# 9702/41 October/November 2019

> 9702/41 October/November 2019: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.35, deviation 0.14, algebraic 0.26, text density 0.34. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2019 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=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 October/November 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 0.35 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.14 and a mark split of 44.0% Easy, 52.0% Medium and 4.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.26; text density and modelling average 0.34. All five measures use 50 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 50 parts carrying 100 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 50 parts, algebraic tags 50 and text-density tags 50. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.35 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.14 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 44.0 / 52.0 / 4.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.26 — 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** | 0.35 | 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** | 44.0% Easy / 52.0% Medium / 4.0% 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** | 0.34 | 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/) | 8 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=51bafbd7-f88e-4db0-8ddf-5f6ef1006d0e&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [10.2 Kinetic theory of gases](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinetic-theory-of-gases/) | 9 | 0.37 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=0aa95c7a-a6a9-4299-9849-3e1089437288&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [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/) | 10 | 0.43 Medium | 0.30 Low | 0.40 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=560e0344-3aaa-437d-b539-5c7742f6011a&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=21f40a4f-d343-47fd-8ce2-aea578e62c7b&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [16.1 Communication channels](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=a804d1de-d5ba-4b07-9e5a-3c54c608609f&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **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/) | 10 | 0.35 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.35 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=f36f03ef-2426-4791-9feb-ce5cdcf7733a&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.26 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=e82706fc-71ce-4a55-a88a-bb4631b30e7b&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [22.4 Magnetic fields due to currents](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/magnetic-fields-due-to-currents/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.37 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=d49261c6-9a35-4a25-9ce4-c7369da7e4f1&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [22.5 Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 4 | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=c1a35077-06eb-4ead-89e0-7a82f2b9b508&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [24.4 Rectification](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 5 | 0.30 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=c4f08c73-28a3-4d6a-933a-c09042f56226&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [25.2 Photoelectric emission of electrons](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 12 | 0.39 Medium | 0.30 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=b89170ba-dcc4-4d83-a0e4-a79788711d9f&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+2019) |
| **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 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=0f09f2dd-1346-4fee-8cb7-e88dd74860d8&question_id=7989da44-ad2e-4e5d-98cd-b8fb392dabc1&source_detail=9702%2F41+October%2FNovember+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/)
- [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/)
- [12.1 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/)
- [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/)
- [17.4 Electric field of a point charge](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-field-of-a-point-charge/)
- [21.1 The ideal operational amplifier](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 0.35 from 50 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 44.0% Easy, 52.0% Medium and 4.0% 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-october-november-9702-41/