# 9702/21 May/June 2016

> 9702/21 May/June 2016: 7 questions, 60 marks. Difficulty 0.36, deviation 0.15, algebraic 0.28, text density 0.35. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P2.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2016 May/June

This Physics 9702 Paper 2 (AS Structured) paper contains 7 questions worth 60 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
- 9702 P2
- 7 questions
- 60 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a)
- [All 9702 P2 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/)

Core finding

**9702/21 May/June 2016 is a past paper for CIE IAL Physics 9702 Paper 2 (AS Structured), with 7 questions worth 60 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.36 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.15 and a mark split of 40.0% Easy, 51.7% Medium and 8.3% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.28; text density and modelling average 0.35. All five measures use 32 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 32 parts carrying 60 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 32 parts, algebraic tags 32 and text-density tags 32. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.36 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.15 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 40.0 / 51.7 / 8.3 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.28 — 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** | 0.36 | 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** | 40.0% Easy / 51.7% Medium / 8.3% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.28 | 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 | [1.1 Physical quantities](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/) | 7 | 0.54 Medium | 0.38 Medium | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=8d7c56a5-698d-4582-93a1-a0640d035d95&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [1.4 Scalars and vectors](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/scalars-and-vectors/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=05e42002-a8eb-43dd-922c-93d4fc1652bd&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [4.2 Non-uniform motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/non-uniform-motion/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.36 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=f801d561-a68c-4302-b1dc-757ce53d99bc&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [6.3 Potential energy and kinetic energy](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.26 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=ae69d153-9c49-4e10-b992-13d7e99406b4&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [14.1 Progressive waves](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/progressive-waves/) | 11 | 0.40 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.40 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=eb89abf7-f2bd-4afa-9ffe-b88cc636894b&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [19.1 Electric current](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/electric-current/) | 12 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=c7470ab7-5e95-4c93-8aee-78fc57d7e60d&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [26.2 Fundamental particles](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/fundamental-particles/) | 5 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=281656c4-5cf4-4577-8ad0-b3abf7db283a&question_id=7dd13cbe-ac77-42ec-8d3b-1414d83c5558&source_detail=9702%2F21+May%2FJune+2016) |

## Topics in this paper

- [1.1 Physical quantities](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/)
- [2.2 Errors and uncertainties](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/errors-and-uncertainties/)
- [5.4 Density and pressure](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/density-and-pressure/)
- [1.4 Scalars and vectors](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/scalars-and-vectors/)
- [3.1 Equations of motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/equations-of-motion/)
- [4.2 Non-uniform motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/non-uniform-motion/)
- [5.3 Equilibrium of forces](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/equilibrium-of-forces/)
- [4.1 Momentum and Newton’s laws of motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/momentum-and-newton-s-laws-of-motion/)
- [4.3 Linear momentum and its conservation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/linear-momentum-and-its-conservation/)
- [6.3 Potential energy and kinetic energy](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/)
- [9.1 Stress and strain](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/stress-and-strain/)
- [9.2 Elastic and plastic behaviour](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/elastic-and-plastic-behaviour/)

## Related papers

- [9702/21](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-october-november-9702-21/) — October/November 2016 — 7 questions · 60 marks — Free
- [9702/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-october-november-9702-22/) — October/November 2016 — 6 questions · 60 marks — Free
- [9702/23](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-october-november-9702-23/) — October/November 2016 — 7 questions · 60 marks — Free
- [9702/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-may-june-9702-22/) — May/June 2016 — 8 questions · 60 marks — Free
- [9702/23](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-may-june-9702-23/) — May/June 2016 — 8 questions · 60 marks — Free
- [9702/22](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-march-9702-22/) — March 2016 — 6 questions · 60 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 0.36 from 32 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 40.0% Easy, 51.7% Medium and 8.3% 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/physics/9702-paper-2/2016-may-june-9702-21/