Your Physics assessment route is set by the syllabus for your exam year and the entry your school or exam centre makes for you. This page does not state paper numbers, durations or weightings, because those belong to the current Cambridge document and can change between syllabus versions.
What it does give you is a clear checking procedure, and the skills that stay useful whichever route applies.
What should you confirm, and with whom?
Some facts come from Cambridge, and some from your centre. Keeping them separate saves confusion.
| Question | Who answers | Where |
|---|---|---|
| What components exist and how are they assessed? | Cambridge | Syllabus for your exam year |
| Which route and exam series am I entered for? | Your school or exam centre | Ask in writing |
| Which calculations or formulae must I recall? | Cambridge syllabus and exam instructions | Syllabus and specimen materials |
| How are practical skills assessed in my case? | Syllabus, then your centre | Both, to be sure |
| Access arrangements and results | Your exam centre | Your exams officer |
Our syllabus and exam-year navigator turns this table into a checklist for your own entry. If you enter a code or year it cannot resolve, it tells you what to check instead of guessing.
Which code and year are you on?
The code used on this site is 0625, and the 0625 code and exam-year guide explains how to confirm it. Two students in the same class can be on different routes, so never copy a friend’s details.
If your exam year is close to a syllabus change, read the Cambridge page for announcements about the transition. That check takes five minutes and can save weeks of revising content that no longer applies.
Command words: same topic, different answer
Command words change what a full-mark answer looks like. Take one idea, a moving car, and three different verbs.
State asks for a short fact: “The car’s speed is constant.”
Calculate asks for working and a unit: a car covers 150 m in 12 s, so speed = 150 ÷ 12 = 12.5 m/s.
Explain asks for a reason: “The resultant force is zero, so the speed does not change.”
A common slip is to answer “explain” with a description. A student writes “the car keeps moving”, which describes what happens but gives no reason. The correction adds the link: “because the driving force equals the resistive force, the resultant force is zero.”
Skills that apply to every route
Whatever your entry, these show up again and again in Physics assessment:
- Units: choosing, converting and stating them. Start with measurement and quantities.
- Graphs: reading gradient, area and intercepts. See motion and graphs.
- Variables and limitations: naming independent, dependent and controlled variables in investigations.
- Explaining: writing a short chain of cause and effect in full sentences.
Check yourself
1. Which verb asks for a unit and working: state, calculate or suggest?
Show answer
Calculate. State asks for a fact, and suggest asks you to apply knowledge to a new situation.
2. A car travels 90 m in 6.0 s. What is its speed?
Show answer
90 ÷ 6.0 = 15 m/s. Check: 15 × 6.0 = 90.
3. Who do you ask which exam series you are entered for?
Show answer
Your school or exam centre. Cambridge publishes the syllabus, but the centre handles your entry.
Where to go next
Read the Physics learning guide to see how the topics fit together, then use the original practice hub to rehearse command words on fresh questions.
If you would like a teacher to shape your practice around your confirmed route, ask about online one-to-one Physics tuition.