Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Physics, Higher tier Active Recall Guide (1SC0)
Edexcel · GCSE
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Physics, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 1SC0 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,449 questions across 13 topics and 108 subtopics, at Higher tier, covering Paper 5 and Paper 6.
- Edexcel
- GCSE
- Specification 1SC0
- 1,449 questions
Guide overview All topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science (specification 1SC0) is worth two GCSEs and is examined by six papers, two for each science. The physics content is sat as Paper 5, Physics 1, and Paper 6, Physics 2, each 1 hour 10 minutes and 60 marks, together a third of the qualification. This is the Higher tier: it carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, and grades 4–4 to 9–9 are available on the 17-grade double-award scale from 9–9 to 1–1, with a grade 4–3 allowed for a mark just below the 4–4 boundary.
Combined Science covers three sciences in the time most schools give to two, which makes it the qualification where forgetting costs the most. Working one subtopic at a time is what keeps the physics third from slipping while the other two are being taught.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 5 Physics 1 |
Key Concepts of Physics Motion and Forces Conservation of Energy Waves Light and the Electromagnetic Spectrum Radioactivity |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.67% |
|
Paper 6 Physics 2 |
Key Concepts of Physics Energy – Forces Doing Work Forces and Their Effects Electricity and Circuits Magnetism and the Motor Effect Electromagnetic Induction Particle Model Forces and Matter |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.67% |
What is in the guide
All 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 units in physics
Name the unit of time and give its symbol.
Show the answer
Time is measured in seconds, symbol s. -
Scalar and vector quantities
What is meant by a vector quantity?
Show the answer
A vector quantity has both a magnitude and a specific direction. -
Gravitational potential and kinetic energy
Explain why only the vertical height, and not the distance travelled along a ramp, is used to calculate a change in gravitational potential energy.
Show the answer
Gravitational potential energy depends on how far the object is raised against gravity, which is the vertical height. -
What waves transfer, and the evidence for it
A loudspeaker fills a room with sound. Explain why the listener feels no wind coming from it.
Show the answer
The air particles only vibrate to and fro about fixed positions, so energy crosses the room but the air itself does not. -
Properties of electromagnetic waves
Explain why light from a distant star reaches the Earth across empty space but the star's sound cannot.
Show the answer
Light is an electromagnetic wave that travels through a vacuum, while sound needs particles to carry it. -
The atom and the size of atoms
Why is almost all the mass of an atom concentrated in its nucleus?
Show the answer
Protons and neutrons are nearly two thousand times more massive than electrons, and both sit in the nucleus. -
Energy stores and energy transfer diagrams
Describe the change in energy stores as a bouncing ball rises after hitting the ground.
Show the answer
Energy is transferred from the elastic potential store of the squashed ball to its kinetic and gravitational potential stores. -
Contact and non-contact forces
Give an example of two objects interacting through an electrostatic field.
Show the answer
A charged plastic rod attracts small polystyrene balls without touching them.
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.
- Key Concepts of Physics30
- Motion and Forces237
- Conservation of Energy103
- Waves92
- Light and the Electromagnetic Spectrum104
- Radioactivity201
- Energy - Forces Doing Work98
- Forces and Their Effects44
- Electricity and Circuits270
- Magnetism and the Motor Effect89
- Electromagnetic Induction39
- Particle Model96
- and 1 more
- What is meant by a scalar quantity?
- A student writes that a mass of 3 kg acts to the left. Explain why the direction is meaningless here.
- How much information is needed to state a scalar quantity fully?
- Explain why temperature is classed as a scalar.
- Is the time taken for a race a scalar or a vector? Give a reason.
- What is meant by a vector quantity?
- State the two pieces of information needed to describe a vector quantity fully.
- How is a vector quantity represented on a diagram?
- A force is described as 20 N acting vertically downwards. Which part of that description shows force is a vector?
- A scalar quantity has magnitude only and no specific direction.
- Mass is a scalar, so it has size only and cannot act in a direction.
- Only a number and its unit are needed, because no direction is involved.
- A temperature has a size but does not point anywhere, so it has no direction.
- Time is a scalar, because it has magnitude only and no direction.
- A vector quantity has both a magnitude and a specific direction.
- Its size and the direction in which it acts must both be given.
- It is shown as an arrow whose length gives the magnitude and whose direction gives the direction of the vector.
- The stated direction, vertically downwards, is what makes force a vector.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
I do the separate sciences, not Combined Science.
Then you need a different guide. The separate sciences are examined on their own specifications, Physics (1PH0) among them, and they carry more physics than Combined Science does.
The one you want is Edexcel GCSE Physics, Higher.
Higher or Foundation. Which do I need?
This is the Higher tier guide, offering grades 9-9 to 4-4 of the double award, with an allowed 4-3.
Edexcel sits the same numbered papers at either tier, so Paper 5 and Paper 6 is what you sit whichever tier you are entered for. The tier changes the content and the grades available, not the paper numbers.
Higher carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, so a student later moved to Foundation has lost nothing.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 5, Physics 1, covers Key Concepts of Physics, Motion and Forces, Conservation of Energy, Waves, Light and the Electromagnetic Spectrum, Radioactivity. Paper 6, Physics 2, covers Key Concepts of Physics, Energy – Forces Doing Work, Forces and Their Effects, Electricity and Circuits, Magnetism and the Motor Effect, Electromagnetic Induction, Particle Model, Forces and Matter.
Note that the first topic appears on both papers. The full breakdown is here.
Are the core practicals examined?
Yes, on the written papers. Edexcel does not assess them separately, so questions about method, apparatus, variables and results appear inside the topics: the acceleration of a trolley, forces and extension, specific heat capacity, waves in a ripple tank and a solid, refraction, thermal energy and infrared radiation, density, and current and potential difference in circuits.
Those questions are in the guide in the topics they belong to.
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Physics, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.