Edexcel GCSE Physics Tutors Online

Edexcel GCSE Physics is code 1PH0, with a qualification number of 601/8609/4, written for first teaching from September 2016 and first certification in June 2018. It has two written papers. Paper 1 is coded 1PH0/1F and 1PH0/1H, Paper 2 is coded 1PH0/2F and 1PH0/2H, and each is a written examination of 1 hour and 45 minutes worth 100 marks and 50% of the qualification. Both are available at foundation tier and higher tier, and a student must complete all assessments in the same tier.

Each paper consists of ten questions and students must answer all of them, mixing multiple choice, short answer, calculations and extended open-response. Calculators may be used. Ten questions across 1 hour and 45 minutes is a fixed structure, so time per question can be worked out before the paper is opened.

Physics is the largest of the three Edexcel separate sciences by topic count. It has fifteen topics, where Biology and Chemistry each have nine. Topic 1 Key concepts of physics is the topic common to both papers. Paper 1 then adds Topics 2 to 7: Motion and forces, Conservation of energy, Waves, Light and the electromagnetic spectrum, Radioactivity and Astronomy. Paper 2 adds Topics 8 to 15: Energy, forces doing work, Forces and their effects, Electricity and circuits, Static electricity, Magnetism and the motor effect, Electromagnetic induction, Particle model, and Forces and matter.

The equations are the part of this specification that students most often underestimate. Pearson splits them into two lists. List a holds the equations students must be able to recall and apply, and if a question only requires an equation to be applied it will be given in the question. List b holds the equations students must select from a list and apply, and those are given in a formulae sheet at the end of the exam papers. So one set has to be memorised and the other has to be found and chosen correctly, which are different skills.

Higher tier equations are printed in bold in both lists, and Pearson states that higher tier only equations will not be required in the foundation tier papers and will not be given in the formulae sheet for the foundation tier papers. A student on the foundation tier therefore never meets them, and a student on the higher tier has both to recall list a and to navigate list b.

Practical work follows the same pattern as the other Edexcel sciences: eight mandatory core practicals, all examined inside the written papers, and a Practical Science Statement that the centre must submit to Pearson by 15 April in the year the student sits the examinations. Only one of the eight, on thermal energy radiated or absorbed, carries the P marker for Physics-only content.