CIE IAL · Physics · 2024 October/November

9702/11 October/November 2024

This Physics 9702 Paper 1 (Multiple Choice) paper contains 40 questions worth 40 marks. The profile below reports five mark-weighted difficulty and complexity measures, and every question row repeats them. Full question text and the mark scheme require Pro access.

CIE IAL 9702 P1 40 questions 40 marks Pro paper

Core finding

9702/11 October/November 2024 is a past paper for CIE IAL Physics 9702 Paper 1 (Multiple Choice), with 40 questions worth 40 marks. Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.34 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.15 and a mark split of 50.0% Easy, 45.0% Medium and 5.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.28; text density and modelling average 0.36. All five measures use 40 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 40 parts carrying 40 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 40 parts, algebraic tags 40 and text-density tags 40. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

Difficulty Measure 0.34 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
Difficulty Deviation 0.15 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
Difficulty Ratio 50.0 / 45.0 / 5.0 % Easy / Medium / Hard
Algebraic Complexity Measure 0.28 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
Text Density and Modelling Measure 0.36 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 →

Definitions and calculation

MeasurePaper valueFormula
Difficulty Measure 0.34 Σ(di × wi) / Σwi, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75
Difficulty Deviation 0.15 √(Σwi(di − μ)2 / Σwi)
Difficulty Ratio 50.0% Easy / 45.0% Medium / 5.0% Hard marks in band / all tagged marks
Algebraic Complexity Measure 0.28 Σ(ci × marksi) / Σmarksi, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75
Text Density and Modelling Measure 0.36 Σ(ti × marksi) / Σmarksi, with t = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75

wi equals the part marks, except for a Hard part worth 4 or more marks, where wi = marks0.75 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.

QuestionTopicMarksDifficulty MeasureAlgebraic Complexity MeasureText Density and Modelling MeasurePractice
Q1
FRQ
1.2 SI units 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q2
FRQ
1.4 Scalars and vectors 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q3
FRQ
1.3 Errors and uncertainties 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q4
FRQ
1.1 Physical quantities 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q5
FRQ
2.1 Equations of motion 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q6
FRQ
2.1 Equations of motion 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q7
FRQ
3.1 Momentum and Newton’s laws of motion 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q8
FRQ
3.2 Non-uniform motion 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q9
FRQ
2.1 Equations of motion 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q10
FRQ
3.1 Momentum and Newton’s laws of motion 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q11
FRQ
3.1 Momentum and Newton’s laws of motion 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q12
FRQ
3.3 Linear momentum and its conservation 1 0.75Hard 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q13
FRQ
2.1 Equations of motion 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q14
FRQ
2.1 Equations of motion 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q15
FRQ
3.2 Non-uniform motion 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q16
FRQ
4.1 Turning effects of forces 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q17
FRQ
4.1 Turning effects of forces 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q18
FRQ
5.1 Energy conservation 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q19
FRQ
5.1 Energy conservation 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q20
FRQ
6.1 Stress and strain 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q21
FRQ
6.2 Elastic and plastic behaviour 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q22
FRQ
6.2 Elastic and plastic behaviour 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q23
FRQ
6.1 Stress and strain 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q24
FRQ
7.1 Progressive waves 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q25
FRQ
7.4 Electromagnetic spectrum 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q26
FRQ
1.2 SI units 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q27
FRQ
8.3 Interference 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q28
FRQ
7.1 Progressive waves 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q29
FRQ
7.2 Transverse and longitudinal waves 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q30
FRQ
8.4 The diffraction grating 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q31
FRQ
10.2 Kirchhoff’s laws 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q32
FRQ
10.3 Potential dividers 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q33
FRQ
9.2 Potential difference and power 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q34
FRQ
9.3 Resistance and resistivity 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q35
FRQ
10.1 Practical circuits 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q36
FRQ
10.2 Kirchhoff’s laws 1 0.45Medium 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q37
FRQ
10.1 Practical circuits 1 0.75Hard 0.45Medium 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q38
FRQ
11.2 Fundamental particles 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub
Q39
FRQ
11.1 Atoms, nuclei and radiation 1 0.45Medium 0.20Low 0.45Medium Go to Practice Hub
Q40
FRQ
11.2 Fundamental particles 1 0.20Easy 0.20Low 0.20Low Go to Practice Hub

Full questions and mark scheme

This paper is from 2024. Question text, options and the mark scheme are available with Pro access. The metadata above is public so you can still plan revision by topic and difficulty.

Open this paper

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 0.34 from 40 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 50.0% Easy, 45.0% Medium and 5.0% 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.