# WMA11/01 January 2020

> WMA11/01 January 2020: 11 questions, 75 marks. Difficulty 0.38, deviation 0.15, algebraic 0.36, text density 0.23. Edexcel IAL Mathematics P1.

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Edexcel IAL · Mathematics · 2020 January

This Pure Mathematics 1 (WMA11) paper contains 11 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
- P1
- 11 questions
- 75 marks
- Free paper
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Core finding

**WMA11/01 January 2020 is a past paper for Edexcel IAL Pure Mathematics 1 (WMA11), with 11 questions worth 75 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.38 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.15 and a mark split of 36.0% Easy, 53.3% Medium and 10.7% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.36; text density and modelling average 0.23. All five measures use 24 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 24 parts carrying 75 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 24 parts, algebraic tags 24 and text-density tags 24. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.38 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.15 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 36.0 / 53.3 / 10.7 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.36 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.23 — 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** | 0.38 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.15 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 36.0% Easy / 53.3% Medium / 10.7% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.36 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.23 | 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 | [5. Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/integration/) | 4 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=f97c09d7-e1a2-4026-a83d-41ccb63d5dc1&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 5 | 0.30 Easy | 0.30 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=6864bf81-6084-47f2-99da-d0b9e4d1d2a8&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [4. Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/differentiation/) | 6 | 0.33 Medium | 0.33 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=71d41915-edcc-471e-b704-07c54c0c6ae5&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [3. Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/trigonometry/) | 9 | 0.39 Medium | 0.39 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=0218f48d-f8ce-459b-8380-b80a7f10f474&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=f4a00a22-323c-4d4a-997e-ac1a299acaaa&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [2. Coordinate geometry in the (x, y) plane](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/coordinate-geometry-in-the-x-y-plane/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.36 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=81c69296-ca2e-490d-a273-319af255e1c8&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [3. Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/trigonometry/) | 5 | 0.30 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=79518c46-7437-4894-9d76-ebbd56aa1985&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=bd2e6937-d88f-4689-b454-16342690c105&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q9** FRQ | [4. Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/differentiation/) | 6 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=60071767-01ed-49a3-883f-a527b0d29f55&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q10** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 8 | 0.36 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=f1f9947a-3ef8-4925-8794-b2880eead7f2&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |
| **Q11** FRQ | [2. Coordinate geometry in the (x, y) plane](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/coordinate-geometry-in-the-x-y-plane/) | 11 | 0.54 Medium | 0.38 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=d815e32b-4f1f-4c3a-a0f9-6391ce620e59&question_id=b798c65c-0b47-4ad8-b2e7-ade683224be5&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+January+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [5. Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/integration/)
- [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/)
- [4. Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/differentiation/)
- [3. Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/trigonometry/)
- [2. Coordinate geometry in the (x, y) plane](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/coordinate-geometry-in-the-x-y-plane/)

## Related papers

- [WMA11/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/2020-october-wma11-01/) — October 2020 — 9 questions · 75 marks — Free
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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 0.38 from 24 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 0.15, 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 36.0% Easy, 53.3% Medium and 10.7% 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/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/2020-january-wma11-01/