# WMA11/01 October 2020

> WMA11/01 October 2020: 9 questions, 75 marks. Difficulty 0.34, deviation 0.15, algebraic 0.31, text density 0.26. Edexcel IAL Mathematics P1.

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Edexcel IAL · Mathematics · 2020 October

This Pure Mathematics 1 (WMA11) paper contains 9 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
- 9 questions
- 75 marks
- Free paper
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Core finding

**WMA11/01 October 2020 is a past paper for Edexcel IAL Pure Mathematics 1 (WMA11), with 9 questions worth 75 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.34 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.15 and a mark split of 49.3% Easy, 44.0% Medium and 6.7% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.31; text density and modelling average 0.26. All five measures use 21 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 21 parts carrying 75 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 21 parts, algebraic tags 21 and text-density tags 21. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.34 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.15 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 49.3 / 44.0 / 6.7 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.31 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.26 — 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** | 0.34 | 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** | 49.3% Easy / 44.0% Medium / 6.7% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.31 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.26 | 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 | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 3 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=49c876e6-8e4e-47ba-867e-0a5f75c411d4&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 7 | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | 0.34 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=9a211160-5d9a-4ee3-93cb-4d589f4042e7&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [3. Trigonometry](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/trigonometry/) | 10 | 0.40 Medium | 0.40 Medium | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=c81396dc-4b0e-4528-8f41-90fab954e068&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 7 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=4f230cc1-057d-40e9-9cc6-90651a7771ca&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 9 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=97dca4b9-d6fb-4b8f-902b-a39867dbbe8c&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+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/) | 11 | 0.40 Medium | 0.31 Low | 0.31 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=1a0490c4-4df8-411a-a654-16d99051f99c&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q7** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 11 | 0.38 Medium | 0.29 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=a78a130c-5bfa-4484-ab7d-28cf2257def5&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q8** FRQ | [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/) | 11 | 0.20 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=f89bb776-7c66-4109-8757-17a118006468&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q9** 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=a53dd2d1-e862-4c6c-aa9b-f3f7957e7821&question_id=71b4ed16-74c5-4e28-8336-4db2dab388e9&source_detail=WMA11%2F01+October+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [1. Algebra and functions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/algebra-and-functions/)
- [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/)
- [4. Differentiation](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/differentiation/)
- [5. Integration](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/pure-mathematics-1-wma11/integration/)

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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 0.34 from 21 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 49.3% Easy, 44.0% Medium and 6.7% 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-october-wma11-01/