[scott_w]

> But leads to kids guessing.

Or, almost as bad, kids learning to approximate the answer. I aced too many multiple-choice physics exams in my GCSEs because the multiple choice was A) 1,000,000 B) 1,000 C) 100 D) 10. Without knowing the formula I was able to eyeball which numbers looked obviously wrong and just select the closest.

[whatshisface]

That's closer to real life physics than knowing formulas is!

[Ekaros]

You probably want to get units correct too. Say Newtons vs Kelvins vs Amperes... Still able to estimate right size is in general skill that should be taught.

[scott_w]

I don’t even think they taught that much, I’m pretty sure I learnt about Newtons in mechanics (A-level maths course), Kelvin from reading Wikipedia and Amps I think I knew because my dad worked in motor repairs. My knowledge is old now, pre-2008 before the Gove reforms.

[scott_w]

Perhaps but it’s set me up for awful work habits over the past 15 years!

[bell-cot]

> Or, almost as bad...

IIR, that problem-solving method is called "Fermi estimation" - after the Nobel-prize-winning physicist who was particularly skilled at doing it. Perhaps you're smarter than you give yourself credit for?

[sensanaty]

At least from what I remember in A-level physics, a lot of the multi-choice answers usually had 2 sets of answers, both of which were ambiguous and could be the correct answer. A few questions even had answers where they were all the same answer, just with the digits either transposed or the decimal point being different. Stuff like

A) 1.2e10 B) 1.2e9 C) 2.1e10 D) 2.1e11

[ovi256]

That sounds lovely and my guess is that order-of-magnitude estimation was the tested skill

[scott_w]

Honestly I think you’re giving British exam boards more credit than they deserve. You options were so ridiculous that you only needed to pay attention for 2 minutes out of a 1 hour lesson to realise what the answer was.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say I left the exam hall still none the wiser of what the actual formulae were!