# 9702/43 October/November 2016

> 9702/43 October/November 2016: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.41, deviation 0.18, algebraic 0.30, text density 0.44. 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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/43 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 0.41 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.18 and a mark split of 31.0% Easy, 49.0% Medium and 20.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.30; text density and modelling average 0.44. 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**: 0.41 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.18 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 31.0 / 49.0 / 20.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.30 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.44 — 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** | 0.41 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.18 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 31.0% Easy / 49.0% Medium / 20.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.30 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.44 | 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 | [8.2 Gravitational force between point masses](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-force-between-point-masses/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=faf03727-1eba-4abc-a7c1-a95eff6ee796&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=5eb06958-64b6-4641-a85e-e7980b56536b&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=66335f7b-64ad-406d-a85e-b1c48a8274be&source_detail=9702%2F43+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [16.4 Relative merits of channels of 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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=8c07ab24-cece-4ba2-8370-64afce25b252&source_detail=9702%2F43+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [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/) | 10 | 0.54 Medium | 0.40 Medium | 0.54 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=200d22af-f3cd-47b2-949c-766ddd34b670&source_detail=9702%2F43+October%2FNovember+2016) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.26 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=2ab78a56-2438-4799-9307-0b3db0bc28d3&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=c907390e-f681-41f1-a941-233d505c90fc&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=b82396c0-55c7-46dd-bc0c-2fc4df2d9b13&source_detail=9702%2F43+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 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=716ff23f-2a0f-4b8c-ae2f-56edf613545f&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=cd8a190b-5f7f-4474-b52c-a17a59e3cd80&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=4e6852c0-4e2d-4be2-84e1-ede504090ae0&source_detail=9702%2F43+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=cd1d8d47-d7d3-4eab-ab0f-d458853e52bc&question_id=4e3d8153-93c5-47b7-9b4c-b5ae5937331c&source_detail=9702%2F43+October%2FNovember+2016) |

## Topics in this paper

- [8.2 Gravitational force between point masses](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-force-between-point-masses/)
- [7.2 Centripetal acceleration and centripetal force](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [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/)
- [16.4 Relative merits of channels of communication](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/)
- [16.5 Attenuation](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/)
- [21.2 Operational amplifier circuits](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

## 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
- [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
- [9702/41](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 0.41 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 0.18, 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 31.0% Easy, 49.0% Medium and 20.0% 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-9702-43/