# WST02/01 October 2020

> WST02/01 October 2020: 6 questions, 75 marks. Difficulty 0.42, deviation 0.16, algebraic 0.32, text density 0.52. Edexcel IAL Mathematics S2.

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Edexcel IAL · Mathematics · 2020 October

This Statistics 2 (WST02) paper contains 6 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
- S2
- 6 questions
- 75 marks
- Free paper
- [Practise this paper](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a)
- [All S2 papers](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/)

Core finding

**WST02/01 October 2020 is a past paper for Edexcel IAL Statistics 2 (WST02), with 6 questions worth 75 marks.** Its mark-weighted Difficulty Measure is 0.42 on a 0.20–0.75 scale, with a Difficulty Deviation of 0.16 and a mark split of 25.3% Easy, 56.0% Medium and 18.7% Hard. Algebraic complexity averages 0.32; text density and modelling average 0.52. All five measures use 25 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 25 parts carrying 75 part marks. Difficulty tags cover 25 parts, algebraic tags 25 and text-density tags 25. Tags are internal metadata, not official exam-board ratings.

- **Difficulty Measure**: 0.42 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Medium
- **Difficulty Deviation**: 0.16 — 0 = uniform; higher = more mixed
- **Difficulty Ratio**: 25.3 / 56.0 / 18.7 — % Easy / Medium / Hard
- **Algebraic Complexity Measure**: 0.32 — 0.20–0.75 · nearer Low
- **Text Density and Modelling Measure**: 0.52 — 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** | 0.42 | Σ(d_i × w_i) / Σw_i, with d = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Difficulty Deviation** | 0.16 | √(Σw_i(d_i − μ)^2 / Σw_i) |
| **Difficulty Ratio** | 25.3% Easy / 56.0% Medium / 18.7% Hard | marks in band / all tagged marks |
| **Algebraic Complexity Measure** | 0.32 | Σ(c_i × marks_i) / Σmarks_i, with c = 0.20 / 0.45 / 0.75 |
| **Text Density and Modelling Measure** | 0.52 | 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 | [2. Continuous random variables](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/continuous-random-variables/) | 8 | 0.45 Medium | 0.45 Medium | 0.20 Low | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a&question_id=28fea032-9a74-40a4-818e-6c00a815bcdf&source_detail=WST02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q2** FRQ | [3. Continuous distributions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/continuous-distributions/) | 12 | 0.30 Easy | 0.20 Low | 0.45 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a&question_id=18e2c31c-5b3c-4217-bce5-63d547b8e5a1&source_detail=WST02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q3** FRQ | [1. The Binomial and Poisson distributions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/the-binomial-and-poisson-distributions/) | 15 | 0.47 Medium | 0.32 Low | 0.67 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a&question_id=7a79a1d7-5a2c-4e01-a694-94c472f80174&source_detail=WST02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q4** FRQ | [1. The Binomial and Poisson distributions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/the-binomial-and-poisson-distributions/) | 16 | 0.37 Medium | 0.20 Low | 0.66 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a&question_id=21b87064-b08a-442d-9ac0-4c94006d6efc&source_detail=WST02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q5** FRQ | [2. Continuous random variables](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/continuous-random-variables/) | 13 | 0.41 Medium | 0.41 Medium | 0.33 Medium | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a&question_id=664c13df-eef1-4c72-ab9a-be7d2de5f5c8&source_detail=WST02%2F01+October+2020) |
| **Q6** FRQ | [4. Hypothesis tests](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/hypothesis-tests/) | 11 | 0.58 Medium | 0.43 Medium | 0.64 High | [Go to Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/practice?set_id=fed673c5-882c-48d5-9e24-7901c099637a&question_id=41518353-e29e-4982-82db-734152ecf82c&source_detail=WST02%2F01+October+2020) |

## Topics in this paper

- [2. Continuous random variables](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/continuous-random-variables/)
- [3. Continuous distributions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/continuous-distributions/)
- [1. The Binomial and Poisson distributions](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/the-binomial-and-poisson-distributions/)
- [4. Hypothesis tests](https://www.examsci.com/topics/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/hypothesis-tests/)

## Related papers

- [WST02/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/2020-january-wst02-01/) — January 2020 — 6 questions · 75 marks — Free
- [WST02/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/2021-october-wst02-01/) — October 2021 — 6 questions · 75 marks — Pro
- [WST02/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/2021-june-wst02-01/) — June 2021 — 6 questions · 75 marks — Pro
- [WST02/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/2021-january-wst02-01/) — January 2021 — 6 questions · 75 marks — Pro
- [WST02/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/2019-october-wst02-01/) — October 2019 — 7 questions · 75 marks — Free
- [WST02/01](https://www.examsci.com/past-papers/edexcel-ial/mathematics/statistics-2-wst02/2019-june-wst02-01/) — June 2019 — 7 questions · 75 marks — Free

## 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 0.42 from 25 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 0.16, 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 25.3% Easy, 56.0% Medium and 18.7% 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/statistics-2-wst02/2020-october-wst02-01/