The first block of Year 2 is linear systems, and a system is not a new topic: it is two first-degree equations solved one inside the other. If a single equation takes you three minutes, a system takes you six — and the test lasts an hour. The same goes for physics: the statics of fluids in September is all pressure, and pressure is a force divided by an area; without the weight force from Year 1 it is a drawing with no numbers. The review that follows takes up exactly these three pieces, before the rest of the year leans on them.
The syllabus, block by block
First-degree equations, also fractional and literal. In Year 2 they are no longer the chapter: they are the tool. Every linear system solved by substitution ends up in one of these, and so does every geometry problem.
“Discussing” an equation with a parameter means writing all three cases, not stopping at the first.
First-degree inequalities. The rules are those of equations, with just one difference: multiplying or dividing by a negative number flips the direction. From you get , not .
Forces, weight and pressure. Year 2 opens with the statics of fluids — Stevin, Pascal, Archimedes — and they are all pressure formulas.
Friction and Hooke’s law come back all year; pressure is the formula from which Stevin and Archimedes are born.
The mistakes that cost the most
From an equation like you never divide by : dividing by a quantity that might be zero throws away the solution . You take out a common factor, you don’t divide: .
In inequalities, moving a term from one side to the other is an addition: the direction does not change. It flips only when you multiply or divide by a negative number — not every time a minus sign appears.
In physics, “weighs 60 kg” is not a weight: kilograms measure mass. Weight is a force, you get it by multiplying by , and only that — in newtons — can be divided by an area to get a true pressure. Anyone who skips this step gets numbers that look like pascals but are not, and doesn’t notice until the result is absurd.
To review the same topics from Year 1 you will find the simulated tests on equations and first-degree inequalities, and the one on fluid statics for the chapter that opens the year; on the linear systems that come right after there is the guide to the four methods. For the fractional equations and systems of inequalities that appear during the year there is fractional equations and inequality systems in Year 2, and for radicals radicals and rationalisation.
If you prefer guided revision instead of working alone, maths and physics tutoring start exactly from here — write to me and we’ll see where to concentrate the first lessons.
