Assessment Verdict & Overall Difficulty
The May/June 2026 Cambridge IGCSE Physics (0625) examination maintains a very standard yet thorough testing profile across Core, Extended, and Practical components. With an overall difficulty rating of 3.4 out of 5, the series rewards students who demonstrate conceptual clarity alongside precise calculation routines, unit conversions, and well-structured qualitative explanations.
Where the Marks Are Won and Lost
Substantial mark weightings are concentrated in core topics: Motion & Energy, Electricity & Magnetism, and Waves & Optics. High-scoring candidates secured full marks on standard multi-step calculations, such as gravitational potential energy conversion to kinetic velocity \(v = \sqrt{2gh}\), power transmission efficiency via \(P = I^2R\), and wave speed equations \(v = f\lambda\).
However, significant mark drops occurred in descriptive and practical reasoning tasks. Key areas of mark loss include:
- Microscopic Particle Explanations: Explaining gas pressure strictly through the rate of collision and momentum change rather than vague statements like 'particles move more'.
- Optics Terminology & Ray Construction: Incomplete descriptions of the critical angle (omitting that it represents the angle of incidence producing a \(90^\circ\) angle of refraction) and inaccurate drawing of refracted rays leaving prisms.
- Experimental Justification: In Paper 5/6, failing to evaluate whether product relationships (e.g., \(m_1 \times m_2 = 1.00\)) hold true within the experimental limit criterion (typically \(\pm 10\%\)).
Examiner Pitfalls & Diction Traps
Candidates must beware of standard examiner conventions. Quoting units when explicitly requested in final answer boxes is mandatory (e.g., \(\text{g/cm}^3\), \(\text{Hz}\), \(\text{kWh}\)). In electrostatic questions, confusing electron migration with positive charge movement results in immediate forfeiture of marks. Similarly, in nuclear fission and fusion questions, conflating terms like 'splitting' with 'melting' or 'decay' leads to penalisation.
Revision Strategy & Forward Prediction
Students preparing for subsequent series should prioritise Thermal Physics (heat transfer methods, specific heat capacity calculations) and Space Physics (Hubble constant, redshift evidence, orbital speed formulas). Regular practice with experimental design questions—particularly identifying controlled variables and drawing structured data tables—will guarantee high yields on Alternative to Practical and Theory papers alike.