Practice test for the physics catch-up exam, liceo scientifico.
The September exam is just around the corner. Before rereading the whole book, find out in exactly one hour where you really lose points: 20 timed questions on your year’s programme, with a score, weak points by topic and the correct answer to every exercise; the step-by-step solution unlocks with your first lesson.
Choose your year and start.
The catch-up exam is the test an Italian high-school student sits in late August or September to make up a subject failed during the school year; the liceo scientifico is the science-oriented high school.
Test in ItalianThe questions of this simulator are in Italian, as in the real exam.
- Year 1
Physics catch-up exam, Year 1
- Measurement, significant figures and errors
- Vectors, forces and equilibrium of a particle
- Equilibrium of a rigid body, moments and levers
- Geometric optics
- …and more
- Year 2
Physics catch-up exam, Year 2
- Fluid statics: Pascal, Stevin, Archimedes
- Thermology: scales, expansion, specific heat, latent heat
- 1D kinematics: uniform and uniformly accelerated motion, graphs, free fall
- The laws of dynamics and their applications
- …and more
- Year 3
Physics catch-up exam, Year 3
- Motion in the plane: projectile, circular, harmonic; Galilean relativity
- Work, energy, conservation; momentum and collisions
- Fluid dynamics: flow rate, continuity and Bernoulli’s theorem
- Gravitation: Kepler, Newton, field, satellites
- …and more
- Year 4
Physics catch-up exam, Year 4
- Mechanical waves and sound (interference, standing waves, dB, Doppler)
- Wave optics: Young, diffraction, gratings
- Electrostatics and direct current: Coulomb, field, potential, Ohm, circuits
- Magnetostatics: B field, Lorentz, Ampere
- …and more
How the catch-up works, in brief.
What does the real physics catch-up exam look like?
As with maths, most schools set a written test of 90–120 minutes, often with numerical exercises (motion, forces, circuits) plus a few theory questions. A pass is a 6 out of 10: basic formulas and applying them in the simple cases, without demanding advanced reasoning.
Are the questions on my year’s programme?
Yes: there is a separate practice test for each year (Year 1, 2, 3 and 4), built on the typical programme of the liceo scientifico for that year. If your programme is different, also try the test for the adjacent year.
Do the questions cover modern physics too?
No: relativity and quantum physics are Year 5 material and stay outside this practice test, which covers Years 1–4. Most of the exam stays on mechanics, thermodynamics, waves, electrostatics, circuits and magnetism — the topics that come back most often in real catch-up exams.
How long does it take to prepare for the September exam?
With 2–3 weeks of targeted revision you almost always make it. The method that works: first the practice test to find the gaps, then exercises only on those 2–3 topics, then the practice test again to check. If you want a hand, 6–8 targeted lessons are usually enough to arrive calm.
Are the solutions free?
The marking is: the correct answer to every question and your weak points by topic reach you by email — with an account you see them straight away on this page. The step-by-step explained solution, on the other hand, unlocks with your first lesson.
A few weeks to the exam?
Take the practice test, then we look at the results together in a free diagnostic: I tell you honestly how many lessons you need and on which topics. Usually 6–8 targeted lessons are enough to make up the subject calmly. See also physics tutoring and the maths catch-up practice test.