Preparing for the Pat - 2024
Welcome to the 'Preparing for the PAT' course run by the Department of Physics at Oxford University on behalf of all subjects which require the PAT as part of their admissions process. Over the coming months, this page will be populated with question books, solutions, videos and event recordings.
Click here for our introduction to physics problem solving, "How to be a physicist".
The workbooks and solutions used throughout this course are listed here for ease of access now that the course has finished:
About the course
The 2024 PAT course will consist of four study focus webinar sessions, four problem sets with solution webinars, three summer assignments and numerous Isaac physics boards.
Study Focus Webinars
The Study Focus webinars are led by physics teachers or by the physics access officer. The sessions will focus on developing problem solving skills which will help with tackling some of the questions within the PAT and with the practicalities of the PAT itself.
Solution Webinars
The Study Focus webinars are led by current undergraduates. The sessions provide an idea of how the PAT problem sets might be solved.
Three summer assignments
These will consist of sets of questions to help develop thinking skills and problem solving techniques.
Recording and Other Materials
Recordings of the webinars, the workbooks used in them and the problem sets for home study used in 2024 course, will be added below as they become available.
Webinar 1, 19th June 2024 - Study Focus Session 1 (problem solving skills)
- Click here for the problems used in Study Focus Session 1
- Click here to watch the recording of the session on YouTube
- Click here for problems to solve in advance of Webinar 2
Webinar 2, 26th June 2024 - Solutions Webinar 1 (general problem solving)
Webinar 3, 3rd July 2024 - Study Focus Session 2 (waves and optics)
- Click here for the problems used in Study Focus Session 2
- Click here to watch the recording of the session on YouTube
- Click here for problems to solve in advance of Webinar 4
Webinar 4, 10th July 2024 - Solutions Webinar 2 (waves and optics)
Summer Assignments and PAT Problem Solving Videos
- Click here for the PAT Problems YouTube Channel
- Click here for the 1st Summer Assignment
- Click here for the video solutions to the 1st Summer Assignment
- Click here for the 2nd Summer Assignment
- Click here for the video solutions to the 2nd Summer Assignment (available on 7th August 2024)
- Click here for the 3rd Summer Assignment
- Click here for the video solutions to the 3rd Summer Assignment
Webinar 5, 11th September 2024 - Study Focus Session 3 (exam technique for the new PAT format)
- Click here to watch the recording of the session on YouTube
- Click here for problems to solve in advance of Webinar 6
Webinar 6, 18th September 2024 - Solutions Webinar 3 (circular motion)
Webinar 7, 25th September 2024 - Study Focus Session 4 (tricky problem solving)
- Click here for the problems used in Study Focus Session 4
- Click here to watch the recording of the session on YouTube
- Click here for problems to solve in advance of Webinar 8