Electricity and magnetism — IGCSE Sciences - Co-Ordinated (0654) questions by topic
Calculating resistance from ammeter and voltmeter readings, reasoning about a washing machine's parallel-wired heater and motor, interpreting an NTC thermistor circuit, and working out a missing ammeter reading in a series circuit of two filament lamps are the tasks behind the 15 electricity and magnetism questions from 2023 and 2024, worth 7 to 13 marks.
State, calculate and complete lead the command words, with identify and explain used for reasoning about circuit behaviour rather than plugging numbers into a formula. Because dividing instead of multiplying voltage and resistance is a common trap, work through the circuit-calculation questions here and submit for instant marking, so a formula error is caught on the spot instead of propagating through a multi-step circuit problem.
What examiners look for
- Examiners repeatedly found candidates multiplying voltage and resistance together rather than dividing to find resistance.
- A recurring criticism is failing to explain that two resistors in parallel give a combined resistance less than either resistor alone.
- Conduction was not well known as a heat transfer process; evaporation was a popular but incorrect response, and few candidates could describe a convection current correctly.
- Few candidates knew a voltmeter must be connected in parallel with the component it measures, and very few knew that a fuse's purpose is to protect a circuit.
- Some candidates named a component as a resistor but few identified it specifically as a variable resistor, with many suggesting it was a battery or cell instead.
May–June 2024, Paper 31
A torch (flashlight) contains two cells, a lamp and a switch connected in series. Fig. 3.1 shows an incomplete circuit diagram for the torch. Complete the circuit diagram in Fig.…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 41
A student is investigating electrical circuits. Fig. 12.1 shows a circuit made by the student (6.0 V supply, ammeter A, resistor R, voltmeter V). The ammeter reads 0.50 A and the…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 43
A student is investigating resistance. Fig. 9.1 shows the circuit made by the student: three 2.5 ohm resistors in series, with voltmeter readings V1, V2, V3 across each and a…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 43
A student investigates an NTC thermistor. The student connects the thermistor in series with a cell and an ammeter. The student also connects a voltmeter to measure the potential…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 31
Fig. 9.1 shows a washing machine. The washing machine uses a heater to heat the water and a motor to pump the hot water. The motor and the heater are connected in a parallel…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 32
Fig. 9.1 shows an electric circuit with two filament lamps X and Y in series, ammeter A1 and ammeter A2. When the switch is closed, ammeter A2 shows a reading of 0.6 A. State the…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 33
Fig. 9.1 shows an electric circuit with two filament lamps X and Y in series, ammeter A1 and ammeter A2. When the switch is closed, ammeter A2 shows a reading of 0.6 A. State the…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 41
A student investigates how the resistance of a wire changes with length (Fig. 9.1, cell 1.5 V, ammeter, ruler, crocodile clips). When the wire is made longer, the reading on the…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 42
A student investigates series and parallel circuits using filament lamps. Fig. 9.1 shows the first circuit (three identical filament lamps in series with a 6.0 V supply, two…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 31
Fig. 6.1 shows an incomplete circuit diagram containing lamp A, lamp B and a component X. Complete the circuit diagram in Fig. 6.1 by: - adding an ammeter to measure the current…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 32
Fig. 12.1 shows a refrigerator with a freezing compartment. The refrigerator uses electrical energy to power the electric motor which operates the cooler and to light the lamp…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 33
Fig. 6.1 shows a double electric hotplate (hotplate A and hotplate B) used to heat food. Fig. 6.2 shows the circuit diagram for the hotplates connected to a 240 V a.c. supply.…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 41
A student is investigating electromagnetic induction by dropping a magnet through a coil of wire. The coil is connected to a device which measures the e.m.f. induced. Fig. 9.1…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 42
Fig. 3.1 shows a circuit used by students investigating how the resistance of a metal wire varies with length. The students use an ammeter and a voltmeter to measure the current…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 43
A student investigates light dependent resistors (LDRs). Fig. 12.1 shows the circuit the student uses (variable power supply, ammeter A, LDR). The ammeter in Fig. 12.1 reads 0.24…
Answer this question and get it marked →Other IGCSE Sciences - Co-Ordinated topics
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