We counted every question in our own AS & A Level Mathematics 9709 question bank — 285 questions worth 2,100 marks, 2020 to 2026 — and sorted them into the 5 chapters of the syllabus. Hypothesis Tests carries the most marks.
Every chapter, heaviest first
| Chapter | Questions | Marks | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypothesis Tests | 78 | 612 | 29.1% | |
| The Poisson Distribution | 49 | 387 | 18.4% | |
| Sampling and Estimation | 67 | 386 | 18.4% | |
| Continuous Random Variables | 44 | 369 | 17.6% | |
| Linear Combinations of Random Variables | 47 | 346 | 16.5% |
The top 3 of 5 chapters hold half the marks in the bank. The three heaviest are Hypothesis Tests, The Poisson Distribution, Sampling and Estimation. The lightest is Linear Combinations of Random Variables, at 16.5% of the marks.
Inside the chapters
| Sub-topic | Chapter | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal approximation to Poisson | The Poisson Distribution | 24 | 213 |
| Test for a population mean | Hypothesis Tests | 27 | 205 |
| Type I and Type II errors | Hypothesis Tests | 21 | 168 |
| Comparing normal variables | Linear Combinations of Random Variables | 22 | 161 |
| Mean and variance of a pdf | Continuous Random Variables | 18 | 145 |
| Poisson approximation to binomial | The Poisson Distribution | 20 | 130 |
| Confidence interval for a mean | Sampling and Estimation | 17 | 111 |
| Test for a binomial proportion | Hypothesis Tests | 13 | 103 |
| Total of independent normals | Linear Combinations of Random Variables | 13 | 101 |
| Distribution of the sample mean | Sampling and Estimation | 10 | 71 |
How to use this
Revise the heaviest chapters first. A chapter worth 29% of the marks deserves more than one worth 16.5%.
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.