My account Contact me

CEGEP • Montreal

Mechanics, 203-SN1-RE (formerly 203-NYA)

Mechanics is the first physics course of the Sciences de la nature program. It has been 203-SN1-RE since the program was revised (200.B1, introduced in CEGEPs from fall 2024) and was 203-NYA in the former program: the chapters are the same, and every set that matches the new course outline carries both codes. The difficulty is almost never the arithmetic. It lies in turning a problem statement into a correct free-body diagram, and that is exactly what these exercises train.

9 fully corrected exercise sets (107 exercises), 9 revision sheets, and a practice paper. Free, no account needed. The same course in French.

Measurement and kinematics

  1. 1 Measurement, uncertainty and graph analysis in the lab The experimental side shared by the three physics courses of the revised program, in fifteen exercises. The basics: reading an instrument and writing a result, sums and differences, products and powers, the extreme-values method on the pendulum, the differential method on the range of a projectile. The problems: mean and standard deviation of repeated measurements, linearizing the period of a pendulum, five statements to correct, free fall and extreme lines, the stiffness of a spring by two methods. The classics: rounding a result, photogate and kinetic energy, relative difference and consistency, the thickness of a sheet of paper, the work of friction obtained as a difference. Sheet
  2. 2 Kinematics in one and two dimensions Position, velocity and acceleration by differentiation, then by integration of a variable acceleration, reading a velocity-time graph, free fall from a bridge, a chase between constant velocity and constant acceleration with a general proof. Then motion in two dimensions: vector calculus with tangential and normal components, a projectile clearing a wall, a throw from a height and the two angles of the same range, a river crossing and centripetal acceleration. Sheet
  3. 3 Vector kinematics in two and three dimensions Uniformly accelerated motion written with vectors, with an acceleration that is not necessarily gravity. The basics: three legs on a compass bearing, average velocity and acceleration between two states in three dimensions, differentiating a position vector in 3D, the angle between velocity and acceleration, a puck whose minimum coordinate and minimum speed do not occur at the same instant. The problems: a gust that turns a drone, the horizontal launch from a table, five statements to correct, the speed graph of a ball in flight and a spacecraft docking with a space station. Sheet

Dynamics and conservation laws

  1. 4 Dynamics, Newton's laws and friction A suspended traffic light in equilibrium, apparent weight in an elevator, static against kinetic friction, a round trip on a rough inclined plane and a two-mass pulley system. Then an exam-level part: the third law with three blocks in contact and the horse-and-cart paradox, the banked curve, the vertical circle and the conical pendulum, stacked blocks where friction becomes the driving force, and fluid friction up to the terminal speed of a skydiver. Sheet
  2. 5 Work, energy and power The work done by each force on a crate being pulled, the work of a variable force read as the area under a curve, the stopping distance that grows as the square of the speed, the pendulum and its tension at the bottom, a spring followed by a rough patch. Then an exam-level part: the vertical spring and its two potential energies, the power of a car climbing a hill, the loop-the-loop, the slide whose shape does not matter, and reading a motion from a potential energy curve. Sheet
  3. 6 Momentum and collisions The impulse of a volleyed soccer ball, then impulse read as the area under a force-time curve, railcars coupling and the fraction of energy lost, the elastic collision solved with two conservation laws, an astronaut's recoil. Then an exam-level part: the centre of mass from the angler in his boat to the shell that explodes in flight, the collision at an intersection, the proof of the billiard 90 degrees, the ballistic pendulum and rocket propulsion. Sheet

Rotation, equilibrium and gravitation

  1. 7 Rotation of rigid bodies Rotational kinematics and the linear quantities of a point on the body, torque and lever arm, the moment of inertia derived by integration with the parallel-axis and perpendicular-axis theorems, the hinged rod that beats free fall and the race down an incline. Then an exam-level part: work and power in rotation with the full energy balance of a winch, conservation of angular momentum, the Atwood machine with a massive pulley, the friction behind rolling up to the yo-yo, and the vector nature of angular momentum from the rotating stool to the precession of a top. Sheet
  2. 8 Static equilibrium The two conditions of equilibrium and why one alone is not enough, the beam on two supports, the distributed load and the overhang, the centre of gravity of a composite body and the ladder against the wall. Then an exam-level part: sliding or tipping and the rollover of a truck on a curve, the lever from the crowbar to the forearm, the three concurrent forces theorem, the crane boom and its cable, and the elasticity of a steel cable up to the factor of safety. Sheet
  3. 9 Universal gravitation The inverse-square law, the circular orbit and the myth of weightlessness, the field inside the Earth and the tunnel through it, Kepler's laws recovered by Newton, the energy of an orbit and escape speed. Then an exam-level part: the elliptical orbit made quantitative with the law of areas, the point of zero field and the tides, weighing a celestial body from Cavendish to exoplanets, putting a satellite into orbit, and escape speed all the way to the Schwarzschild radius. Sheet

When the chapters are done

A full paper under exam conditions, on the whole course. Do it once every chapter is behind you: it measures what you can do on a question you have never seen.

Practice exam

Practice final exam: all of mechanics, 203-SN1-RE

A 3-hour final exam that runs through the whole mechanics course: working back from a motion to the forces, a projectile that lands on a slope, the sling whose string snaps, the spring that pushes two blocks apart, a descent followed by a collision and then friction, the ball that bounces infinitely often in four seconds, a child jumping onto a merry-go-round, the sign that the wind tips over, the winch, a probe's gravity assist, and five claims to check.

  • 12 questions
  • 100 points
  • 180 minutes
Sit the paper

Need support and not only exercises? CEGEP tutoring in Montreal

Looking for a tutor in Montreal?

Get in touch for a first session. We work on exercises set at the real level of your CEGEP's exams, in English or in French.

Contact me WhatsApp
Site by Studio Squalli