# 9709/31 May/June 2020

> 9709/31 May/June 2020: 10 questions, 75 marks. Difficulty 0.40, deviation 0.14, algebraic 0.37, text density 0.26. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P3.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2020 May/June

This Mathematics 9709 Paper 3 (Pure Mathematics 3) paper contains 10 questions worth 75 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 P3
- 10 questions
- 75 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238)
- [All 9709 P3 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/)

Core finding

**9709/31 May/June 2020 is a past paper for CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 Paper 3 (Pure Mathematics 3), with 10 questions worth 75 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.40 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.14 and a mark split of 26.7% Easy, 65.3% Medium and 8.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.37; text density and modelling average 0.26. All five measures use 22 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 22 parts carrying 75 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 22 parts, algebraic tags 22 and text-density tags 22. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.40 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.14 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 26.7 / 65.3 / 8.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.37 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.26 — 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** | 0.40 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.14 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 26.7% Easy / 65.3% Medium / 8.0% 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** | 0.26 | 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 | [3.2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/) | 4 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=611ada7b-bb8a-49e3-9d86-6a4203c0d314&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [3.1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/algebra/) | 5 | 0.40 Medium | 0.40 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=c80cbcbd-7d14-4d6d-882f-099be53b1553&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [3.3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/trigonometry/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=7063069a-210f-4d5c-ae79-ce1f4fa1569c&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [3.4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differentiation/) | 6 | 0.37 Medium | 0.37 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=4a8fe0ba-edd8-4185-a3b1-82499a304eec&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [3.1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/algebra/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=7ff56cd1-70ea-4731-8d80-200ef49e2fda&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [3.3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/trigonometry/) | 8 | 0.29 Easy | 0.29 Low | 0.29 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=199075bc-610b-4dea-b634-a6df02df236c&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [3.4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differentiation/) | 8 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=2993f8dd-33fb-4aea-820d-c1b08e173de3&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [3.8 Differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differential-equations/) | 9 | 0.42 Medium | 0.42 Medium | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=f7abd17a-597e-4d1e-8381-6e3bc66bfc9b&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [3.7 Vectors](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/vectors/) | 9 | 0.40 Medium | 0.31 Low | 0.31 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=3fe279b9-be0f-4d2f-ba97-be7308fcb66f&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [3.9 Complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/complex-numbers/) | 12 | 0.44 Medium | 0.30 Low | 0.28 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=30d827e6-7a05-4ddb-93bb-64f6a01bb238&question_id=a705dab2-20ce-44b3-8d7b-857d50150068&source_detail=9709%2F31+May%2FJune+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [3.2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/)
- [3.1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/algebra/)
- [3.3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/trigonometry/)
- [3.4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differentiation/)
- [3.5 Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/integration/)
- [3.6 Numerical solution of equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/numerical-solution-of-equations/)
- [3.8 Differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differential-equations/)
- [3.7 Vectors](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/vectors/)
- [3.9 Complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/complex-numbers/)

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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 0.40 from 22 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 0.14, 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 26.7% Easy, 65.3% Medium and 8.0% 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-p3/2020-may-june-9709-31/