Exam Emphasis: The heaviest unit and the foundation of everything that follows.

What You’ll Learn:

• Electric charge — conservation, quantisation, and the forces between charges.

• Coulomb's law — calculating electric force between point charges; superposition of forces.

• The electric field — defining E as force per unit charge; field due to point charges and continuous charge distributions.

• Gauss's law (integral form) — ∮E·dA = Q_enc/ε₀; choosing the correct Gaussian surface based on symmetry; applying it to spherical, cylindrical, and planar charge distributions.

• Electric potential — V as work per unit charge; V from point charges; relationship between E and V via E = -∇V.

• Equipotential surfaces and their geometric relationship to field lines.

• Energy of a system of charges — potential energy and work done by the electric field.

Exam Emphasis: High-frequency FRQ territory — capacitor energy and dielectrics appear almost every year.

What You’ll Learn:

• Conductors in electrostatic equilibrium — field inside is zero; charge resides on surface; field just outside is perpendicular.

• Capacitance — C = Q/V; parallel plate capacitor; cylindrical and spherical capacitors derived using Gauss's law.

• Energy stored in a capacitor — U = ½CV² = ½QV = Q²/2C.

• Dielectrics — how an insulating material between capacitor plates increases capacitance; the dielectric constant κ.

• Capacitors in series and parallel — equivalent capacitance.

• Electric field energy density — energy stored per unit volume in an electric field.

Exam Emphasis: One of the most calculation-intensive units; RC circuit behaviour is heavily tested.

What You’ll Learn:

• Current, resistance, and Ohm's law — microscopic view of current; drift velocity; resistivity.

• Kirchhoff's junction rule (KCL) and loop rule (KVL) — derived from conservation of charge and energy.

• Series and parallel resistor configurations — equivalent resistance.

• Power dissipation in resistors — P = IV = I²R = V²/R.

• RC circuits — charging and discharging; differential equation derivation; time constant τ = RC; exponential behaviour of q(t), i(t), V(t).

• Solving multi-loop circuits systematically using Kirchhoff's laws.

Exam Emphasis: Biot-Savart and Ampere's law both appear regularly; force problems appear in MCQ.

What You’ll Learn:

• Magnetic force on moving charges — F = qv × B; circular motion of charged particles in magnetic fields.

• Magnetic force on current-carrying conductors — F = IL × B.

• Force between parallel current-carrying wires.

• Biot-Savart law — dB = (μ₀/4π)(I dl × r̂)/r²; calculating B due to straight wires, circular loops, and solenoids.

• Ampere's law (integral form) — ∮B·dl = μ₀I_enc; using it for infinite wires, solenoids, and toroids.

• Magnetic field inside a solenoid — B = μ₀nI.

• Hall effect — charge separation in conductors moving in magnetic fields.

Exam Emphasis: Faraday's law and Lenz's law appear in almost every released FRQ paper.

What You’ll Learn:

• Magnetic flux — Φ_B = ∫B·dA; calculating flux through various surfaces.

• Faraday's law of induction — EMF = -dΦ_B/dt; the rate of change of flux drives an induced EMF.

• Lenz's law — the induced current creates a magnetic field opposing the change in flux; applying it to determine direction.

• Motional EMF — EMF = BLv for a conductor moving in a magnetic field.

• Self-inductance — L = -EMF/(dI/dt); energy stored in an inductor U = ½LI².

• LR circuits — differential equation for current growth and decay; time constant τ = L/R.

• LC circuits — oscillatory behaviour; energy exchange between electric and magnetic fields; angular frequency ω = 1/√(LC).

Exam Emphasis: Conceptually integrating unit — ties all previous physics into a unified framework.

What You’ll Learn:

• The four Maxwell's equations in integral form — Gauss's law for electricity, Gauss's law for magnetism, Faraday's law, Ampere-Maxwell law.

• Displacement current — Maxwell's extension of Ampere's law to include changing electric flux.

• How changing electric fields produce magnetic fields and vice versa — the basis of electromagnetic wave propagation.

• Electromagnetic waves — speed of light c = 1/√(μ₀ε₀); the relationship between E and B in a wave.

• The electromagnetic spectrum and the energy carried by EM waves.

• Conceptual understanding of how Maxwell's equations unify electricity and magnetism into a single theoretical framework.