OCR GCSE Combined Science Physics, Higher tier Active Recall Guide (J250)
OCR · GCSE
OCR GCSE Combined Science Physics, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification J250 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,222 questions across 8 topics and 74 subtopics, at Higher tier, covering Paper 11 (Physics) and Paper 12 (Physics).
- OCR
- GCSE
- Specification J250
- 1,222 questions
Guide overview All topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
OCR GCSE Combined Science A (Gateway Science, specification J250) is worth two GCSEs and is examined by six papers, two for each science, each 1 hour 10 minutes and 60 marks. The physics content is sat as Paper 11 (Physics) and Paper 12 (Physics), together a third of the qualification, and both papers also assess the practical skills of Topic CS7. This is the Higher tier: it carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, and as a double award it is graded 9–9 to 4–4, with an allowed grade 4–3 for a student who just misses 4–4.
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 11 (Physics) Paper 11 (Physics) |
Electricity Forces Magnetism and Magnetic Fields Matter |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.7% |
|
Paper 12 (Physics) Paper 12 (Physics) |
Energy Global Challenges Radioactivity Waves in Matter |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.7% |
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.
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Charge, and producing static electricity
An object has more electrons than protons. What is the sign of its overall charge?
Show the answer
Negative, because the negative charge is no longer balanced by the positive charge. -
Conservation of energy, and energy stores
A toy car is given a push along a bench and eventually stops. Account for its energy as a closed system.
Show the answer
The energy in its kinetic store has been transferred to the thermal stores of the car, the bench and the air, so the total is unchanged. -
Measuring distance and time, and calculating speed
A cyclist travels 450 m in 30 s. What is her average speed?
Show the answer
450 ÷ 30 = 15 m/s. -
Typical speeds and everyday accelerations
What does an acceleration of 2 m/s² mean in words?
Show the answer
The speed increases by 2 m/s during every second. -
Permanent and induced magnets, and magnetic poles
Describe the field lines in the gap when a north pole and a south pole are placed facing each other.
Show the answer
They run straight across the gap from the north pole to the south pole, linking the two magnets together. -
How the atomic model changed, and the structure of the atom
Why do accepted scientific models such as the model of the atom change over time?
Show the answer
New experimental evidence appears that the existing model cannot explain, so the model has to be revised or replaced. -
Protons, neutrons and isotopes
What is an isotope?
Show the answer
An isotope is an atom of an element that has the usual number of protons but a different number of neutrons. -
Amplitude, wavelength, frequency and period
How does the amplitude of a wave relate to the energy it transfers?
Show the answer
A wave of larger amplitude transfers more energy.
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.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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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.
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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.
- Electricity161
- Energy101
- Forces320
- Global Challenges145
- Magnetism and Magnetic Fields89
- Matter146
- Radioactivity105
- Waves in Matter155
- What does the law of conservation of energy state?
- What is meant by a closed system when energy transfers are being considered?
- Energy is transferred between several stores inside a closed system. What has happened to the total energy of that system?
- A rubber ball is dropped and each bounce reaches a lower height than the last. Has energy been destroyed?
- Why is it more accurate to say that energy has been dissipated than to say it has been lost?
- A toy car is given a push along a bench and eventually stops. Account for its energy as a closed system.
- If the total energy of a system increases, what must be true about that system?
- Why can no machine keep running for ever without an energy supply?
- A stone is thrown straight upwards. Describe how its energy stores change as it rises.
- Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one store to another or dissipated to the surroundings.
- A system that exchanges no energy with anything outside it, so its total energy stays the same.
- There is no net change, so the total energy afterwards is equal to the total energy before.
- No, energy has been transferred to the thermal stores of the ball, the floor and the air, so the total energy is unchanged.
- The energy still exists, but it has spread out into the surroundings where it is no longer useful.
- The energy in its kinetic store has been transferred to the thermal stores of the car, the bench and the air, so the total is unchanged.
- It is not closed, because energy has been transferred into it from outside.
- It would have to produce more energy than is transferred into it, and energy cannot be created.
- Its kinetic store empties while its gravitational potential store fills, and a small amount is transferred to the thermal store of the air.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Gateway or Twenty First Century? Which am I on?
OCR runs two GCSE science suites. Gateway Science is Combined Science A, J250, which is this guide. Twenty First Century Science is Combined Science B, J260 and is organised completely differently.
The code is on your exam timetable. Gateway physics topics are numbered P1 to P6.
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.
At OCR the tier also changes the paper number. Foundation sits Papers 1 to 6 and Higher sits Papers 7 to 12. You are sitting Paper 11 (Physics) and Paper 12 (Physics).
Higher carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, so a student later moved to Foundation has lost nothing.
I do the separate sciences, not Combined Science.
Then you need a different guide. The separate sciences are Physics A (J249) and they examine more physics than Combined Science does.
The one you want is OCR GCSE Physics A, Higher.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 11 (Physics) covers Electricity, Forces, Magnetism and Magnetic Fields, Matter. Paper 12 (Physics) covers Energy, Global Challenges, Radioactivity, Waves in Matter.
The second paper assumes the content of the first, so nothing from the first half is ever safely dropped. The full breakdown is here.
OCR 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.