section, where you get to elaborate on the idea and your process of coming up with and consolidating on an idea.
We recommend that you first choose a topic that genuinely interests you, and second, consider writing a personal anecdote that led you to choosing your topic.
Example 1: Let’s say you were writing your IA on the relationship between air pressure and rebound height of balls. Consider writing a connection with your interest with the sport football, and how investigating this concept could give you insights on juggling with different air pressures.
The beauty is in making it seem important to you. Make it look like you are depending on the results of this research to help you elsewhere in your life, like you’re invested in it.
What Not to Do
- Don't write a lengthy justification for your purported fascination with the subject. Instead, write a short and concise description of what led you to taking this topic similar to how it was explained above.
- We do not recommend including a section named “personal interest” at the start of your IA. You can describe your personal interest in your introduction.
Requirement 2: Personal input and initiative in the designing, implementation, or presentation
This section involves showing evidence of independent thinking, creativity, or initiative in the designing, implementation or presentation of the investigation. What does this mean? Here are few ways you can achieve this:
- Add a picture of your experimental setup where you’ve labeled the apparatus and the required unique construction particular to your method and research.
- If you created a structure, track, etc, or anything specifically for this experiment, show the designs and dimensions of them through images and describe how and why you made them.
- If applicable, create an ‘Evolution of the plan’ section in your IA that shows how your experimentation changed over time. For example, you could explain all the different errors or issues you faced during your initial experimentation, and how you dealt with them by altering your experimental setup/ design to make it more suitable in the exploration of your research question.
Conclusion
In conclusion, achieving a perfect score in the Physics Internal Assessment (IA) Criteria A requires a high degree of personal engagement. This involves choosing a topic of personal significance, interest, or curiosity, and demonstrating personal input and initiative in the design, implementation, or presentation of the investigation.
By following the guidelines and examples provided, you can meet 100% of the requirements of Criteria A and enhance your overall IA grade.
You can also check out our new article on maximizing your Physics IA scores in Criteria B.