A-Level · 20 August 2026 · 6 min
Is A-Level physics hard? An honest answer after 30 years
Updated 10 September 2026
Students ask me this every spring, usually while choosing their subjects: is A-Level physics as hard as everyone says? After thirty years of teaching it, my honest answer is: it is hard in a specific, predictable way — and the difficulty is badly misunderstood.
A-Level physics is not hard because it demands brilliance. It is hard because it demands structure, and most students arrive without any.
What actually makes it hard
Three things. First, the reasoning gets longer: IGCSE questions are one or two steps, A-Level questions chain five or six, and a single early error poisons everything after it. Second, precision becomes mandatory — definitions must be word-perfect, and vague answers that scraped marks at IGCSE score zero. Third, at A2 the subject turns abstract: fields, oscillations and nuclear physics cannot be pictured from everyday life the way forces and circuits can.
Notice what is not on that list: the mathematics. The maths of A-Level physics is modest — algebra, trigonometry, gradients. Students who blame the maths are almost always struggling with the structure of the reasoning, not the calculation.
Who struggles — and it is not who you expect
The students who hit the wall hardest are often the ones who cruised IGCSE on memory. Memorization carried them through recall-heavy papers, and A-Level quietly switches the test to reasoning. Meanwhile, students taught from first principles — even ones with weaker IGCSE grades — often accelerate, because the subject finally rewards how they think.
A-Level physics is not hard because it demands brilliance. It is hard because it demands structure.
What changes the outcome
The same things, every year. Rebuilding topics from first principles so derivations are owned rather than memorized. Training answers in mark-scheme language from the first week. A rhythm of homework and regular exams so gaps surface in October, not in June. And when the abstractions arrive at A2, reducing each to a procedure that works whether or not the topic can be visualized.
For A-Level Physics, I report long-term results of 35% A* and 90% A*/A across my teaching history. These are my historical figures, rather than a measured result for the latest exam cohort. The student-results page includes examples of individual outcomes and student feedback.
Should you take it?
If engineering, medicine, computer science or the physical sciences are anywhere in your plans: yes, and take it seriously from September. A-Level physics remains one of the most respected subjects on any university application precisely because it is hard — hard the way a mountain with a good path is hard. The path matters more than the slope.