Unit Synopsis
This unit will prepare you for university study in engineering or the physical sciences (which may include allied health). You will gain an introductory understanding of the basic concepts in physics and learn to apply the principles of physics to solve problems of a physical nature in everyday life. Topics covered in this unit include measurement, motion, forces and mechanics, atomic and nuclear physics, properties of matter, heat and thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism, waves, and optics. This unit assumes an intermediate level of mathematical knowledge.
Details
| Level | Non-award |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | Not Applicable |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Non-award unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Quiz(zes) | 20% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Examination | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 27.27% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Student feedback
Students found downloading from Echo360 difficult.
Include instructions for downloading Echo videos in the Moodle site.
Instructions were included, and will continue to be included.
Source: Student feedback
Students would like more sample assessments.
Include more sample written assessments, including references to textbook content for solutions.
Lecture and tutorial content specifically included more sample assessment questions.
Source: Student feedback
Students found practice quizzes helpful.
Continue to offer practice quizzes.
Practice quizzes continued and a new quiz was created.
Source: Students
Students would like more exercises.
Increase the number and range of questions in the tutorial sheets.
In Progress
Source: Students
Occasional errors in solutions and videos.
Review all materials and recreate any solutions that contain errors.
In Progress
Source: Students
Students appreciate personalised feedback on assessments.
Trial worked solutions videos for assignments.
In Progress
Source: Students
Students would like more practical applications.
Trial practical activity simulations.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Recall fundamental physics concepts and techniques
- Solve quantitative and qualitative problems using appropriate physics and mathematical techniques
- Analyse information using physics techniques
- Communicate physics in a competent, logical and professional manner
- Improve physics comprehension through effective reflective practice.
This course has no external accreditation.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Examination | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Self Management | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | ||
| 5 - Problem Solving | • | • | |||
| 6 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | |