# 9702/41 May/June 2017

> 9702/41 May/June 2017: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.36, deviation 0.15, algebraic 0.28, text density 0.34. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2017 May/June

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=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 May/June 2017 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 0.36 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.15 and a mark split of 39.0% Easy, 53.0% Medium and 8.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.28; text density and modelling average 0.34. All five measures use 41 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 41 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 41 parts, algebraic tags 41 and text-density tags 41. 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**: 39.0 / 53.0 / 8.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.28 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.34 — 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** | 39.0% Easy / 53.0% Medium / 8.0% 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** | 0.34 | 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 | 0.31 Easy | 0.31 Low | 0.31 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=85ffdbc8-7217-43d5-b76e-52278343d65b&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 9 | 0.37 Medium | 0.37 Medium | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=67252ba0-fb2d-424a-8ce0-040534e9c82f&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [16.3 Digital communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.33 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=1d5b9181-16f4-4e5e-949b-40e66d3d2516&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/) | 10 | 0.35 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.28 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=0bb6c966-3c50-433a-8610-e657354f4403&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.41 Medium | 0.41 Medium | 0.31 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=db74a8b5-0bd0-4ba5-8548-5b85b93b7908&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [21.3 Output devices](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.28 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=715e8b1d-e385-49b1-83c6-55bade9ac42a&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [7.2 Centripetal acceleration and centripetal force](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=786f2142-8092-452d-a23f-9527ef281078&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **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=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=518ff182-e4bd-4534-aa47-d62ba9950e55&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [24.2 The transformer](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 6 | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=463d6834-3c29-43dc-96a1-df4fc93c8dbc&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [25.6 Production and use of X-rays](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/production-and-use-of-x-rays/) | 5 | 0.30 Easy | 0.30 Low | 0.30 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=d808e35d-2044-4790-99d1-60ee8151ed0d&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.4 Energy levels in atoms and line spectra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/energy-levels-in-atoms-and-line-spectra/) | 8 | 0.45 Medium | 0.26 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=5707b20b-d3a4-48f4-adc3-82b14f17112b&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q12** FRQ | [26.3 Mass defect and nuclear binding energy](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/mass-defect-and-nuclear-binding-energy/) | 9 | 0.28 Easy | 0.28 Low | 0.28 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=62fb5c10-c920-4b4c-bdf1-5c540deab499&question_id=d9ba9da1-6938-4f2d-b1d2-f970196f4a7c&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2017) |

## 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/)
- [7.1 Kinematics of uniform circular motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinematics-of-uniform-circular-motion/)
- [7.2 Centripetal acceleration and centripetal force](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/)
- [13.3 Damped and forced oscillations, resonance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/damped-and-forced-oscillations-resonance/)
- [13.2 Energy in simple harmonic motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/energy-in-simple-harmonic-motion/)
- [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/)
- [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/)
- [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/)
- [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](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-4/2017-october-november-9702-41/) — October/November 2017 — 12 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 0.36 from 41 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 39.0% Easy, 53.0% 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-4/2017-may-june-9702-41/