# 9702/42 May/June 2017

> 9702/42 May/June 2017: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.35, deviation 0.12, algebraic 0.26, text density 0.40. 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=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/42 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 0.35 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.12 and a mark split of 40.0% Easy, 60.0% Medium and 0.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.26; text density and modelling average 0.40. All five measures use 45 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 45 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 45 parts, algebraic tags 45 and text-density tags 45. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.35 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.12 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 40.0 / 60.0 / 0.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.26 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.40 — 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** | 0.35 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.12 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 40.0% Easy / 60.0% Medium / 0.0% 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** | 0.40 | 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 | [8.1 Gravitational field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field/) | 7 | 0.27 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.41 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=4c94711d-de7e-403f-ba20-f11d58edba21&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/) | 9 | 0.42 Medium | 0.37 Medium | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=b3492829-84e9-49b0-8e95-3f26ca9ec3de&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 10 | 0.35 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=3846b8e6-462d-4960-a5a0-a161710553c5&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **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 | 0.28 Low | 0.65 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=e2761119-0546-4d3a-995c-20a9b8e2d2ed&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [16.3 Digital communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 6 | 0.28 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.37 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=6c7d5079-5d72-49a5-96f6-3995ab8c3225&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=a6a3e7fa-2455-47b6-82bf-afd98cc6364d&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [18.1 Capacitors and capacitance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/capacitors-and-capacitance/) | 6 | 0.28 Easy | 0.28 Low | 0.37 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=9ef2fb23-e595-42ad-883b-934040691e50&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [21.3 Output devices](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.40 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.49 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=71220e1b-61ed-42da-a6e6-42a5d6daae9a&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **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/) | 6 | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=81325f82-0751-4d2b-b897-d07301438dbd&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [25.2 Photoelectric emission of electrons](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.26 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=f19e9b8b-5b79-4f19-9f35-4e329173601e&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.3 Wave-particle duality](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/wave-particle-duality/) | 9 | 0.26 Easy | 0.34 Medium | 0.26 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=76cd9c26-4fee-490e-9549-0a58775275ea&source_detail=9702%2F42+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/) | 10 | 0.35 Medium | 0.28 Low | 0.35 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=e2968bf2-e9a7-4e07-b8d9-0f9885a78209&question_id=109302ec-c7e5-4f13-aaef-56f94ce52fd5&source_detail=9702%2F42+May%2FJune+2017) |

## Topics in this paper

- [8.1 Gravitational field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field/)
- [8.3 Gravitational field of a point mass](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field-of-a-point-mass/)
- [8.2 Gravitational force between point masses](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-force-between-point-masses/)
- [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/)
- [10.1 Equation of state](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/equation-of-state/)
- [10.3 Kinetic energy of a molecule](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [12.2 Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [1.3 The Avogadro constant](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [12.1 Specific heat capacity and specific latent heat](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/specific-heat-capacity-and-specific-latent-heat/)
- [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/)
- [23.1 Laws of electromagnetic induction](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

## Related papers

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- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2017-march-9702-42/) — March 2017 — 12 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 0.35 from 45 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 0.12, 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, 60.0% Medium and 0.0% 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-9702-42/