# 9702/41 May/June 2018

> 9702/41 May/June 2018: 13 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.40, deviation 0.20, algebraic 0.28, text density 0.41. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2018 May/June

This Physics 9702 Paper 4 (A Level Structured) paper contains 13 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
- 13 questions
- 100 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 May/June 2018 is a past paper for CIE IAL Physics 9702 Paper 4 (A Level Structured), with 13 questions worth 100 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.40 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.20 and a mark split of 39.0% Easy, 39.0% Medium and 22.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.28; text density and modelling average 0.41. All five measures use 48 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 48 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 48 parts, algebraic tags 48 and text-density tags 48. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.40 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.20 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 39.0 / 39.0 / 22.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.28 — 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** | 0.40 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.20 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 39.0% Easy / 39.0% Medium / 22.0% 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** | 0.41 | 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 | [8.2 Gravitational force between point masses](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-force-between-point-masses/) | 9 | 0.37 Medium | 0.37 Medium | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=8055cbeb-6be1-4365-8e7e-ee902c96ecc6&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=05395c1d-249d-4e3e-9d80-5ffae2515409&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [12.2 Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=9144da5e-262e-43fb-a22e-dba63b038fb1&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [19.4 Sensing devices](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.64 Hard | 0.20 Low | 0.67 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=a6e26ede-53ff-4920-bcdc-a992a6366b67&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [8.2 Gravitational force between point masses](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-force-between-point-masses/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.36 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=a02b709c-13fc-486b-9606-29240e2b77ba&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q6** 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/) | 5 | 0.40 Medium | 0.40 Medium | 0.40 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=4acda00c-18ef-4b27-8cfd-be4fdf14b29a&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [18.1 Capacitors and capacitance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/capacitors-and-capacitance/) | 9 | 0.31 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.37 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=12112508-d3d4-4af6-a2ee-01492c913acd&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [21.2 Operational amplifier circuits](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 9 | 0.26 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.26 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=82242f60-646d-4190-b937-6ce74960a600&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [22.2 Force on a current-carrying conductor](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/force-on-a-current-carrying-conductor/) | 8 | 0.50 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=b057cc6c-84c4-4c00-9cb0-04e3db7c0a25&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [23.1 Laws of electromagnetic induction](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 6 | 0.52 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.57 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=f00cf167-fe46-4ca9-b790-ed1b4ff56bf9&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.1 Energy of a photon](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.49 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.57 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=1cd27262-eba1-4941-8167-e8b7e2d4771e&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q12** 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 | 0.27 Easy | 0.34 Medium | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=f1573ae5-e8d4-48e2-bded-e76f1a64a162&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |
| **Q13** FRQ | [26.4 Radioactive decay](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/radioactive-decay/) | 8 | 0.50 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=aa305b74-7e6d-4c50-b3c8-25dfe296d38a&question_id=d24106a5-7090-4efd-a456-662d328d8147&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2018) |

## 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/)
- [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/)
- [12.2 Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [10.3 Kinetic energy of a molecule](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/)
- [10.1 Equation of state](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/equation-of-state/)
- [19.4 Sensing devices](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [14.6 Production and use of ultrasound in diagnosis](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/)
- [16.2 Modulation](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/)

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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 0.40 from 48 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 0.20, 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, 39.0% Medium and 22.0% 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-4/2018-may-june-9702-41/