# 9709/23 October/November 2018

> 9709/23 October/November 2018: 7 questions, 50 marks. Difficulty 0.38, deviation 0.17, algebraic 0.41, text density 0.24. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P2.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2018 October/November

This Mathematics 9709 Paper 2 (Pure Mathematics 2) paper contains 7 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
- 7 questions
- 50 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a)
- [All 9709 P2 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/)

Core finding

**9709/23 October/November 2018 is a past paper for CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 Paper 2 (Pure Mathematics 2), with 7 questions worth 50 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.38 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.17 and a mark split of 36.0% Easy, 48.0% Medium and 16.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.41; 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**: 0.38 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.17 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 36.0 / 48.0 / 16.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.41 — 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** | 0.38 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.17 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 36.0% Easy / 48.0% Medium / 16.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.41 | 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 | [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/) | 5 | 0.30 Easy | 0.30 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=27e9b020-561c-49e4-ad52-1c76261f94f6&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [5 Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/integration/) | 5 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=1c94a0ac-4b08-4058-b0b9-2ae8ea4cefb0&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/) | 5 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=77fb7216-b8b7-4cdd-9caa-2e4e4315bf9d&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/algebra/) | 8 | 0.29 Easy | 0.29 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=ecb63325-a4ff-4cc3-9d12-60f7c9cccc50&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/) | 9 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=e8d85614-10c3-43b5-a37b-0ae842c9a9b2&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [5 Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/integration/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=9850f418-4f7a-4ee0-a0da-8edd71b0ea54&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/differentiation/) | 10 | 0.59 Medium | 0.64 High | 0.40 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=305a3711-a460-4064-8c06-3dd5db119f6a&question_id=c58b8169-005f-4ee1-a345-c86f7b704141&source_detail=9709%2F23+October%2FNovember+2018) |

## 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/)
- [5 Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/integration/)
- [3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/trigonometry/)
- [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/)

## Related papers

- [9709/21](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2018-october-november-9709-21/) — October/November 2018 — 7 questions · 50 marks — Free
- [9709/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2018-october-november-9709-22/) — October/November 2018 — 7 questions · 50 marks — Free
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- [9709/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2018-may-june-9709-22/) — May/June 2018 — 7 questions · 50 marks — Free
- [9709/23](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2018-may-june-9709-23/) — May/June 2018 — 7 questions · 50 marks — Free
- [9709/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p2/2018-march-9709-22/) — March 2018 — 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 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 0.17, 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 36.0% Easy, 48.0% Medium and 16.0% 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-p2/2018-october-november-9709-23/