Make Your Own SUVAT Questions: Shortcut to IP Physics Confidence

Download printable cheat-sheet (CC-BY 4.0)

13 May 2025, 00:00 Z

“You smash past papers, but the moment the numbers change, panic hits.”
Good grades come from spotting patterns, not copy-pasting answers—and pattern-spotting grows fastest when you create your own twists.

The Quiet Worry in IP Homes

You top class quizzes, yet every fresh kinematics problem feels alien.

Time ticks, nerves spike, formulas fog up.

Practice papers pump answers into memory, but you rarely train yourself to see what stays the same when everything else changes.

My Odd Little Habit That Paid Off Big

Back in Sec 3 I used to mess with questions for fun:

Reverse the acceleration sign
Halve the time
Throw the ball backwards first

I was really asking, “Which parts actually matter?”

That game forced me to hunt the hidden rules behind SUVAT.

Years later, researchers gave fancy names to the trick—Variation Theory, Desirable Difficulties, Generative Learning—but the core idea is simple: tinker → guess → check.

Try It Now — Slide, Guess, Check

Drag the sliders for \(u, a, t\).
Guess what happens to \(s\) before the graph moves.
See if you nailed it.

That tiny guess lights up the learning centres far more than five copied worked solutions.

Quick Examples for Every SUVAT Equation

You just explored how changing \(u\), \(a\) and \(t\) affects the distance in \(s = ut + \frac{1}{2} a t²\). The other four formulas tell the same story from different angles. Try these quick variations:

\(v = u + at\) - Keep \(u = 2\) m/s and set \(a = -1\) m/s² for 3 s. Predict the final speed before checking the answer.
\(s = \frac{1}{2}(u + v)t\) - Start with \(u = 0\), pick any final speed \(v\) and halve \(t\). How does the distance change?
\(v² = u² + 2as\) - A cart starts at \(4\) m/s and comes to rest after moving 8 m. Guess the acceleration's sign and size.
\(s = vt - \frac{1}{2} a t²\) - Throw a ball upward at \(v = 10\) m/s while \(a = 9.8\) m/s² downward. Estimate how far it travels in the first second.

Make a rough guess each time, then verify. The aim isn't perfect accuracy - it is building a feel for how one tweak ripples through the rest of the numbers.

See Equation 3 in Action — Velocity-Time Area

A one-minute derivation of \(v²=u²+2as\) (no memorising needed):

Straight-line \(v-t\) graph. It begins at \(u\) and reaches \(v\) after a time \(t\).
Area under the line gives displacement.
\[ s = \frac{1}{2} (u+v)t \]
That same picture also tells you the width.
The slope is \(a\), so
\[ t = \frac{v-u}{a} \]
Substitute and tidy.
\[ s = \frac{1}{2} (u+v) \frac{v-u}{a} = \frac{v^2-u^2}{2a} \]
Multiply by \(2a\) and Re-arrange:
\[ v^2 = u^2 + 2as \]

Drag the sliders below and focus on how \(v, u, a, s\) co-operate in
\(v^2 = u^2 + 2as\).

Feel free to move \(t\) — that just stretches the trapezium sideways —
but remember the equation itself ignores \(t\).

The initial values are set up to mirror the problem statement 3 in the previous section:

A cart starts at \(4\) m/s and comes to rest after moving 8 m. Guess the acceleration's sign and size.

Things to try

Keep \(u\) fixed, change \(a\). Watch \(v\) and the shaded area \(s\) grow or shrink exactly so that \(v² - u² = 2as\) stays true.
Flip the sign of \(a\) or choose \(u > v\) and see the area turn negative — a neat reminder that displacement has direction, not just size.
Vary \(t\) for the same \(u\) and \(a\). Notice how the values of \(v\) and \(t\) change together.

Why Guess-and-Tinker Super-Charges Memory

Making a guess forces your brain to code the idea into memory.
Tweaking one number at a time reveals the unchangeables—the patterns examiners love.
Quick feedback tightens the “wrong-prediction → fix-prediction” loop that builds rock-solid intuition.

How to Build the Habit (IP Year 3 Plan)

After each homework set, invent two new versions. Write your guess, then the real answer.
Change one thing at a time before mixing tweaks.
Push extremes: let \(a = 0\) or \(t → 0\). Does the maths match your gut?
End each week by revisiting the surprises—they're the gold.

Why IP Students Need This Even More

Inquiry projects and wild internal papers reward flexible thinking.
Schools pack A-Level ideas early, so depth beats drill from Day 1.
Paper styles swing between schools; generative practice is your seatbelt.

Our Class = Your Lab

Max 8 students → we read every homemade question and show you how to improve it.
24/7 WhatsApp lifeline → snap a pic of your tweak, get a quick voice note back.