# 9709/53 October/November 2020

> 9709/53 October/November 2020: 7 questions, 50 marks. Difficulty 0.35, deviation 0.12, algebraic 0.23, text density 0.41. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P5.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2020 October/November

This Mathematics 9709 Paper 5 (Probability & Statistics 1) 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 P5
- 7 questions
- 50 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37)
- [All 9709 P5 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/)

Core finding

**9709/53 October/November 2020 is a past paper for CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 Paper 5 (Probability & Statistics 1), with 7 questions worth 50 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.35 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.12 and a mark split of 38.0% Easy, 62.0% Medium and 0.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.23; text density and modelling average 0.41. 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 50 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**: 0.35 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.12 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 38.0 / 62.0 / 0.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.23 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.41 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium

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** | 0.35 | 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** | 38.0% Easy / 62.0% Medium / 0.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.23 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.41 | 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 | [5.5 The normal distribution](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/the-normal-distribution/) | 6 | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=9d4e9549-e5ff-4aed-b42b-d78d0885a8e7&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [5.4 Discrete random variables](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/discrete-random-variables/) | 5 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.25 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=558fa346-b9d0-4267-ae28-765e089aff0a&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [5.2 Permutations and combinations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/permutations-and-combinations/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=e7c5f2d7-2fe7-4575-b0df-9119fdffcd25&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [5.4 Discrete random variables](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/discrete-random-variables/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=313561e0-ae99-4928-861e-2bb958fd03e9&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [5.2 Permutations and combinations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/permutations-and-combinations/) | 7 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=ff584025-9700-4625-839b-72238894a0f1&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [5.3 Probability](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/probability/) | 8 | 0.29 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=aaf2ca9d-3ea5-4aa2-8e08-328d781c155d&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [5.1 Representation of data](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/representation-of-data/) | 10 | 0.38 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=dad34b90-eafc-4079-b37c-713319d63f37&question_id=db8277b3-ef0d-4410-96d3-5e8f819ba5d7&source_detail=9709%2F53+October%2FNovember+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [5.5 The normal distribution](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/the-normal-distribution/)
- [5.4 Discrete random variables](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/discrete-random-variables/)
- [5.2 Permutations and combinations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/permutations-and-combinations/)
- [5.3 Probability](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/probability/)
- [5.1 Representation of data](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/representation-of-data/)

## Related papers

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- [9709/52](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p5/2020-march-9709-52/) — March 2020 — 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 0.35 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 0.12, 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 38.0% Easy, 62.0% 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-p5/2020-october-november-9709-53/