# 9709/73 May/June 2017

> 9709/73 May/June 2017: 7 questions, 50 marks. Difficulty 0.43, deviation 0.12, algebraic 0.27, text density 0.35. CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 P7.

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CIE IAL · Mathematics · 2017 May/June

This Mathematics 9709 Paper 7 (Probability & Statistics 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 P7
- 7 questions
- 50 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca)
- [All 9709 P7 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/mathematics/9709-p7/)

Core finding

**9709/73 May/June 2017 is a past paper for CIE IAL Mathematics 9709 Paper 7 (Probability & Statistics 2), with 7 questions worth 50 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.43 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.12 and a mark split of 14.0% Easy, 78.0% Medium and 8.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.27; text density and modelling average 0.35. All five measures use 16 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 16 parts carrying 50 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 16 parts, algebraic tags 16 and text-density tags 16. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.43 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.12 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 14.0 / 78.0 / 8.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.27 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.35 — 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** | 0.43 | 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** | 14.0% Easy / 78.0% Medium / 8.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.27 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.35 | 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 | 4 Sampling and estimation | 3 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=cb977f63-4f54-48ac-9553-60872e59a522&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q2** FRQ | 4 Sampling and estimation | 4 | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=2dfcb667-19b5-4f55-9be4-52a3a5253b74&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q3** FRQ | 2 Linear combinations of random variables | 5 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=de4ec8fe-cb20-4135-8254-b45b29a60181&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q4** FRQ | 4 Sampling and estimation | 8 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=78933a86-0bf1-4de8-803f-a6a6260176be&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q5** FRQ | 1 The Poisson distribution | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=96a97f9b-ffda-40dd-98f2-f9fb64021c1b&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q6** FRQ | 3 Continuous random variables | 10 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=26ed7b8e-b9d7-4938-b499-8367598f0555&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q7** FRQ | 5 Hypothesis tests | 11 | 0.51 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=19b4650d-08e8-402d-be8c-45fc07ec46ca&question_id=ce541903-a915-4529-af67-39fa9c7d8b45&source_detail=9709%2F73+May%2FJune+2017) |

## 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 0.43 from 16 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 14.0% Easy, 78.0% 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-p7/2017-may-june-9709-73/