# 9702/41 May/June 2016

> 9702/41 May/June 2016: 13 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.40, deviation 0.14, algebraic 0.26, text density 0.31. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2016 May/June

This Physics 9702 Paper 4 (A Level Structured) paper contains 13 questions worth 100 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 P4
- 13 questions
- 100 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 May/June 2016 is a past paper for CIE IAL Physics 9702 Paper 4 (A Level Structured), with 13 questions worth 100 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.40 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.14 and a mark split of 27.0% Easy, 65.0% Medium and 8.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.26; text density and modelling average 0.31. All five measures use 39 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 39 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 39 parts, algebraic tags 39 and text-density tags 39. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.40 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.14 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 27.0 / 65.0 / 8.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.26 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.31 — 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** | 0.40 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.14 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 27.0% Easy / 65.0% Medium / 8.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.26 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.31 | 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 | [8.4 Gravitational potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-potential/) | 8 | 0.50 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=3d83652a-2d22-4e17-ba1f-a032f5796e1e&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/) | 6 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=885bc832-d1aa-41cc-8b01-f8fdfae55c04&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 11 | 0.31 Easy | 0.27 Low | 0.36 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=1ae29b07-3a47-42bf-aa5a-b985d6757323&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [14.6 Production and use of ultrasound in diagnosis](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.45 Medium | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=654585fe-b3b0-49a6-a7dd-b95cdf83686a&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [16.3 Digital communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.42 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=03dfaf3a-0f7a-4b90-9092-60487450b4ca&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [17.5 Electric potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-potential/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=58a956f8-8194-4f96-9e83-c31f4dffa8d9&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [18.1 Capacitors and capacitance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/capacitors-and-capacitance/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=4b92a11e-9637-48dc-a3f1-54f8cb6efc68&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.45 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=8b3c4d3d-377b-449a-82c3-fffddd128c92&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [22.3 Force on a moving charge](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/force-on-a-moving-charge/) | 3 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=22bda360-092c-46a5-906d-94cfc22f678b&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [23.1 Laws of electromagnetic induction](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=c81fda4b-4721-4ede-abc8-87302b14039b&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [24.1 Characteristics of alternating currents](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/characteristics-of-alternating-currents/) | 7 | 0.27 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=5c6aab7b-f6f2-41fb-9c73-a4e2e0fccc47&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q12** FRQ | [25.5 Band theory](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=3b1e9ccf-35f2-4e6f-b4d2-f8f34768f262&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |
| **Q13** FRQ | [26.4 Radioactive decay](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/radioactive-decay/) | 6 | 0.41 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=2efb367a-3d6e-41a6-b81d-bb744cc695ba&question_id=cdc0be02-9d82-4d4a-80b5-5b010c3e21a1&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2016) |

## Topics in this paper

- [8.4 Gravitational potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-potential/)
- [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/)
- [1.3 The Avogadro constant](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [10.3 Kinetic energy of a molecule](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [11.2 Temperature scales](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/temperature-scales/)
- [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/)
- [13.2 Energy in simple harmonic motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/energy-in-simple-harmonic-motion/)
- [13.3 Damped and forced oscillations, resonance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/damped-and-forced-oscillations-resonance/)
- [14.6 Production and use of ultrasound in diagnosis](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [16.3 Digital communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [17.5 Electric potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-potential/)
- [17.4 Electric field of a point charge](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-field-of-a-point-charge/)

## Related papers

- [9702/41](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-october-november-9702-41/) — October/November 2016 — 12 questions · 100 marks — Free
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- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-may-june-9702-42/) — May/June 2016 — 13 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [9702/43](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-may-june-9702-43/) — May/June 2016 — 13 questions · 100 marks — Free
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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 0.40 from 39 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 0.14, 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 27.0% Easy, 65.0% 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/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-may-june-9702-41/