OCR GCSE Physics A, Higher tier Active Recall Guide (J249)
OCR · GCSE
OCR GCSE Physics A, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification J249 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,584 questions across 8 topics and 94 subtopics, at Higher tier, covering Paper 3 and Paper 4.
- OCR
- GCSE
- Specification J249
- 1,584 questions
Guide overview All topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
OCR GCSE Physics A (Gateway Science, specification J249) is one of the three separate sciences and is examined by two written papers of 1 hour 45 minutes and 90 marks each, worth 50% apiece. Paper 3 covers the first half of the topics and the practical skills of Topic P9, and Paper 4 the second half, with the first half and the practical skills assumed. This is the Higher tier: it carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, and grades 9 to 4 are available, with an allowed grade 3 for a student who just misses grade 4.
Physics at GCSE is a large number of small, precise things: a definition, a test, an equation, a named process. Almost none of it can be worked out in the hall from first principles, which makes recall the whole problem and a question list the instrument that matches it.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 3 Physics A Paper 3 |
Electricity Forces Magnetism and Magnetic Fields Matter |
1 hour 45 minutes | 90 marks | 50% |
|
Paper 4 Physics A Paper 4 |
Energy Global Challenges Radioactivity Waves in Matter |
1 hour 45 minutes | 90 marks | 50% |
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.
- Electricity169
- Energy101
- Forces374
- Global Challenges239
- Magnetism and Magnetic Fields135
- Matter207
- Radioactivity139
- Waves in Matter220
- 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 Physics A, J249, which is this guide. Twenty First Century Science is Physics B, J259 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 to 4, with an allowed 3.
At OCR the tier also changes the paper number. Foundation sits Papers 1 and 2 and Higher sits Papers 3 and 4. You are sitting Paper 3 and Paper 4.
Higher carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, so a student later moved to Foundation has lost nothing.
I do Combined Science, not separate sciences.
Then you need a different guide. Combined Science A is J250, a double award worth two GCSEs, and it examines less physics than the separate Physics A. Working from this guide would mean learning content your papers will not ask for.
The one you want is OCR GCSE Combined Science Physics, Higher.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 3 covers Electricity, Forces, Magnetism and Magnetic Fields, Matter. Paper 4 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 Physics A, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.