# 9702/41 May/June 2019

> 9702/41 May/June 2019: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.34, deviation 0.12, algebraic 0.25, text density 0.38. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2019 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=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 May/June 2019 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 0.34 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.12 and a mark split of 43.0% Easy, 57.0% Medium and 0.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.25; text density and modelling average 0.38. All five measures use 49 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 49 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 49 parts, algebraic tags 49 and text-density tags 49. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.34 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.12 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 43.0 / 57.0 / 0.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.25 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.38 — 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** | 0.34 | 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** | 43.0% Easy / 57.0% Medium / 0.0% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.25 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.38 | 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/) | 8 | 0.42 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=873b29cf-25ed-4e60-82e4-70379271cb2f&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [10.1 Equation of state](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/equation-of-state/) | 10 | 0.28 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=3a1bd8b7-87a7-4fb3-b2df-2bdfd9a1100c&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 10 | 0.38 Medium | 0.25 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=1a07fa88-5ba0-42e7-8908-8fcfe3426800&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [16.5 Attenuation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.35 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=14926988-ce4d-4717-8147-1d41bd005a67&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **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/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=df1e4a12-eeba-4cae-9d5a-9d19e5b65be3&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [18.2 Energy stored in a capacitor](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/energy-stored-in-a-capacitor/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.31 Low | 0.31 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=e80d10c2-0d5c-4261-8f91-f04b994c8267&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [21.2 Operational amplifier circuits](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=d285a780-ae88-419e-85be-3135bb428a87&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [22.1 Concept of magnetic field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.35 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.35 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=5feb6e82-ebac-400e-ae50-ef80c25ff171&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [22.5 Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 5 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=d6217977-a9e8-4867-86e7-34d37737ffce&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [24.1 Characteristics of alternating currents](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/characteristics-of-alternating-currents/) | 4 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=6ac2f2bd-034b-4e4a-8b97-b02d733f3337&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.2 Photoelectric emission of electrons](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 11 | 0.34 Medium | 0.27 Low | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=0d78a282-e616-433c-8eea-ea2d115e403e&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |
| **Q12** FRQ | [26.4 Radioactive decay](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/radioactive-decay/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.37 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=9dc2cfd1-bd8b-48f8-b0ac-108e73e6b6c1&question_id=9019c024-bc43-47eb-ba34-dfca1cbd75c4&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2019) |

## 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/)
- [8.4 Gravitational potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-potential/)
- [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/)
- [13.3 Damped and forced oscillations, resonance](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/damped-and-forced-oscillations-resonance/)
- [16.5 Attenuation](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/)
- [16.3 Digital communication](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/)
- [18.2 Energy stored in a capacitor](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/energy-stored-in-a-capacitor/)

## Related papers

- [9702/41](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2019-october-november-9702-41/) — October/November 2019 — 12 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2019-october-november-9702-42/) — October/November 2019 — 12 questions · 100 marks — Free
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- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2019-may-june-9702-42/) — May/June 2019 — 12 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [9702/43](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2019-may-june-9702-43/) — May/June 2019 — 12 questions · 100 marks — Free
- [9702/42](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/2019-march-9702-42/) — March 2019 — 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 0.34 from 49 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 43.0% Easy, 57.0% 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-4/2019-may-june-9702-41/