This study explores how 33 young women construct their identities and make meaning of their experiences in the meeting with post-compulsory upper secondary school physics. Through an identity framework the interplay between the young women and the disciplinary educational context is explored. The study draws on survey-data and semi-structured individual interviews with the young women. Using a thematic analysis, the findings show a celebration of exactness combined with a hierarchal learning process building on top of prior knowledge. Exactness was especially expressed as a similarity to mathematics but also in being able to follow a manual and fitting experiments into theory. The hierarchal learning made lower secondary school physics essential for following the lessons. Consequently, upper secondary school physics offered limited possibilities to form a sense of identity, especially when not being able to transfer competences from lower secondary school or when being unsure about performing the exactness.