# 9702/41 October/November 2017

> 9702/41 October/November 2017: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.39, deviation 0.14, algebraic 0.24, text density 0.41. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2017 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=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 October/November 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 0.39 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.14 and a mark split of 29.0% Easy, 63.0% Medium and 8.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.24; text density and modelling average 0.41. 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**: 0.39 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.14 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 29.0 / 63.0 / 8.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.24 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.41 — 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** | 0.39 | 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** | 29.0% Easy / 63.0% Medium / 8.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.24 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.41 | 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 | [11.1 Thermal equilibrium](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/thermal-equilibrium/) | 10 | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.40 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=d5c6c6fd-428b-4047-9176-28dff84a7777&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+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 | 0.28 Low | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=0db9eb13-a303-4430-8a2d-036ce0e924e7&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [8.1 Gravitational field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field/) | 8 | 0.42 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=5d4d380b-7b53-4f2e-bae2-76baf3d6af71&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [16.1 Communication channels](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=6d33fcde-32d0-4208-becc-01f31ca92547&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.54 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=d4ea4d81-9b50-4232-a0fa-7b4b3f3c0f4a&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [18.1 Capacitors and capacitance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/capacitors-and-capacitance/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=75b50bba-5ba6-454d-8dd9-f187fd3f4d86&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 11 | 0.45 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=81791cb5-9d45-4a35-87b9-9641a9b67f7a&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [22.3 Force on a moving charge](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/force-on-a-moving-charge/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=12247801-ae65-4a8e-9b38-3fb29d03e46c&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q9** 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/) | 7 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=0879c041-f230-45fd-82d2-fa8373d1e7eb&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [24.1 Characteristics of alternating currents](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/characteristics-of-alternating-currents/) | 6 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=211a1512-a6a0-44bb-a68c-3cc190d30ad8&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.1 Energy of a photon](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.27 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=a37c64f2-e0f9-49e1-8047-375055cc4929&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |
| **Q12** FRQ | [26.4 Radioactive decay](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/radioactive-decay/) | 10 | 0.52 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=6fafdd43-ab99-4bcd-b8a0-fb988751e620&question_id=c0725c37-d58c-4469-923c-560ccf64b231&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2017) |

## Topics in this paper

- [11.1 Thermal equilibrium](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/thermal-equilibrium/)
- [11.2 Temperature scales](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/temperature-scales/)
- [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/)
- [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/)
- [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/)
- [16.1 Communication channels](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/)

## Related papers

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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 0.39 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 0.14, 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 29.0% Easy, 63.0% 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-october-november-9702-41/