IGCSE & GCSE Physics Examiners' Edition: Common Mistakes by Topic (Edexcel)

Examiners’ Edition · Edexcel IGCSE & GCSE Physics

Aiming for a grade 9? Stop losing easy marks.

Most marks aren’t lost on the hardest questions. They’re lost to the same small mistakes examiners flag year after year. We’ve gone through the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE and GCSE Physics papers and examiners’ reports and pulled out the mistakes that cost the most marks in every topic.

See the mistake examiners flag year after year, topic by topic.
Learn the fix, and what examiners saw in the exam.
Practise and mark it with original questions and full mark schemes.

Choose your topics Read a free sample first

Written by Mr A Hudha, Head of Physics and examiner

IGCSE & GCSE Physics · Topic 1

Forces and Motion

Examiners’ Edition: Securing Grade 9s

40 common mistakes · 77 practice questions · full mark schemes

1.2 Speed, velocity, acceleration and motion graphs All students

5 Motion graph shapes

✗ Common mistake

Mixing up distance–time and velocity–time graphs.

✓ Do this instead

Constant velocity: a straight sloping line on a distance–time graph, and a horizontal line on a velocity–time graph. Constant acceleration: a curve getting steeper on a distance–time graph, and a straight sloping line on a velocity–time graph.

In the exam

“Over 50% of students scored 0 when drawing a velocity–time graph.” Jan 2020, 1P

Examiners flagged this in 6 exam series, 2020 to 2025

Question 5.1 · Check itMark scheme ›3

A tram moves at a steady 8 m/s in a straight line for 20 s. (a) Sketch the distance–time graph for the tram. (1) (b) Sketch the velocity–time graph for the tram. (2)

Mark scheme · Q5.1‹ Back to question

(a) straight line from the origin reaching 160 m at 20 s1

(b) horizontal straight line1

(b) at 8 m/s, from 0 to 20 s1

Common wrong answer: a rising straight line on a velocity–time graph means acceleration, not constant velocity.

Real pages from the free Topic 1 sample. Every topic is laid out like this.

Topics: 8
Common mistakes fixed: 191
Practice questions: 375
Per topic, one-off: £1

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Pearson Edexcel International GCSE & GCSE Physics · 4PH1, 1PH0, 1SC0

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IGCSE & GCSE sample

IGCSE & GCSE

Topics 1 to 8

Every mistake is marked for your course: International GCSE, GCSE Physics or Combined Science, and Higher tier.

£1

Topic 1

Forces and Motion

40 mistakes fixed77 practice questions

£1

Topic 2

Electricity

26 mistakes fixed49 practice questions

£1

Topic 3

Waves

31 mistakes fixed61 practice questions

£1

Topic 4

Energy Resources and Energy Transfers

24 mistakes fixed48 practice questions

£1

Topic 5

Solids, Liquids and Gases

17 mistakes fixed34 practice questions

£1

Topic 6

Magnetism and Electromagnetism

18 mistakes fixed36 practice questions

£1

Topic 7

Radioactivity and Particles

19 mistakes fixed38 practice questions

£1

Topic 8

Astrophysics

16 mistakes fixed32 practice questions

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