How to revise Cambridge A Level Physics 9702 by topic

Know which papers each topic feeds

The 2025–2027 syllabus splits cleanly. Topics 1 to 11, from physical quantities and units to particle physics, are the AS topics, examined on Paper 1, which is multiple choice, and Paper 2, the AS structured paper. Topics 12 to 25, from motion in a circle to astronomy and cosmology, are the A Level topics, examined on Paper 4. Paper 3 tests advanced practical skills and Paper 5 tests planning, analysis and evaluation, so those two are revised as skills rather than chapter by chapter.

The split decides how you practise. An AS topic needs two kinds of question: quick multiple-choice items that test one idea at a time, and structured parts that make you define, explain and calculate in writing. An A Level topic is practised in the structured style. Keep the practical skills moving alongside the content: a regular session drawing tables, plotting graphs, finding gradients and combining uncertainties stops them going stale while you work through the chapters.

Revise the topics in an order that builds

The syllabus order is a teaching order. For revision, group the topics that share their ideas and mathematics, so that fixing one strengthens the next. Start with topic 1 whatever else you do: units, homogeneity of equations, vectors and uncertainties turn up inside questions on every other chapter, and a loose grip on them costs marks everywhere. Leave medical physics and astronomy and cosmology until the topics they lean on, especially waves, quantum physics and nuclear physics, are secure.

• Kinematics, dynamics, and work, energy and power together: equations of motion, Newton’s laws and conservation of energy are one toolkit.
• Forces, density and pressure beside deformation of solids: moments, equilibrium, stress, strain and the Young modulus.
• Waves, then superposition: interference and diffraction need wavelength, phase and path difference to be automatic.
• Electricity, then d.c. circuits, finishing with potential dividers.
• Motion in a circle before gravitational fields, then electric fields beside gravitational fields: field strength, potential and inverse-square laws run in parallel, so list where the two agree and where they differ.
• Temperature, ideal gases and thermodynamics as one block; capacitance after electric fields; alternating currents after magnetic fields; quantum physics before nuclear physics.

A routine for one topic

Give each topic a fixed cycle instead of open-ended revision. First, rebuild it from memory on a blank page: definitions, key equations with their units, and the derivations the syllabus asks for. Check that page against your notes and correct the gaps in a different colour. Then practise on questions from that topic alone, drawn from several years, so you see the range of ways one idea is asked, and mark them against the scheme the same day.

1. Multiple choice, for AS topics: ten questions on one topic in 12 minutes, then mark them and write one line on why each wrong option tempted you.
2. Structured: two or three questions on the topic, timed at the real paper’s pace, which you find by dividing its time by its total marks.
3. Redo: the questions you got wrong, three days later, from a clean page and without looking at your first attempt.
4. Close: five minutes listing what the topic’s questions kept asking for, to read again before the next cycle.

Write answers the way the mark scheme reads them

Structured mark schemes give marks for specific points, so the useful question is not whether your answer is right but whether it contains what earns each mark. Calculations usually carry marks for method as well as for the final answer. Write the equation you are using, substitute your values, and only then evaluate. A correct number with no working can lose the method marks, while an early slip costs far less when every later step is visible.

Give every final answer a unit, and a sensible number of significant figures, usually matching the least precise data in the question. Never round between steps: keep full values on your calculator and round once, at the end. Then read the command word before you write a line, because each one asks for something different, and an answer that is correct but does a different job can score very little.

• “State” wants a short answer with no reasoning attached.
• “Define” wants a precise statement, usually in terms of other quantities, such as pressure as the normal force per unit area.
• “Explain” wants a cause linked clearly to its effect, not a restatement of what happens.
• “Show that” gives you the answer, so every step must be on the page, and your final value should carry one more significant figure than the one printed.
• “Suggest” means apply what you know to a situation you have not met, so a reasoned answer that differs from the textbook can still earn the mark.

What to skip in older papers

Past papers are the best practice there is, but the syllabus has changed, so filter what you use. Papers set under the syllabuses that ran to 2021 include questions on Communication and Electronics; neither is in the current syllabus, so skip them. Astronomy and cosmology has been examined only since 2022, so it has fewer questions and none in older papers: use every one you can find, and back it with careful notes on its definitions and equations. Anywhere else, if an older question asks for something you cannot find in the current syllabus document, check before spending time on it.

Where Momentum fits

Momentum’s Topical section files past-paper questions under the syllabus chapter they examine, and 9702 has a page for every chapter, from Physical quantities and units to Astronomy and cosmology. Filter by paper to split an AS topic into its multiple-choice and structured questions, and by year, session, zone or marks to narrow further. Most questions open with their own part of the mark scheme, or the answer letter for multiple choice. Star the ones you get wrong and mark the rest done, and your redo list is waiting at the next cycle. Questions open with a free account.