National Curriculum

KS3 Physics Topics

69 lessons across 10 units

This is the complete topic map for KS3 Physics— every part of the national curriculum for Key Stage 3, organised the way it's taught: 69 lessons across 10 units, from Electricity to Waves. Each topic below opens a focused revision lesson, so “what should we look at tonight?” always has an answer.

Electricity13 lessons

Current in parallel

Electric current

Electrical resistance

Fixing faulty circuits

Mains electricity

Making a series circuit

Measuring voltage

Parallel circuits

Static electricity

Voltage in parallel

Energy2 lessons
Forces15 lessons

Balanced and unbalanced forces

Different kinds of force

Floating and density

Friction

Levers and moments

Reducing friction

Stretching springs

What forces do

Heating and cooling4 lessons

Cooling

Heating and energy transfer

Measuring temperature

Light10 lessons

Pinhole camera

Reflection from mirrors

Seeing in colour

Visible spectrum

Magnetism5 lessons

Electromagnets

Increasing electromagnet strength

Magnetic field lines

Magnetic poles

Motion7 lessons

Distance-time graphs

Sound3 lessons

Reflecting and absorbing sound

Sound vibrations

Space5 lessons

Day and night

Gravity in space

Seasons and Earth's tilt

Stars, galaxies, universe

The solar system

Waves5 lessons

Water waves

What KS3 Physics covers

The course is organised into 10 units: Electricity (13 lessons), Energy (2 lessons), Forces (15 lessons), Heating and cooling (4 lessons), Light (10 lessons), Magnetism (5 lessons), Motion (7 lessons), Sound (3 lessons), Space (5 lessons) and Waves (5 lessons). Together that's 69 lessons — the whole course, with nothing skipped and nothing added.

How to revise with this page

Little and often beats cramming. One topic a night, done properly — read it, try the questions, check yourself — moves a grade more than a weekend binge the week before the exam. The list above is deliberately complete so you can tick through it a topic at a time.

Start from what's coming up, not from the beginning. If a class test or mock is near, open the unit it covers and work through those topics first. Between assessments, work through units in order — later topics usually build on earlier ones.

For parents:you don't need to know the subject to help. Ask which topic tonight's lesson was, open it here, and let them teach it back to you — explaining something out loud is one of the most effective revision techniques there is. At KS3 the habit matters more than the coverage: little routines now are what GCSE revision gets built on.

Common questions

What topics are in KS3 Physics?

KS3 Physics covers 69 topics across 10 units: Electricity, Energy, Forces, Heating and cooling, Light, Magnetism, Motion, Sound, Space and Waves. Each topic on this page opens a focused revision lesson.

How many topics are in KS3 Physics?

There are 69 topics in KS3 Physics, grouped into 10 units.

Is KS3 Physics the same for every exam board?

KS3 Physics follows the national curriculum, so it isn't tied to a specific exam board — boards like AQA and Edexcel set GCSE specifications (Key Stage 4), not KS3. This page lists the national-curriculum topics for KS3 Physics.