Technique Masterclasses

Mechanics 1

Error Pattern Tracker

Provenance: written 2026-09-29. Every error-pattern category below, and every "confirmed in N series" count attached to it, is drawn from three already-verified documents in this repo — research/veridian/WME01-verified-facts.md (§3 mark-scheme conventions, §4 per-topic verified content, §6 lesson-worthy topics, §9 per-lesson audits), content/veridian/technique-hub/wme01/forge-exam-technique-guide.md (§4 Common-Error Digest), and content/veridian/technique-hub/wme01/signal-frequency-and-boundaries.md (the cross-series signal section) — no new primary-source PDF mining was done for this document. content/veridian/question-bank/wme01.ts's two fully-worked January 2025 questions were checked for corroborating detail (e.g. exact partial-credit stakes) and cited where they add something the three documents above don't already state. The self-tracking log, the tally sheet, and the pre-practice checklist are new — templates, not sourced content — built to let a student log their own timed-practice mistakes against the same categories this course's own research already confirmed recur on real papers. No likelihood percentage or grade boundary is invented anywhere below: every count is "seen in N of M series checked," and every category that this pass could not cross-verify beyond one series says so plainly rather than rounding up.

This document does not repeat any lesson file's own worked examples, mechanism blocks, or MCQs — each category below points at the real lesson file (or FORGE/SIGNAL section) that already teaches the full worked fix. Use this document to notice and log a pattern in your own practice; use the linked file to learn it properly.

FORGE · WME01 Error Pattern Tracker

Pearson Edexcel IAL Mechanics 1 (WME01/01)

How to use this

  1. After every timed practice paper (or even a single question done under exam conditions), mark it against your answer using the real mark scheme.
  2. For every mark you lost to something other than "I didn't know the physics," find the closest category in Part 1 below and log it in Part 2's table — one row per mistake, however small.
  3. Every few sessions, transfer your tallies into Part 3. A category that keeps recurring across your own papers is exactly the kind of finding this course's own research process looks for in Pearson's archive — treat your own repeat offenders with the same seriousness the facts bank treats a trap confirmed in three or four series.
  4. Before your next timed paper, read Part 4.

This tracker assumes you already know the M/A/B/DM mark-coding system (method, accuracy, independent, dependent-method marks) — see forge-exam-technique-guide.md §2 if you don't yet.

Part 1 — The confirmed WME01 error-pattern watchlist

Eleven categories, built by re-sorting this course's own already-verified WME01 findings by error type rather than by topic or by exam series (topic-by-topic traps live in each lesson file; series-by-series frequency lives in SIGNAL). Log against these numbers in Part 2.

1. Sign / direction discipline

Reporting a signed velocity where the question asked for an unsigned speed (or vice versa) — the single most consistently confirmed error in the whole WME01 archive.

2. Equation completeness (a missing, extra, or mismatched term)

An M-mark equation with the wrong number of terms, or a term that doesn't belong to the same physical quantity throughout — the mark scheme's own rule is that a missing mass or length is a method error, not just an accuracy slip (facts bank §3).

3. Quantity-type confusion (mass vs weight vs force vs coefficient)

Substituting the wrong kind of quantity into an equation — a force treated as a mass, a weight written as a bare mass figure, or a coefficient used without the mg factor it belongs to.

4. Two-stage or multi-body motion treated as one

Using a single suvat equation (or a single acceleration, or a single time variable) across what is actually two separate physical phases, two separate bodies, or two separate start times.

5. Reference-point choice (moments)

Zeroing the wrong reaction at a tilting point, or reaching for a second independent moments equation where choosing the tilting pivot would eliminate the unknown in one line.

6. Vector and bearing component handling

Pairing a bearing's sine/cosine components to the wrong axis, substituting the wrong angle into the cosine rule on a triangle of forces, mistaking a stated direction vector for the resultant itself, or treating a coupled two-unknown vector equation as if each component solves independently.

7. Answer-format mismatch

A numerically correct method that stops one step short of the exact form the question asked for.

8. Graph construction and labelling

A velocity-time or speed-time graph's shape mark lost to a wrong corner, a wrong slope comparison, or a mislabelled axis.

9. Command-word and working discipline

Losing marks for how an answer is presented rather than for the physics itself: an unexplained final step, an unjustified root rejection, a critique-the-model answer that drifts from the model actually stated, or a conclusion asserted without the numbers behind it.

10. Rounding and the g-value convention

Using g = 9.81 instead of the value printed on the front of the paper, or rounding a step before the final answer.

11. Method-choice efficiency (not itself a marked error, but examiner-flagged as raising error risk)

A valid method chosen where a more efficient, equally-creditable one was available — logged separately from Categories 1–10 because nothing here is wrong on its own, but each instance below is one Pearson's own examiners explicitly link to a higher chance of the errors above.

Part 2 — Your self-tracking log

Copy this table into your own working document (or extend it directly here) and add one row per lost mark, straight after marking each timed paper. Be specific in "What I actually did" — a category number alone won't help you three weeks from now; the sentence will.

Session dateSource practised (series / paper)Q#Spec topicCategory (1–11)What I actually didWhat was requiredMarks lostFix for next time
e.g. 2026-10-03Jun 2023 WME01Q34.2 connected particles2Left out one particle's weight component when writing its equation of motionEvery force on that particle resolved, including weight2 (M1 A0)Draw a separate force diagram for each body before writing any equation — see category 2

Part 3 — Category tally across sessions

Every few sessions, count how many times each category appears in Part 2 and enter it below. A category with a rising total across three or more of your own sessions deserves the same weight this course gives a trap confirmed across three or more real exam series (see Categories 4, 5, and 9 above for what that standard looks like in Pearson's own archive).

#CategorySession 1Session 2Session 3Session 4Session 5Session 6Total
1Sign / direction discipline
2Equation completeness
3Quantity-type confusion
4Two-stage / multi-body motion
5Reference-point choice (moments)
6Vector and bearing component handling
7Answer-format mismatch
8Graph construction and labelling
9Command-word and working discipline
10Rounding / g-convention
11Method-choice efficiency

Part 4 — Before your next timed practice

A short, real checklist — every line traces to a category above, not to generic exam advice.

Genuine gaps flagged, not papered over