# 9709/22 May/June 2017

> 9709/22 May/June 2017: 8 questions, 50 marks. Difficulty 0.38, deviation 0.11, algebraic 0.37, text density 0.23. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P2.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2017 May/June

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=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5)
- [All 9709 P2 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/)

Core finding

**9709/22 May/June 2017 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 0.38 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.11 and a mark split of 28.0% Easy, 72.0% Medium and 0.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.37; text density and modelling average 0.23. All five measures use 14 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 14 parts carrying 50 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 14 parts, algebraic tags 14 and text-density tags 14. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.38 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.11 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 28.0 / 72.0 / 0.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.37 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.23 — 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** | 0.38 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.11 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 28.0% Easy / 72.0% Medium / 0.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.37 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.23 | 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 | [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/) | 3 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=cefd508e-574e-45df-b2b7-dcc6a290df2b&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/) | 4 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=6b6dfb24-0469-4cc9-9ec6-c38afcedc34d&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [6 Numerical solution of equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/numerical-solution-of-equations/) | 5 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=a0d082d3-1a99-4b49-9500-6d7915b6da17&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/) | 5 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=75c7f424-35fb-42ab-b483-b7312973e83e&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=0dbd7502-6b4f-4e8f-b766-b420d09f86bf&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/) | 7 | 0.45 Medium | 0.38 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=fbdbcb6d-57ca-4a67-b514-f21bfc811383&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=f95e0431-d450-407b-9695-a2470eb2d1ed&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/) | 11 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=5513a002-2bbd-4a31-aca4-a3b64c322ec5&question_id=927c4bf8-8f3f-4c1e-ab42-51cc6c1b5eac&source_detail=9709%2F22+May%2FJune+2017) |

## Topics in this paper

- [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/)
- [6 Numerical solution of equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/numerical-solution-of-equations/)
- [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/)
- [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/)

## Related papers

- [9709/21](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2017-october-november-9709-21/) — October/November 2017 — 7 questions · 50 marks — Free
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- [9709/21](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2017-may-june-9709-21/) — May/June 2017 — 8 questions · 50 marks — Free
- [9709/23](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2017-may-june-9709-23/) — May/June 2017 — 8 questions · 50 marks — Free
- [9709/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2017-march-9709-22/) — March 2017 — 7 questions · 50 marks — Free

## 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 0.38 from 14 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 0.11, 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 28.0% Easy, 72.0% Medium and 0.0% 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-p2/2017-may-june-9709-22/