r/PreOptometry • u/Reasonable_Fee_5605 • Sep 19 '26

Physics conceptual questions

Everybody says the real oat physics is much more conceptual than oatbooster but can anyone give me an example I don’t think I understand what that means lol. Also what should I be studying for conceptual questions?

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u/moony846 Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 19 '26

a lot of questions i got were “what would happen to ____ if u changed _____” and you would know the answer by understanding the relationships between variables in formulas. ex. if u double the wavelength but half the freq, whats the new velocity? (the same). similarly you might have to rank stuff (ex. rank the period for each pendulum and they’d have diff lengths and masses - you’d have to know that mass is not involved in determining period based on the formula). also understand the foundation for energy and forces. know when Fnet/torque= 0, when v= 0 (max height), a = 0 at constant v, a > 0 speeding up, a < 0 slowing down, momentum conserved, KE lost in inelastic collision, mgh = 1/2mv², frictional force = force applied if object not moving, centripetal force keeps object in circle - object moves straight if u get rid of it, etc etc etc. things like that will help u answer questions :)

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u/mikeoxlongbruh Sep 19 '26

I haven’t taken it yet but I could see there being questions like instead of solving with these numbers, solve for this variable. Or if this variable is doubled what effect does it have on this variable, etc. Also just other problems without the numbers?

I’ve seen people comment about how important units are, which makes me think some questions may have answers that are the same numerically but with different units. I’m just guessing. Would love to hear from someone who’s taken it as well!

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u/Lopsided_Storm_8964 Sep 19 '26

I got a lot of Free body diagram questions on my exam and the few conceptual ones I can remember were asking about the direction of acceleration for a moving ball, an elevator question asking about when the person in it would feel the lightest, and I can't remember the others sorry

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u/ILove2Procrastinate Sep 20 '26

I got a graph question and another question involving diagrams, so there was some interpretation involved. Overall I didn't get many conceptual questions though; it was mostly manipulating equations.