We counted every question in our own AS & A Level Mathematics 9709 question bank — 319 questions worth 2,400 marks, 2020 to 2026 — and sorted them into the 5 chapters of the syllabus. The Normal Distribution carries the most marks.
Every chapter, heaviest first
| Chapter | Questions | Marks | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Normal Distribution | 72 | 615 | 25.6% | |
| Discrete Random Variables | 81 | 530 | 22.1% | |
| Permutations and Combinations | 58 | 485 | 20.2% | |
| Representation of Data | 60 | 446 | 18.6% | |
| Probability | 48 | 324 | 13.5% |
The top 3 of 5 chapters hold half the marks in the bank. The three heaviest are The Normal Distribution, Discrete Random Variables, Permutations and Combinations. The lightest is Probability, at 13.5% of the marks.
Inside the chapters
| Sub-topic | Chapter | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal approximation to the binomial | The Normal Distribution | 30 | 268 |
| Arranging letters of a word | Permutations and Combinations | 30 | 264 |
| Tree diagrams and conditional probability | Probability | 22 | 156 |
| Back-to-back stem-and-leaf diagrams | Representation of Data | 16 | 148 |
| Finding an unknown value | The Normal Distribution | 17 | 132 |
| Binomial and geometric distributions | Discrete Random Variables | 16 | 123 |
| Cumulative frequency graphs | Representation of Data | 15 | 117 |
| Finding the mean and standard deviation | The Normal Distribution | 12 | 117 |
| Selections with conditions | Permutations and Combinations | 17 | 116 |
| Histograms with unequal class widths | Representation of Data | 13 | 102 |
How to use this
Revise the heaviest chapters first. A chapter worth 26% of the marks deserves more than one worth 13.5%.
Use it to decide what to practise, not what to skip. A light chapter can still be the difference between two grades, and Cambridge can set anything on the syllabus.
Check yourself chapter by chapter rather than by whole papers, so a weak topic shows up while there is still time to fix it.
These are ExamYard’s own figures: the questions in our AS & A Level Mathematics 9709 question bank, grouped into the chapter of the syllabus each one tests, and added up by the marks each carries. No question text, mark scheme or examiner report is reproduced on this page. The printed book and the online bank are counted separately, so the totals on this page need not match the book’s own page.