# 9709/33 October/November 2020

> 9709/33 October/November 2020: 11 questions, 75 marks. Difficulty 0.46, deviation 0.15, algebraic 0.49, text density 0.20. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P3.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2020 October/November

This Mathematics 9709 Paper 3 (Pure Mathematics 3) paper contains 11 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
- 11 questions
- 75 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928)
- [All 9709 P3 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/)

Core finding

**9709/33 October/November 2020 is a past paper for CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 Paper 3 (Pure Mathematics 3), with 11 questions worth 75 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.46 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.15 and a mark split of 12.0% Easy, 66.7% Medium and 21.3% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.49; text density and modelling average 0.20. All five measures use 17 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 17 parts carrying 75 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 17 parts, algebraic tags 17 and text-density tags 17. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.46 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.15 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 12.0 / 66.7 / 21.3 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.49 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.20 — 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** | 0.46 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.15 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 12.0% Easy / 66.7% Medium / 21.3% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.49 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.20 | 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 | [3.1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/algebra/) | 4 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=96c32a15-751c-4564-a4cb-fd30c9140a5c&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [3.9 Complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/complex-numbers/) | 4 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=d505a1a5-54eb-4d69-a425-f533782a4cab&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [3.3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/trigonometry/) | 5 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=95f40d69-d27a-4842-b01c-16ca4e7738b3&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [3.2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=e9a35696-8269-429c-8958-23853b8fdd7e&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [3.3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/trigonometry/) | 5 | 0.30 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=7b28be74-f813-4570-95a1-d589b529c6bf&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [3.3 Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/trigonometry/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=8b7bb469-8281-49d9-a4c3-b789fb92012c&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [3.9 Complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/complex-numbers/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=b9aeb342-68ca-45a7-bd11-75610819c925&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [3.8 Differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differential-equations/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=fda15998-6d37-499e-9316-225858bf14cf&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [3.1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/algebra/) | 10 | 0.57 Medium | 0.75 High | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=9377cc2a-6d6e-4d82-8041-77ab7759656b&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [3.4 Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/differentiation/) | 10 | 0.57 Medium | 0.60 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=6e8d8d45-55f9-4ce5-8782-8da03362b488&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [3.7 Vectors](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/vectors/) | 11 | 0.58 Medium | 0.61 High | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=086627cb-e617-484f-abc7-431aab41e928&question_id=45526844-c8a9-4c2c-a2aa-6254f1da5423&source_detail=9709%2F33+October%2FNovember+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [3.1 Algebra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/algebra/)
- [3.9 Complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/complex-numbers/)
- [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/)
- [3.2 Logarithmic and exponential functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/logarithmic-and-exponential-functions/)
- [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/)
- [3.5 Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/integration/)
- [3.7 Vectors](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p3/vectors/)

## 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 0.46 from 17 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 0.15, 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, 66.7% Medium and 21.3% 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-october-november-9709-33/