# 9702/41 May/June 2020

> 9702/41 May/June 2020: 12 questions, 100 marks. Difficulty 0.35, deviation 0.14, algebraic 0.26, text density 0.38. CIE IAL Physics 9702 P4.

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CIE IAL · Physics · 2020 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=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc)
- [All 9702 P4 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)

Core finding

**9702/41 May/June 2020 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 42.0% Easy, 54.0% Medium and 4.0% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.26; text density and modelling average 0.38. 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**: 0.35 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.14 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 42.0 / 54.0 / 4.0 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.26 — 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** | 0.35 | 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** | 42.0% Easy / 54.0% 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** | 0.38 | 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 | [8.1 Gravitational field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | 0.42 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=22b87b66-549c-4f16-8173-ec6902cafb9c&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [12.2 Internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.31 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=e4e18984-a233-4af1-bee2-adcd314c56e6&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [13.1 Simple harmonic oscillations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/simple-harmonic-oscillations/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.26 Low | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=8a9460a6-791a-429c-88ac-58a9d40daaaf&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [14.6 Production and use of ultrasound in diagnosis](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.27 Low | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=0ccc4c10-3ae6-4e5f-b88f-0a9b37d696fb&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [17.5 Electric potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-potential/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.27 Low | 0.38 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=8b45f074-a270-4cf5-8a54-07f59210ca02&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [16.4 Relative merits of channels of communication](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 7 | 0.27 Easy | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=19f6638a-9c3c-458b-8722-f81ed5e919bb&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [21.2 Operational amplifier circuits](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 8 | 0.26 Easy | 0.26 Low | 0.26 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=f6465b6e-9cae-46ef-bd7f-80fe836a37bb&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q8** 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/) | 13 | 0.35 Medium | 0.26 Low | 0.39 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=d552a012-8e83-410b-a9a3-f0930fc90a15&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [23.1 Laws of electromagnetic induction](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/) | 10 | 0.55 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.47 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=643e0e89-f101-4be2-bc89-8cbba0a8339b&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [25.4 Energy levels in atoms and line spectra](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/energy-levels-in-atoms-and-line-spectra/) | 9 | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=d2042991-2a54-4057-83b7-78caf00067e7&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q11** 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/) | 6 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.37 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=4f145506-6e81-431c-95c5-1e54b880a635&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |
| **Q12** FRQ | [26.4 Radioactive decay](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/radioactive-decay/) | 8 | 0.39 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.36 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=3b161779-10d1-46cc-8770-3fbe509355cc&question_id=18a4d9fe-c286-4b23-acbc-59eca3055ecb&source_detail=9702%2F41+May%2FJune+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [8.1 Gravitational field](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/gravitational-field/)
- [7.1 Kinematics of uniform circular motion](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/kinematics-of-uniform-circular-motion/)
- [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/)
- [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/)
- [14.6 Production and use of ultrasound in diagnosis](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/)
- [17.5 Electric potential](https://www.examsci.com/topics/cie-ial/physics/9702-paper-4/electric-potential/)
- [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/)
- [17.3 Electric forces between point charges](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/)

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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 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 0.14, 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 42.0% Easy, 54.0% 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-4/2020-may-june-9702-41/