GCSE Physics Cheat Sheets

Revise GCSE Physics with free one-page cheat sheets. Each poster brings the key ideas from one topic together on a single page, so you can see how everything connects and spot anything you still need to learn.

GCSE Physics

Energy Stores, Transfers & Conservation
The 8 energy stores, 4 ways energy can be transferred, conservation of energy, useful vs wasted energy, and reducing wasted energy.
Energy Resources & Their Uses
Non-renewable vs renewable energy resources, their reliability, environmental impacts, main uses, and UK trends driving the shift to renewables.
Key Energy Equations
Six core energy equations covering kinetic, gravitational potential, elastic potential, specific heat capacity, work done, and efficiency, with worked examples.
Charge, Current, p.d. & Resistance
Circuit symbols, charge and current flow, potential difference and resistance equations, energy and charge, and resistance of a wire experiment.
Circuit Components & I-V Characteristics
I-V characteristics of ohmic conductors, filament lamps, and diodes, plus resistance behaviour of thermistors and LDRs.
Series & Parallel Circuits
Series vs parallel circuit rules for current, voltage and resistance, plus electrical power and energy formulas with worked examples.
Mains Electricity & the National Grid
A.C. vs D.C., the three-core cable, mains safety and fuse calculation, and how the National Grid uses transformers to transmit power efficiently.
Forces, Vectors & Free-body Diagrams
Scalars vs vectors, contact and non-contact forces, free-body diagrams, resultant force, and the relationship between weight, mass and gravitational field strength.
Radioactivity
Alpha, beta, gamma and neutron radiation types, radioactive decay equations, randomness, activity, count rate, and reading the half-life graph.
Radiation Hazards & Uses
Background radiation sources, irradiation vs contamination, effects on living tissue, precautions, and practical uses of alpha, beta and gamma radiation.
Fission & Fusion
Nuclear fission and fusion reactions, chain reactions, the mass-energy relationship, and a comparison of fuels, by-products, conditions and current uses.
The Solar System, Stars & the Expanding Universe
How a star's mass determines its life cycle, from dust and gas cloud through main sequence, red giant or supergiant, to white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole.