The 4PH1 questions worth setting after a topic — the ones that test whether students can actually apply the wave equation or read a current-voltage graph, not just recite the theory — are scattered a couple to a paper across the spec’s content areas. Rounding up seven structured questions on series and parallel circuits, graded easy-to-hard, from the papers by hand is slow enough that most of us don’t bother. For Edexcel IGCSE Physics 4PH1, doing it in a minute is what makes topic-by-topic practice realistic. This guide is about setting 4PH1 work by topic and difficulty.

What “by topic” actually means in 4PH1

A genuinely useful 4PH1 question bank is tagged to the structure of the specification, not to a vague chapter list. Edexcel organises 4PH1 into a set of content areas, and a question bank worth using lets you filter to them. The major areas are:

• Forces and motion — speed, velocity and acceleration, motion graphs, Newton’s laws, momentum, moments and stopping distances.
• Electricity — current, voltage and resistance, series and parallel circuits, electrical energy and power, and electrical safety.
• Waves — wave properties and the wave equation, reflection and refraction, the electromagnetic spectrum, sound.
• Energy resources and transfer — energy stores and transfers, efficiency, work and power, and energy resources.
• Solids, liquids and gases — density and pressure, the particle model, the gas laws and thermal effects.
• Magnetism and electromagnetism — magnetic fields, the motor effect, electromagnetic induction, transformers.
• Radioactivity and particles — atomic structure, radiation types, half-life, and (where assessed) astrophysics.

Check the current specification for the exact area names and how they’re grouped across the papers — but the principle holds: when you can pull every past-paper item on, say, electromagnetic induction and order it from a routine “state the rule” to a multi-step transformer calculation, you can set a homework that does one thing well instead of a whole paper that does a dozen things shallowly. That’s the core argument of the parent guide, what a teacher question bank should actually cover — and 4PH1 is a strong case for it, because its content areas are so cleanly separable.

Topic and difficulty — the second filter most folders lack

Topic on its own isn’t enough in physics. “Electricity” spans a one-mark “name this circuit symbol” recall question and a five-mark problem combining resistance, power and a unit conversion. Setting both to the same class wastes the strong students’ time and drowns the weaker ones. A 4PH1 bank that also grades by difficulty lets you:

• Hand a consolidating group the routine, single-step versions of a topic — recall, one-equation calculations — to build fluency before the mock.
• Stretch a secure group with the multi-step problems that actually separate the top grades: a momentum calculation feeding a force, a transformer problem, a half-life chain.
• Build a single homework that ramps — three accessible items, three mid, two stretch — so every student has somewhere to start and somewhere to aim.

For the principle behind setting work this way, see assigning past-paper questions by topic and difficulty; this page is the 4PH1-specific version of that workflow.

Three ways teachers actually use a 4PH1 bank

Targeted homework after a topic. You’ve just taught the wave equation. Instead of “do the exercise,” pull a set of genuine past-paper items on wave speed, frequency and wavelength, ramped in difficulty, and set them. Students practise on the real thing — Edexcel’s phrasing, Edexcel’s mark allocations, the insistence on a unit — not a textbook approximation.

Closing a gap the data exposed. Your last assessment showed the class haemorrhaging marks on circuit calculations. A topic filter lets you assemble a short, focused set on precisely that — series-versus-parallel resistance, power, the energy equations — rather than hoping it comes up again. This is where a question bank and your markbook work together: find the gap, pull the questions, re-test.

Calculation and unit drill. A large share of 4PH1 marks live in structured calculations where students must select an equation, substitute, rearrange, and quote a unit. A bank lets you set exactly those multi-step numeric questions — across forces, electricity, energy and waves — so the working habit and the unit discipline get rehearsed before they cost marks in the exam.

What “good” looks like — and what to be wary of

A 4PH1 question bank earns its place when it has: accurate topic tags mapped to the spec’s content areas; a difficulty signal you can trust; the full mark scheme alongside each question — including how the calculation marks are split across the working — so students see how marks are earned; and enough breadth that you’re not recycling the same handful of questions every term. It should also include the practical-based questions — method, variables, sources of error — because those are part of what students sit. Be wary of banks that tag loosely (“Electricity” with no sub-structure), that strip the mark scheme, or that mix in non-Edexcel questions whose style doesn’t match what students will face.

A note on honesty about scale: the platform reports a large shared question bank across subjects (200,000+ questions), but the number that matters to you is coverage of your topics at the depth 4PH1 demands. Judge a 4PH1 bank by whether it has a deep, well-tagged set across the content areas above — and includes the calculation and practical questions — not by the headline total.

How this looks on the platform

Tutopiya’s Edexcel IGCSE Physics 4PH1 resources let you filter past-paper questions by the spec’s content areas and by difficulty, set them as homework or a quiz, and have the structured ones auto-marked to the Edexcel scheme so you see exactly which sub-skills a class dropped. It’s free to start with one class. For the wider toolkit, see the teacher platform these guides put to work.

This is one of four 4PH1 guides. The others cover marking 4PH1 to the Edexcel mark scheme, building a 4PH1 mock exam from past papers, and 4PH1 lesson resources mapped to the syllabus.

FAQ

Can I pull 4PH1 questions for a single topic like electromagnetic induction or half-life? That’s the main reason to use a question bank over a stack of papers. A bank tagged to the 4PH1 content areas lets you filter to one sub-topic and assemble a focused set in minutes, rather than scanning whole papers for the two questions you want.

Can I set questions by difficulty as well as topic? You should be able to. Difficulty is what lets you build a ramped homework — recall and single-equation items to start, multi-step calculations to finish — so a mixed-attainment class all has somewhere to begin and somewhere to aim. Topic without difficulty tends to mis-pitch the work for half the room.

Does it include the mark scheme, and does it show how calculation marks are split? A 4PH1 bank worth using keeps the Edexcel mark scheme alongside each question, including how a calculation’s marks are awarded across the equation, substitution and final answer with its unit. That’s what lets students see how credit is earned and lets you mark consistently.

Does the bank include the practical-based questions? It should. Questions on the required practicals — identifying variables, describing a method, spotting sources of error — are part of 4PH1, and a bank that omits them leaves a real gap in exam preparation. Look for one that tags practical-skills questions as well as content.

How does this differ from just giving students past papers? A whole past paper tests many topics at once and takes an evening to mark. A question bank lets you target one topic, grade it by difficulty, re-test a gap your data exposed, and mark the structured parts automatically — turning the same questions into something you can actually act on week to week.

The bottom line

A 4PH1 question bank is worth using when it’s tagged to the specification’s content areas, graded by difficulty, includes the practical questions, and carries the mark scheme — calculation working and all — with every item. Used that way, it turns “set some physics homework” into “set eight ramped questions on the exact topic this class is dropping” — which is the difference between practice that fills time and practice that moves grades.

Build targeted 4PH1 homework from real past papers — free with one class →

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