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Assessment
How Cambridge International AS and A Level Physics is assessed
AS Level is Papers 1, 2 and 3. The full A Level adds Papers 4 and 5, either all in one series or staged, with AS taken first.
Syllabus 9702, for exams in 2025–2027. Cambridge has published a new syllabus for 2028 onwards.
AS Level (Papers 1–3)
Paper 1: Multiple Choice
40 multiple-choice questions on AS content
- Time
- 1 h 15 min
- Marks
- 40
- Weight
- 31% of AS, 15.5% of A Level
Paper 2: AS Level Structured Questions
Structured questions on AS content
- Time
- 1 h 15 min
- Marks
- 60
- Weight
- 46% of AS, 23% of A Level
Paper 3: Advanced Practical Skills
Practical work and structured questions
- Time
- 2 h
- Marks
- 40
- Weight
- 23% of AS, 11.5% of A Level
A Level adds Papers 4 and 5
Paper 4: A Level Structured Questions
Structured questions on A Level content, building on AS
- Time
- 2 h
- Marks
- 100
- Weight
- 38.5% of A Level
Paper 5: Planning, Analysis and Evaluation
Written questions on planning experiments and analysing data
- Time
- 1 h 15 min
- Marks
- 30
- Weight
- 11.5% of A Level
Practical skills are tested in exams, with no coursework: Paper 3 is a timed practical, and Paper 5 is a written paper on planning, analysis and evaluation.
From the official Cambridge International syllabus, checked October 2026. Read the syllabus
Syllabus content
What’s on the Cambridge International A Level Physics syllabus
AS Level
- Physical quantities and units
- Kinematics
- Dynamics
- Forces, density and pressure
- Work, energy and power
- Deformation of solids
- Waves
- Superposition
- Electricity
- D.C. circuits
- Particle physics
A Level
- Motion in a circle
- Gravitational fields
- Temperature
- Ideal gases
- Thermodynamics
- Oscillations
- Electric fields
- Capacitance
- Magnetic fields
- Alternating currents
- Quantum physics
- Nuclear physics
- Medical physics
- Astronomy and cosmology
Where marks are lost
Common Cambridge International A Level Physics mistakes
Writing too many significant figures in Paper 3.
Give calculated values to the same number of significant figures as the raw data, or one more.
Adding percentage uncertainties for a sum.
For sums and differences, add absolute uncertainties. For products and quotients, add percentage uncertainties.
Treating e.m.f. and p.d. as the same thing.
E.m.f. is energy transferred to electrical energy per unit charge by the source. P.d. is electrical energy transferred to other forms per unit charge.
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