Paper 1: Multiple Choice
- Duration
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Marks
- 40
- Weighting
- 31% of AS; 15.5% of A Level
40 multiple-choice questions on AS content.
Cambridge and Edexcel A Level
Edunest pairs each Year 12 or Year 13 student in Qatar with an A Level Physics tutor for Cambridge International 9702 or Pearson Edexcel International A Level. Lessons are live and online with a single learner per tutor, planned around the exact papers ahead. Theory, calculation and practical skills are taught together, because each board examines all three.
Help counts most at three points: the step up from IGCSE, the heavier field and nuclear topics of Year 13, and the months before an exam series.
What we cover
Both boards teach the same core physics in a different order. Cambridge 9702 has 25 topics, and topics 1 to 11 form the AS Level; Edexcel places the theory in Units 1, 2, 4 and 5.
Teaching tracks the school's own board, so lessons cover what your child will be examined on and nothing extra.
SI units, checking equations by their units, and combining uncertainties. Marks slip when learners add absolute uncertainties where percentages belong, or resolve a force at the wrong angle.
Equations of motion, projectiles, Newton's laws, momentum, work and power. A dropped sign when a ball changes direction, or momentum treated without a direction, costs marks.
Stress, strain and the Young modulus, with fluid flow and viscosity in Edexcel. Learners often overlook that the area under a force-extension graph is stored energy.
Stationary waves, polarisation, diffraction, interference and the diffraction grating. Path difference and phase difference are easily confused, and grating answers fail when the order number is misread.
Current, resistivity, Kirchhoff's laws, potential dividers, e.m.f. and internal resistance. Written explanations cost marks, such as why a divider's output changes as a thermistor warms.
Circular motion, orbits, electric fields, capacitors and electromagnetic induction. The negative sign of potential, exponential discharge and Lenz's law are the usual stumbling points.
Ideal gases, kinetic theory, internal energy, simple harmonic motion and resonance. Cambridge writes the first law as ΔU = q + W, with work done on the gas, and sign slips follow.
Photons, the photoelectric effect, energy levels, quarks, binding energy and radioactive decay. Half-life questions need natural logarithms, where sound physics often meets shaky algebra.
Standard candles, Wien's law, the Stefan-Boltzmann law and Hubble's law feature in both courses. Cambridge adds ultrasound, X-rays and PET scanning; Edexcel adds the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.
How lessons run
Each lesson has one job set by the plan: a topic taught, a paper practised or a gap closed. Timings follow the Qatari school week and official Ramadan hours.
Step 1
The first lesson confirms the board, syllabus year and exam series, then samples AS topics and the maths beneath them: rearranging equations, standard form, graphs and, in Year 13, logarithms.
Step 2
The tutor maps the remaining topics against the learner's series (June or November for Cambridge; January, June or October for Edexcel) and school tests, so each topic is secure in time.
Step 3
Each topic starts with a sketch of the physics on screen, before any equation. Definitions are learnt word for word, and every answer carries units and sensible significant figures.
Step 4
With real data sets, the learner builds tables, plots graphs, finds gradients and works out uncertainties, then plans experiments and critiques methods for Paper 5 or Units 3 and 6.
Step 5
Timed past-paper questions are marked against the board's published scheme, and every lost mark is corrected. Parents get a brief written update on progress and are welcome to watch lessons live.
Physics slots run on Qatar time (UTC+3), fitted to the Sunday-to-Thursday timetable and the Friday-Saturday weekend.
The exam
Cambridge sets five papers: 1 to 3 for AS Level, then 4 and 5 to complete the A Level. Edexcel splits the course into six units: 1 to 3 form the IAS, and 4 to 6 the IA2.
Exam board
Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics · 9702
Five papers. AS Level stands alone or is carried forward to complete the A Level later.
Exam board
Pearson Edexcel International A Level Physics · XPH11 (IAS), YPH11 (IAL)
Six units. Any unit can be resat, and the better of the two most recent attempts counts.
| Paper | Tier | Duration | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Multiple Choice | Cambridge AS | 1 hour 15 minutes | 40 | 31% of AS; 15.5% of A Level |
40 multiple-choice questions on AS content. | ||||
| Paper 2: AS Structured Questions | Cambridge AS | 1 hour 15 minutes | 60 | 46% of AS; 23% of A Level |
Structured AS questions mixing calculation and explanation. | ||||
| Paper 3: Advanced Practical Skills | Cambridge AS | 2 hours | 40 | 23% of AS; 11.5% of A Level |
Two laboratory experiments at school, 20 marks each. How a tutor helps The experiments happen at school. Lessons train what the examiner then marks: headings with units, consistent decimal places, graph scales, gradients, and the precise improvements Question 2 asks for. | ||||
| Paper 4: A Level Structured Questions | Cambridge A Level | 2 hours | 100 | 38.5% of A Level |
Structured questions on Year 13 topics, drawing on AS knowledge. | ||||
| Paper 5: Planning, Analysis, Evaluation | Cambridge A Level | 1 hour 15 minutes | 30 | 11.5% of A Level |
Two 15-mark questions: plan an experiment, then analyse data. How a tutor helps A strong plan has a labelled diagram, a clear method, controlled variables and safety. The tutor sets fresh planning tasks and practises straight-line graphs that yield a constant and its uncertainty. | ||||
| Unit 1: Mechanics and Materials (WPH11) | Edexcel IAS | 1 hour 30 minutes | 80 | 40% of IAS; 20% of IAL |
Motion, forces, energy, viscosity and the Young modulus. | ||||
| Unit 2: Waves and Electricity (WPH12) | Edexcel IAS | 1 hour 30 minutes | 80 | 40% of IAS; 20% of IAL |
Waves, the particle nature of light, and circuits. | ||||
| Unit 3: Practical Skills in Physics I (WPH13) | Edexcel IAS | 1 hour 20 minutes | 50 | 20% of IAS; 10% of IAL |
A written paper on planning, measuring and processing results. How a tutor helps As a written paper, it can be prepared fully online: planning and risk, choosing apparatus, significant figures, graphs and uncertainty, all tied to the Unit 1 and 2 core practicals. | ||||
| Unit 4: Further Mechanics, Fields and Particles (WPH14) | Edexcel IA2 | 1 hour 45 minutes | 90 | 40% of IA2; 20% of IAL |
Two-dimensional momentum, circular motion, fields, capacitors and particles. | ||||
| Unit 5: Thermodynamics, Radiation, Oscillations and Cosmology (WPH15) | Edexcel IA2 | 1 hour 45 minutes | 90 | 40% of IA2; 20% of IAL |
Thermal physics, nuclear decay, oscillations and astrophysics. | ||||
| Unit 6: Practical Skills in Physics II (WPH16) | Edexcel IA2 | 1 hour 20 minutes | 50 | 20% of IA2; 10% of IAL |
A written practical-skills paper on the Unit 4 and 5 experiments. | ||||
40 multiple-choice questions on AS content.
Structured AS questions mixing calculation and explanation.
Two laboratory experiments at school, 20 marks each.
How a tutor helps
The experiments happen at school. Lessons train what the examiner then marks: headings with units, consistent decimal places, graph scales, gradients, and the precise improvements Question 2 asks for.
Structured questions on Year 13 topics, drawing on AS knowledge.
Two 15-mark questions: plan an experiment, then analyse data.
How a tutor helps
A strong plan has a labelled diagram, a clear method, controlled variables and safety. The tutor sets fresh planning tasks and practises straight-line graphs that yield a constant and its uncertainty.
Motion, forces, energy, viscosity and the Young modulus.
Waves, the particle nature of light, and circuits.
A written paper on planning, measuring and processing results.
How a tutor helps
As a written paper, it can be prepared fully online: planning and risk, choosing apparatus, significant figures, graphs and uncertainty, all tied to the Unit 1 and 2 core practicals.
Two-dimensional momentum, circular motion, fields, capacitors and particles.
Thermal physics, nuclear decay, oscillations and astrophysics.
A written practical-skills paper on the Unit 4 and 5 experiments.
Cambridge candidates from schools in Qatar sit 9702 each June or November. Every Edexcel unit runs in January, June and October. Each school confirms its own paper dates.
Cambridge grades AS Level from a to e and the full A Level from A* to E. Edexcel awards A to E at IAS and A* to E at IAL; that A* also needs 90% or more of the uniform marks from Units 4, 5 and 6.
What we look for in a tutor
Physics tutors are chosen for the learner's board, syllabus year and stage.
Knowledge deep enough to derive results, explain them simply and teach every Year 13 topic, from fields to cosmology.
Working knowledge of Cambridge 9702 or the Edexcel units, including what each paper rewards and how mark schemes phrase answers.
A record of preparing learners for A Level Physics exams, knowing where marks usually go and how to recover them.
Confidence teaching uncertainty, graph analysis and experiment planning for Paper 3, Paper 5 or Units 3 and 6.
Simple explanations in either language, with the English exam vocabulary kept in steady use.
Safe practice with teenagers online, and steady, plain-spoken updates to parents on what is working and what comes next.
Common difficulties
These come up on both boards and in both years.
AS problems combine several ideas and expect algebra before numbers, which IGCSE rarely demands.
How a tutor helps
The tutor builds a routine: sketch, list the knowns, choose the principle, solve in symbols, then substitute. Short, frequent questions build fluency before full past papers.
Mark schemes credit precise wording, such as the definition of the volt.
How a tutor helps
The learner keeps a definitions list from the syllabus, is tested on it at the start of lessons, and checks each answer against mark-scheme wording.
Logarithms, exponentials, standard form and rearranging equations run through the whole course.
How a tutor helps
The tutor teaches each maths skill inside the physics that needs it, such as logarithms with radioactive decay, and revisits it until it becomes automatic.
Marks go to scales, plotted points, best-fit lines, gradients and uncertainty, and small slips add up.
How a tutor helps
The learner answers full data-analysis questions from past practical papers, and the tutor marks each step, from the first table heading to the final uncertainty.
Fields, capacitance, induction and oscillations rest on AS work, so Year 12 gaps surface here.
How a tutor helps
Before each new topic the tutor revisits the AS idea beneath it, such as circular motion before orbits, then uses diagrams and graded problems.
Questions learners and parents ask
Tell us the board, year group and next series. Someone on our team reads each message and suggests a tutor who knows that syllabus.