We counted every question in our own O Level Physics 5054 question bank — 1,483 questions worth 3,490 marks, 2019 to 2026 — and sorted them into the 25 chapters of the syllabus. Forces carries the most marks.
Every chapter, heaviest first
| Chapter | Questions | Marks | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forces | 164 | 330 | 9.5% | |
| Radioactivity | 80 | 310 | 8.9% | |
| Electromagnetic Effects | 91 | 280 | 8.0% | |
| Energy, Work and Power | 124 | 258 | 7.4% | |
| Light | 110 | 229 | 6.6% | |
| Thermal Properties and Temperature | 77 | 196 | 5.6% | |
| Practical Electricity | 55 | 179 | 5.1% | |
| Electrical Quantities | 87 | 176 | 5.0% | |
| Kinetic Particle Model of Matter | 76 | 159 | 4.6% | |
| Electric Circuits | 67 | 155 | 4.4% | |
| Motion | 61 | 150 | 4.3% | |
| Sound | 60 | 127 | 3.6% | |
| Transfer of Thermal Energy | 52 | 122 | 3.5% | |
| Stars and the Universe | 32 | 107 | 3.1% | |
| General Properties of Waves | 38 | 100 | 2.9% | |
| Pressure | 48 | 93 | 2.7% | |
| Earth and the Solar System | 20 | 78 | 2.2% | |
| Electromagnetic Spectrum | 29 | 73 | 2.1% | |
| Physical Quantities and Measurement Techniques | 55 | 72 | 2.1% | |
| The Nuclear Model of the Atom | 38 | 69 | 2.0% | |
| Momentum | 17 | 56 | 1.6% | |
| Simple Magnetism and Magnetic Fields | 31 | 50 | 1.4% | |
| Mass and Weight | 34 | 44 | 1.3% | |
| Density | 26 | 41 | 1.2% | |
| Uses of an Oscilloscope | 11 | 36 | 1.0% |
The top 7 of 25 chapters hold half the marks in the bank. The three heaviest are Forces, Radioactivity, Electromagnetic Effects. The lightest is Uses of an Oscilloscope, at 1.0% of the marks.
Inside the chapters
| Sub-topic | Chapter | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical power and energy | Practical Electricity | 21 | 90 |
| Specific heat capacity | Thermal Properties and Temperature | 19 | 85 |
| Pressure and volume of a gas | Kinetic Particle Model of Matter | 30 | 80 |
| Half-life | Radioactivity | 18 | 74 |
| Reflection, refraction and diffraction | General Properties of Waves | 17 | 69 |
| Electromagnetic induction | Electromagnetic Effects | 17 | 63 |
| The life cycle of a star | Stars and the Universe | 13 | 62 |
| Melting, boiling and latent heat | Thermal Properties and Temperature | 23 | 58 |
| Principle of moments | Forces | 17 | 57 |
| Fission and fusion | Radioactivity | 12 | 54 |
How to use this
Revise the heaviest chapters first. A chapter worth 9% of the marks deserves more than one worth 1.0%.
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 O Level Physics 5054 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.