# 9702/41 October/November 2016

> 9702/41 October/November 2016: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.42, deviation 0.19, algebraic 0.29, text density 0.45. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2016 October/November

This Physics 9702 Paper 4 (A Level Structured) paper contains 12 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
- 12 questions
- 100 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b)
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Core finding

**9702/41 October/November 2016 is a past paper for CIE IAL Physics 9702 Paper 4 (A Level Structured), with 12 questions worth 100 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.42 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.19 and a mark split of 33.0% Easy, 44.0% Medium and 23.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.29; text density and modelling average 0.45. All five measures use 43 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 43 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 43 parts, algebraic tags 43 and text-density tags 43. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.42 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.19 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 33.0 / 44.0 / 23.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.29 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.45 — 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** | 0.42 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.19 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 33.0% Easy / 44.0% Medium / 23.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.29 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.45 | 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 | [7.2 Centripetal acceleration and centripetal force](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=f972b547-aa14-4b5e-a40d-f8c3aa480995&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [10.1 Equation of state](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/equation-of-state/) | 9 | 0.28 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=62c86b5c-f6bb-4575-9d24-b93ad30e9c07&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 7 | 0.38 Medium | 0.31 Low | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=8e0c70d1-177e-4184-86c5-16307bfc81a1&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [16.3 Digital communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=b3f0e7d7-a909-43f9-987e-85d8cefca5d9&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.49 Medium | 0.40 Medium | 0.54 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=31dc206f-48c0-4363-91f1-bca0c7f37999&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.49 Medium | 0.26 Low | 0.49 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=75992d39-7cbb-41d3-a3dd-ee914b9e3637&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [8.1 Gravitational field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field/) | 9 | 0.28 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.28 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=a5cbcfef-45c2-4296-b922-29c5c7a98a3b&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [22.5 Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.75 Hard | 0.20 Low | 0.75 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=ce1a2e60-b007-42ee-aab4-d33aac40878f&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [23.1 Laws of electromagnetic induction](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.49 Medium | 0.34 Medium | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=8fca92a7-bdd8-42c5-b500-29287e453895&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [25.2 Photoelectric emission of electrons](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.31 Easy | 0.26 Low | 0.31 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=165ec6e9-6b3a-4a00-9862-388dc61cfa29&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.5 Band theory](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 5 | 0.75 Hard | 0.20 Low | 0.75 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=7f00a932-7008-4fbf-94b5-62b6087794bb&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q12** FRQ | [26.4 Radioactive decay](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/radioactive-decay/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=4f8c085d-53c2-4373-be63-c8dd53ae5f6b&question_id=b39857af-b0dd-4748-bdfe-86ad17061b89&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2016) |

## Topics in this paper

- [7.2 Centripetal acceleration and centripetal force](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [8.2 Gravitational force between point masses](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-force-between-point-masses/)
- [10.1 Equation of state](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/equation-of-state/)
- [12.2 Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/)
- [16.3 Digital communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [16.4 Relative merits of channels of communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [16.5 Attenuation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [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/)
- [17.5 Electric potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-potential/)
- [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

## Related papers

- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-october-november-9702-42/) — October/November 2016 — 14 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [9702/43](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-october-november-9702-43/) — October/November 2016 — 12 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [9702/41](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-may-june-9702-41/) — May/June 2016 — 13 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [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
- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2016-march-9702-42/) — March 2016 — 13 questions · 100 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 0.42 from 43 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 0.19, 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 33.0% Easy, 44.0% Medium and 23.0% 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-october-november-9702-41/