Mike Jackson, Physics Subject Advisor

As we move into the second year of the Cambridge Advanced National in Applied Science, year 13 students will begin or continue with their first optional NEA unit.

Optional unit F186, Medical physics, explores how physics principles are applied in modern medical diagnostics and treatments.

In this blog, I’ll share tips to help teachers get the most out of lessons, prepare students for their coursework and get ready for moderation.

Planning for delivery

Making the most of Cambridge OCR resources

All our key teaching resources are on Teach Cambridge. Our scheme of work for F186 is designed to be comprehensive so that teachers have extensive support to choose from, and edit, using their professional judgement. The number of teaching hours will vary across centres and we are aware that this can present a challenge. Reviewing the scheme of work can help you plan for students’ independent preparation work or follow-up to reinforce the key learning. Our Subject knowledge support sections at the end of topics are very useful for non-specialists and early-career teachers.

Two set assignments are available on Teach Cambridge, with different date ranges. Using the most recent assignment, with a date range that goes beyond your students’ intended submission date, will give the maximum flexibility if students need to resubmit, or submit later than planned. However, you can use either assignment – just make sure you adhere to the dates. Remember that these live assignments cannot be used for student practice or formative assessment.

Support for the NEAs is available within the Teacher Guide and Student Guide, along with the online training. You can access past and live training opportunities through the “Training” tab in Teach Cambridge.

There is also sample assignment material available for F186 along with full commentary on our candidate style work examples.

Other useful resources

ZigZag Education has produced a Course Companion for this unit. You can see a preview of this, with the current pricing, on their website.

If you have a medical centre or hospital department nearby, you might be able to arrange a visit to show students the sophisticated techniques listed in the specification in real life, or perhaps someone could visit your school or college. STEM Learning’s Ambassadors can enrich your lessons with data, graphs or practical work, while giving students insights into their careers and education journeys.

A number of professional bodies and online resources provide images, videos, case studies, career information, and patient leaflets about treatment and diagnostic techniques. Check out the following:

• Radiopaedia has a vast source of case studies with quiz questions.
• The NHS Youtube channel has very accessible videos. Use the search function in the channel to directly find the content you need.
• Radiology Masterclass is designed to support trainee radiographers, and is also a great source of images. Use the ‘Galleries’ section to find well explained images.
• The Society of Radiographers site is useful for information about the roles of practitioners and patient safety.
• Similarly, the British Institute of Radiology provides lots of information for patients and interested students, especially on radiotherapy.
• The British Nuclear Medicine Society has some very detailed information. Check out ‘patients and carers’, ‘careers’, ‘schools and students’, and their own YouTube channel.

Preparing students for the assignment

The content in the specification for this unit includes diagnosis and therapy. Thorough teaching of this content will give students the best opportunity to understand and respond to their assignment.

Command words

Explanation and justification are key to the Merit criteria. Distinction criteria require a good ability to analyse and evaluate as well. Students will need to be familiar with how to respond to these command words, which are found in Appendix B of the specification and in Understanding the Assessment.

Students may benefit from practise and feedback against these command words, particularly in the context of diagnosis and therapy using ionising and non-ionising techniques. They may also need reminding to plan their responses in advance to give them the best chance to develop clear and concise responses that fully respond to the criteria.

Feedback from assessments

As expected, few centres attempted the F186 NEA in the first year of this qualification but the F180 examiners’ report offers some insight into students’ understanding of related physics from earlier in the course. For June 2026 the examiners’ comments suggest that many students found it challenging to carefully differentiate between types of scans in the context of ultrasound, or to use key terminology carefully (for example distinguishing between waves and scans).

Ensuring students can differentiate between the diagnosis and treatment, as well as ionising and non-ionising techniques, and the different types of scan may be important to emphasise and assess informally ahead of completing the assignment. Ultrasound exemplifies this well with the terms diagnostic ultrasound and therapeutic ultrasound.

Use of simulators

Some aspects of diagnosis and treatment require students to visualise in 3D. Remember that some students may find this more challenging, depending on how developed this skill is and their wider experiences. Physical modelling may help along with simulations.

Simulations can be developed very quickly and easily with Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps, such as Figma. Simply tell the app what you would like to simulate and it will generate the output. You can then tweak this further if required. No specialist coding knowledge is needed but you should always check the output carefully before using it.

Supporting classroom discussions

The content of this unit and its assignments are likely to lead to sensitive or triggering conversations about cancer, traumatic injuries, or death. It would be valuable to consider how to broach these more difficult ideas carefully with your students. Be sure to give warnings about what content is coming up, discuss the need to be sensitive to the varieties of experiences students may already have with the subject content, and make sure they know who they can speak with for more support.

FAQs and reminders

What depth of understanding is required around different diagnosis and therapy techniques?

Students do not need to demonstrate understanding beyond the specification (though they may do so after carrying out their own research).

How do we know what conditions the patients have?

Only the information provided in the assignment is needed. There is no need to know the exact conditions of the patient to be successful, in keeping with potential real-life medical scenarios. Students are also not expected to have specialist knowledge beyond the specification.

What information should be referenced?

Students should reference any ideas that are not their own. A date should be included (whether a published date for offline resources or an accessed date for online).

What resources are suitable for research?

Students should carry out their research independently for the assignment. As well as those listed above, the following sources could be used. Please remember to use the specification to guide the required content for this unit:

• The UK government website provides medical imaging information.
• NHS careers provides information on many careers, including healthcare professionals. It also gives a basic overview of the differences between imaging as ionising and non-ionising and diagnostic and therapeutic radiography.
• The extensive NHS tests and treatments resource includes ECGs (and other heart diagnosis and treatment), endoscopy, laser eye surgery, pacemakers and photodynamic therapy and radiotherapy. Proton beam therapy is within the specialised service section of the website.
• The Scottish NHS website gives a clear summary of different scans.
• Cancer Research UK provides detailed information on a wide range of scans and tests and a therapy page.
• MacMillan Cancer Support has further guides to various tests and scans alongside their radiotherapy page. Note that the explicit cancer link may be upsetting for some.

Further points

Once students are working on their assignments also remember:

• Guided learning hours are a guide. The time you make available to students is up to you but will obviously have a limit for practicality of marking and moderation, etc.
• You can support students where necessary if they are stuck but your assessment and annotation should reflect this. This does not prevent students from continuing with other criteria in the assessment – every mark matters!
• Moderation can be made more straightforward with clear annotation of work, including where criteria are met and using the Unit Recording Sheet (URS).
• Students do not need to work in exam conditions but the JCQ instructions on conducting non-examination assessments (VTQs) do apply, including being vigilant for malpractice and reporting it where it is suspected.

Stay connected

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About the author

Mike joined Cambridge OCR in January 2024 and is a subject advisor for physics. Mike completed an MA in Education (by Research) at the University of Birmingham in 2014. Before joining Cambridge OCR, he was a teacher for over 15 years, with roles included Acting Assistant Head, Head of Science, Physics Network Lead for a trust, a STEM Learning Facilitator and an SLE for Science. Mike is passionate about inclusion in education, environment and sustainability.

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