Edexcel A-Level Physics Active Recall Guide (9PH0)
Edexcel · A-Level
Edexcel A-Level Physics Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 9PH0 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,616 questions across 13 topics and 158 subtopics, covering all three papers with no optional content left out.
- Edexcel
- A-Level
- Specification 9PH0
- 1,616 questions
Guide overview All 13 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
Edexcel A-Level Physics is three written papers. Paper 1, Advanced Physics I, and Paper 2, Advanced Physics II, are 1 hour 45 minutes and 90 marks each, 30 per cent apiece. Paper 3, General and Practical Principles, is 2 hours 30 minutes, 120 marks and 40 per cent, and can draw on any topic.
There is no optional content, so the recall load is fixed and known from the first day of Year 12. Topic 1, Working as a Physicist, runs through every paper.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Advanced Physics I |
Working as a Physicist, mechanics, electric circuits, further mechanics, electric and magnetic fields, and nuclear and particle physics Multiple-choice, short open, calculation and extended writing questions Includes questions on the core practicals and on mathematics at Level 2 or above |
1 hour 45 minutes | 90 marks | 30% |
|
Paper 2 Advanced Physics II |
Working as a Physicist, materials, waves and the particle nature of light, thermodynamics, space, nuclear radiation, gravitational fields and oscillations Multiple-choice, short open, calculation and extended writing questions Includes questions on the core practicals and on mathematics at Level 2 or above |
1 hour 45 minutes | 90 marks | 30% |
|
Paper 3 General and Practical Principles in Physics |
Any topic on the specification, drawn together synoptically Questions on experimental method, on planning and on the analysis of data Includes questions set in unfamiliar contexts and an extended writing question |
2 hours 30 minutes | 120 marks | 40% |
|
9PH0/04 Science Practical Endorsement |
Reported separately from the A-Level grade as a pass or not classified Assessed by the teacher against common practical criteria across a minimum of 12 practical activities |
Assessed throughout the course | No marks | Reported separately |
What is in the guide
All 13 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
SI base units, derived units and homogeneity
What is the newton expressed in SI base units?
Show the answer
Since force is mass times acceleration, 1 N = 1 kg m s⁻². -
The equations of uniformly accelerated motion
Why does s = (u + v)t/2 follow from the definition of average velocity when the acceleration is uniform?
Show the answer
For constant acceleration the average velocity is the mean of the initial and final velocities, and displacement is average velocity multiplied by time. -
Current, charge and potential difference
Which charged particles carry the current in a metal wire?
Show the answer
The free (delocalised) conduction electrons. -
Density and how it is measured
A density is quoted as 1 g cm⁻³. What is this in SI units?
Show the answer
It is 1 × 10³ kg m⁻³. -
Describing a progressive wave
What is meant by the wavelength of a wave?
Show the answer
The wavelength is the shortest distance between two points on the wave that are oscillating in phase, such as one crest and the next. -
Impulse and force-time graphs
What is meant by the impulse of a force?
Show the answer
Impulse is the product of a force and the time for which it acts, FΔt, and it equals the change of momentum it produces. -
Electric fields and electric field strength
How is electric field strength defined?
Show the answer
It is the force per unit positive charge acting on a small charge placed at that point in the field. -
Nuclide notation, isotopes and the alpha scattering experiment
How are the two numbers written when a nuclide is represented in symbol form?
Show the answer
The nucleon number is written as a superscript to the left of the chemical symbol and the proton number as a subscript below it.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
-
Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
-
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
-
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Working as a Physicist82
- Mechanics180
- Electric Circuits148
- Materials101
- Waves and Particle Nature of Light288
- Further Mechanics98
- Electric and Magnetic Fields187
- Nuclear and Particle Physics120
- Thermodynamics96
- Space72
- Nuclear Radiation82
- Gravitational Fields62
- and 1 more
- Under what conditions may the equations of uniformly accelerated motion be used?
- State the equation of motion linking displacement, initial velocity, final velocity and time:
- State the equation of motion linking final velocity, initial velocity, acceleration and time:
- State the equation of motion giving displacement in terms of initial velocity, acceleration and time:
- State the equation of motion that does not contain time:
- Which equation of motion is most useful when time is neither given nor asked for?
- Why does s = (u + v)t/2 follow from the definition of average velocity when the acceleration is uniform?
- What sign convention should be used when analysing an object thrown vertically upwards?
- A car accelerates uniformly from rest at 2.5 m s⁻² for 8.0 s. What are its displacement and its final velocity?
- They apply only when the acceleration is constant in both magnitude and direction and the motion is along a straight line.
- The equation is s = (u + v)t/2.
- The equation is v = u + at.
- The equation is s = ut + ½at².
- The equation is v² = u² + 2as.
- v² = u² + 2as, because it links the two velocities, the acceleration and the displacement without involving time.
- For constant acceleration the average velocity is the mean of the initial and final velocities, and displacement is average velocity multiplied by time.
- One direction is chosen as positive and used throughout, so if upwards is taken as positive then the acceleration due to gravity is entered as negative.
- The displacement is s = ½ × 2.5 × 8.0² = 80 m and the final velocity is v = 2.5 × 8.0 = 20 m s⁻¹.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1 examines Working as a Physicist, mechanics, electric circuits, further mechanics, electric and magnetic fields, and nuclear and particle physics. Paper 2 examines Working as a Physicist, materials, waves and the particle nature of light, thermodynamics, space, nuclear radiation, gravitational fields and oscillations. Paper 3 can draw on any topic. The full breakdown is here.
Do I need to memorise the equations?
Some of them. Pearson supplies a formulae booklet in the exam, but it does not carry everything, and an equation you have to look up costs time you do not have. The guide asks for the equations, what each symbol means, and the conditions under which each applies, which is the part the booklet never gives you.
Is the Practical Endorsement in it?
No. It is teacher assessed across the course and reported separately as a pass. The core practicals are also examined on all three written papers, and that content is in the guide inside the topics it belongs to.
What about the maths?
Examined throughout rather than as a separate paper, and in the guide where it belongs: logarithms in radioactive decay and capacitor discharge, gradients and areas under graphs, radians in circular motion and oscillations, small angle approximations, and the handling of uncertainty and significant figures.
Edexcel A-Level Physics Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.