# WFM02/01 October 2020

> WFM02/01 October 2020: 8 questions, 75 marks. Difficulty 0.51, deviation 0.20, algebraic 0.56, text density 0.24. Edexcel IAL Mathematics FP2.

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Edexcel IAL · Mathematics · 2020 October

This Further Pure Mathematics 2 (WFM02) paper contains 8 questions worth 75 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.

- Edexcel IAL
- FP2
- 8 questions
- 75 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52)
- [All FP2 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/)

Core finding

**WFM02/01 October 2020 is a past paper for Edexcel IAL Further Pure Mathematics 2 (WFM02), with 8 questions worth 75 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.51 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.20 and a mark split of 16.0% Easy, 34.7% Medium and 49.3% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.56; text density and modelling average 0.24. All five measures use 16 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 16 parts carrying 75 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 16 parts, algebraic tags 16 and text-density tags 16. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.51 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.20 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 16.0 / 34.7 / 49.3 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.56 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.24 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low

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** | 0.51 | 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** | 16.0% Easy / 34.7% Medium / 49.3% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.56 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.24 | 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 | [6. Maclaurin and Taylor series](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/maclaurin-and-taylor-series/) | 7 | 0.31 Easy | 0.31 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=83dc7515-46a2-4a18-a529-433e10d8a02b&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [2. Series](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/series/) | 9 | 0.34 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=50663c56-899c-4daa-a8aa-9d5b30f80f64&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [1. Inequalities](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/inequalities/) | 9 | 0.75 Hard | 0.75 High | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=797a8bf3-352e-4e5c-8a6d-19b626a05fde&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [3. Further complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/further-complex-numbers/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=76d2cc00-7fe8-4a4e-bd22-1be441af838d&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [3. Further complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/further-complex-numbers/) | 7 | 0.75 Hard | 0.75 High | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=a0feb245-bd6d-42ed-a511-c766fba935c2&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [4. First order differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/first-order-differential-equations/) | 8 | 0.75 Hard | 0.75 High | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=c0e2b439-a22e-46bd-b15f-78e66c499648&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [7. Polar coordinates](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/polar-coordinates/) | 13 | 0.58 Medium | 0.61 High | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=9f0a03f0-ee68-47a2-a5b3-f16eeb124ee0&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [5. Second order differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/second-order-differential-equations/) | 14 | 0.53 Medium | 0.56 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=49ccc10f-25ce-49f3-aded-cee45b397b52&question_id=fa61060e-97cb-40aa-8aab-4c6b42550a0c&source_detail=WFM02%2F01+October+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [6. Maclaurin and Taylor series](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/maclaurin-and-taylor-series/)
- [2. Series](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/series/)
- [1. Inequalities](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/inequalities/)
- [3. Further complex numbers](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/further-complex-numbers/)
- [4. First order differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/first-order-differential-equations/)
- [7. Polar coordinates](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/polar-coordinates/)
- [5. Second order differential equations](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/second-order-differential-equations/)

## 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 0.51 from 16 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 16.0% Easy, 34.7% Medium and 49.3% 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/edexcel-ial/mathematics/further-pure-mathematics-2-wfm02/2020-october-wfm02-01/