Assessment Series Overview

The 2025 CCEA AS Physics assessment suite provides a rigorous and balanced evaluation of core theoretical principles, mathematical problem-solving, and experimental skills across units AS 1, AS 2, AS 3A, and AS 3B.

Where Marks Were Won and Lost

  • AS 1 (Forces, Energy and Electricity): High-scoring areas included standard kinematics and simple circuit Ohm's law applications. In contrast, candidates frequently struggled with vector resolution in non-perpendicular equilibrium systems (Question 1b), sign conventions in momentum changes during rebounding collisions (Question 3c), and multi-step power conversions in real-world contexts like wind turbines (Question 10b).
  • AS 2 (Waves, Photons and Astronomy): Ray optics diagrams (Questions 2b and 6b) proved differentiating; candidates often lost marks for omitting ray directional arrows, incorrectly drawing virtual rays as solid lines, or miscalculating critical angles at dielectric-dielectric interfaces (cladding vs core). Optical fibre function and coherent bundle explanations were generally well-recalled.
  • AS 3A & 3B (Practical & Data Analysis): Practical execution on AS 3A showed sound technique with vernier calipers and circuit setup. However, AS 3B Question 3 presented significant hurdles, notably in combining fractional/percentage uncertainties where a quantity is raised to a power (such as \(t^3\)) and quoting final uncertainty values to 1 significant figure.

Examiner Pitfalls and Guidance

A frequent source of mark loss was failure to convert units before intermediate calculation stages (e.g., millimetres to metres, mA to A, or nanometres to metres). In graphical questions, examiners heavily penalised non-manageable scales (such as multiples of 3 or 7), failing to use at least half the grid, and small gradient triangles (< 5 cm along an axis). For 'Show that' questions, quoting an answer to one additional significant figure than stated in the prompt is mandatory.

Strategic Revision & Predictions

Students preparing for upcoming series should place particular emphasis on rigorous error analysis, graphical linearization (mapping non-linear relationships to \(y = mx + c\)), internal resistance load curves, and multi-stage photoelectric effect calculations.