# 9709/23 October/November 2011

> 9709/23 October/November 2011: 8 questions, 50 marks. Difficulty 0.44, deviation 0.12, algebraic 0.44, text density 0.24. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P2.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2011 October/November

This Mathematics 9709 Paper 2 (Pure Mathematics 2) paper contains 8 questions worth 50 marks. The profile below reports five mark-weighted difficulty and complexity measures, and every question row repeats them. Full question text and mark scheme open in the Interactive Practice Hub.

- CIE IAL
- 9709 P2
- 8 questions
- 50 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282)
- [All 9709 P2 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/)

Core finding

**9709/23 October/November 2011 is a past paper for CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 Paper 2 (Pure Mathematics 2), with 8 questions worth 50 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.44 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.12 and a mark split of 12.0% Easy, 76.0% Medium and 12.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.44; text density and modelling average 0.24. All five measures use 13 part-level tags, not candidate results. Every question row below repeats them and opens the Interactive Practice Hub for that question.

## Difficulty & complexity profile

All five measures are mark-weighted and calculated from 13 parts carrying 50 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 13 parts, algebraic tags 13 and text-density tags 13. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.44 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.12 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 12.0 / 76.0 / 12.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.44 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.24 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low

Scale: Easy 0.20 · Medium 0.45 · Hard 0.75, and Low 0.20 · Medium 0.45 · High 0.75 for the two complexity measures. [How each band is defined and how the values are calculated →](https://www.examsci.com/guides/difficulty-and-complexity-measures/)

### Definitions and calculation

| Measure | Paper value | Formula |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Difficulty Measure** | 0.44 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.12 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 12.0% Easy / 76.0% Medium / 12.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.44 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.24 | Σ(t_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with t = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |

w_i equals the part marks, except for a Hard part worth 4 or more marks, where w_i = marks^0.75 to offset the accessible starter steps inside long structured questions.

## Question list

Each measure is recalculated from the parts of that question and uses the same weights as the paper profile.

| Question | Topic | Marks | Difficulty Measure | Algebraic Complexity Measure | Text Density and Modelling Measure | Practice |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Q1** FRQ | [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/) | 3 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=e5e1a403-c95c-4cc2-a564-a3f0516cd904&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/) | 4 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=6354e06f-404a-4ee8-83b7-2152959db6e1&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/) | 5 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=3fe7e2e1-a704-4e63-bb83-044f9c8b3389&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/) | 6 | 0.41 Medium | 0.41 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=237f00b8-9ea1-4759-a26d-6a817f3ac203&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=0e870cb9-3372-4908-919f-c598ad053694&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/) | 8 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=498569db-81f1-49a6-842d-c88594b99fa4&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.31 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=b73927e9-8f26-4a32-94b2-ba6fc0410377&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/) | 9 | 0.62 Hard | 0.65 High | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2bb498e5-6b23-4b6d-908b-6591f58ae282&question_id=8d2fef57-545c-4f93-8eec-f2a40ec3b34e&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2011) |

## Topics in this paper

- [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/)
- [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/)
- [2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/)
- [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/)
- [5 Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/integration/)
- [6 Numerical solution of equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/numerical-solution-of-equations/)

## Related papers

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## Paper FAQ

**How are the difficulty and complexity measures calculated?**

Each part is weighted by its official marks. Difficulty uses Easy 0.20, Medium 0.45 and Hard 0.75; algebraic complexity and text density and modelling use Low 0.20, Medium 0.45 and High 0.75. A Hard part worth 4 or more marks is down-weighted to marks^0.75, so the accessible starter steps inside a long structured question do not inflate the difficulty result. This paper's Difficulty Measure is 0.44 from 13 parts.

**What does the Difficulty Deviation show?**

It is the mark-weighted standard deviation of the part difficulty values around the paper mean. A value of 0 would mean every tagged part has the same difficulty; this paper's deviation is 0.12, so its parts are more mixed than a single-level paper.

**Is the Difficulty Ratio based on question counts or marks?**

It is based on official marks, not question counts. This paper's shares are 12.0% Easy, 76.0% Medium and 12.0% Hard; the three shares sum to 100% before rounding.

**Are these official difficulty ratings?**

No. They are derived from the platform's part-level difficulty and static-question-profile tags. They are not exam-board grade boundaries and are not calculated from candidate outcomes. Use them to compare the demand profile of papers, not to predict a grade.

**Why does each question row show its own measures?**

Each row recalculates the same mark-weighted formula from that question's parts. A single-part MCQ therefore shows the tag value directly, while a multi-part structured question blends the tags of its parts using the same Hard-part decay as the paper profile.

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Full page with native tables, bar charts and Practice Hub links: https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2011-october-november-9709-23/