Cambridge O Level Physics (5054) Past Papers: Grade Thresholds and Examiner Report Notes

This page is a guide to Cambridge O Level Physics (5054) past papers for the June and November series from June 2023 to June 2026. For each series you get the grade thresholds and a short summary of where candidates lost marks. The thresholds are copied from Cambridge’s grade-threshold documents, and the examiner notes are our own summaries of Cambridge’s Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers. We do not host any papers: every paper, mark scheme and report comes from Cambridge.

Where to get the official papers

• Cambridge O Level Physics (5054) syllabus page
• Cambridge O Level Physics (5054) past papers page

Cambridge publishes recent papers, mark schemes, examiner reports and grade thresholds on the syllabus’s past-papers page; older series are available to schools through the School Support Hub.

Use the three documents together. Sit the paper timed first. Then mark it with the mark scheme, which shows what earned credit. Then read the examiner report (or our notes below) to see why other candidates lost marks on the same questions.

Every candidate sits Paper 1 (Multiple Choice, papers 11 and 12), Paper 2 (Theory, papers 21 and 22) and one practical paper: Paper 3 (Practical Test, papers 31 and 32) or Paper 4 (Alternative to Practical, papers 41 and 42). The current syllabus is Version 2, published December 2025, for exams in 2026, 2027 and 2028, so the June 2026 papers were set on it. Papers from June 2023 to November 2025 were set before it came into use. Cambridge reports no significant changes affecting teaching since the prior version, but check the syllabus version on the paper’s front cover against the current syllabus before you rely on a question.

Series index

Series	Papers (components) examined	Examiner report notes	Grade thresholds
June 2026	11, 12, 21, 22, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes
November 2025	11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes
June 2025	11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes
November 2024	11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes
June 2024	11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes
November 2023	11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes
June 2023	11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42	Yes	Yes

Earlier series are on Cambridge’s past-papers page and are not summarised here.

What examiners keep saying

These are the mistakes that come up again and again, grouped by the syllabus’s own topics.

Motion, forces and energy

• Motion: using one reading, or an average speed, where a tangent gradient was needed; using a time reading instead of a time interval; plotting a change in speed as the final speed. (June 2023, June 2024, June 2025, June 2026)
• Forces (moments): not finding the correct (perpendicular) distance from the pivot, skipping the moments step in a longer calculation, not adding two moments, leaving out the equilibrium condition, or writing N/m for N m. (June 2023, November 2023, November 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)
• Forces (Newton’s laws): putting both forces of a third-law pair on one body, or mixing a pair up with balanced forces; stating the first law with an external force, not a resultant force; explaining terminal velocity without drag rising until it equals weight. (June 2023, November 2023, November 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)
• Momentum: mixing up momentum with moment, adding momenta instead of using conservation, and not linking force to rate of change of momentum. (June 2023, November 2023, November 2024, November 2025)
• Energy, work and power: treating wasted energy as useful, confusing energy with power, turning efficiency upside down, and missing that the kilowatt-hour is an energy unit. (June 2023, June 2024, November 2025)
• Pressure: forgetting to add atmospheric pressure, taking excess pressure as the total, and treating the pressure-volume rule as direct proportion. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024)

Thermal physics

• Explaining gas pressure without more frequent (and harder) particle collisions; using a temperature reading where a change was needed; thinking particle kinetic energy changes while a substance melts or boils. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, November 2025, June 2026)

Waves

• Drawing diffracted waves with a changed wavelength, measuring angles from the surface instead of the normal, giving normal incidence as 90 degrees, and not halving the distance in echo problems. (June 2023, June 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)

Electricity and magnetism

• Circuits: putting the full e.m.f. across one component, adding parallel resistances as if in series, leaving a series resistor out of the total, and mixing up current with potential difference. (June 2023, November 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)
• Motors, generators and transformers: mixing up motor and generator action, describing current crossing a transformer core, thinking step-up raises current, and misusing Lenz’s law or the left-hand rule. (November 2023, June 2024, June 2025, November 2025)
• Practical circuits: voltmeters drawn in series, wrong symbols for components such as the thermistor or variable resistor, and saying “the resistance” changed without naming the component. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, November 2025, June 2026)

Nuclear physics

• Mixing up amount decayed with amount remaining, ignoring background count in half-life work, confusing nucleon number with neutron or proton number, and thinking beta emission leaves the nucleus unchanged. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, November 2025, June 2026)

Space physics

• Finding orbital speed from the radius instead of the circumference (leaving out 2π), treating the light-year as a time, drawing the orbital force along the orbit, and saying the Sun will become a supernova. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)

Physical quantities and measurement techniques

• Recording to the wrong precision (dropping the trailing zero, or not to the nearest millimetre), rounding wrongly, copying standard form from the calculator incorrectly, and doubling a period instead of squaring it. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)
• Graphs: scales in threes, lines forced through the origin or joined dot to dot, gradient triangles that are tiny or taken from table values, and a straight line with an intercept called direct proportion. (June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025, November 2025, June 2026)

Exam technique the reports repeat

• Write the equation, rearrange it, substitute with SI units and prefixes, then calculate. (Every series) Give the answer to at least 2 significant figures, rounded not truncated, and never as a fraction. (November 2023, November 2024, June 2025)
• Use the value of g printed on the paper, 9.8 m/s², unless the question gives another. (November 2023, June 2024, June 2025)
• Answer the question as set, not one you remember from a past paper. Let the command word and the marks decide how much you write: “explain” needs a physics reason, not a description. (June 2023, November 2023, November 2024, November 2025, June 2026)
• On graphs, use scales of 1, 2 or 5 per large square, fill at least half the grid, plot small crosses, draw one thin best-fit line and show a large gradient triangle. (Every series)
• Link practical comments to the actual apparatus, not stock phrases about parallax or accuracy. To test agreement, work out the tolerance range of one value and say whether the other falls inside it. (June 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025)
• In plans, cover every bullet point, name the variables and controls, tabulate measured quantities with units, name the graph axes and say how the results lead to a conclusion without predicting it. (Every series)

June 2026

The June 2026 papers ranged across the whole syllabus, with motion graphs, Newton’s laws, moments, waves, circuits, radioactive decay and space physics all prominent. The report’s main dividing line was careful reading. Weaker candidates worked out a quantity nobody asked for, chose options that were true but beside the point, or ignored the command word and the marks available. Stronger candidates began from a recalled equation, rearranged it algebraically, kept SI units and prefixes under control and laid out their working. In the practical papers, marks went to correct recording precision, accurate graphs and gradients, and plans that named their variables and showed how a conclusion would be reached.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: treating third-law pairs as balanced forces, and adding parallel resistances as if they were in series.
• Paper 12: not halving echo distances, and misjudging how far a plane-mirror image moves relative to the object.
• Paper 21: defining uniform acceleration without equal time intervals, plotting a change in speed as the final speed, and leaving 2π out of orbital speed.
• Paper 22: stating Newton’s first law with an external force instead of a resultant force, and halving a count without first removing background.
• Paper 32: dividing the total time by the wrong number of oscillations, and not squaring the period.
• Paper 42: gradients worked out upside down, and dividing by seconds when the given unit was per minute.

Grade thresholds – June 2026

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 41	200	163	132	101	70	58	47
12, 22, 32	200	168	137	105	73	62	51
12, 22, 42	200	168	137	104	71	59	48

Not shown: 1 further route(s) in the official table (staged entries that carry marks from an earlier series, or other special routes). See the official document.

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2025

Many marks in November 2025 needed an equation recalled and rearranged: efficiency, specific heat capacity, charge, resistance and orbital speed. The report names space physics as weak on both theory papers. Weaker scripts keyed standard form into calculators wrongly, turned the efficiency ratio upside down and wandered away from the question. Particle explanations of conduction, density change, induced charge and melting often stopped short. Stronger candidates named the particles and forces involved and connected force with rate of change of momentum. In the practical papers they marked the points they read from graphs, rounded properly and described how results would be used without guessing the outcome.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: choosing third-law pairs with both forces on one body, and assuming particle kinetic energy changes during melting.
• Paper 12: not halving the echo distance, and treating a pascal as a newton per square centimetre.
• Paper 21: using VI instead of VIt for energy, inverting efficiency to get over 100 per cent without comment, and finding orbital speed from the radius.
• Paper 22: not relating force to rate of change of momentum, and confusing random with spontaneous decay.
• Paper 31: measuring angles from the block instead of the normal, and graphs using less than half the grid.
• Paper 42: voltmeters drawn in series, the wrong LDR symbol, and conclusions with no numbers to back them.

Grade thresholds – November 2025

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 31	200	154	130	106	82	66	50
11, 21, 41	200	157	132	107	82	65	49
12, 22, 32	200	160	136	112	89	71	54
12, 22, 42	200	160	135	110	85	67	49

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2025

June 2025 leaned on electricity and magnetism (transformers, induced e.m.f., potential dividers and the motor effect), on forces and motion (terminal velocity and moments), on fission and reactor parts, and on practical graph work. The report links weaker scripts to a few habits: skipping unit conversions, mixing up current and voltage, and explaining without naming the forces or quantities involved. Stronger candidates started calculations from a formula and applied direction rules with care. In practical work they chose sensible scales, drew genuine best-fit lines and knew that a straight line with an intercept does not show direct proportionality. Time did not appear to be a problem on the theory papers.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: leaving times in milliseconds or minutes, rearranging Q = It wrongly, and not reversing the current direction for moving beta particles.
• Paper 12: thinking a step-up transformer raises the current, and treating mass and weight as the same thing.
• Paper 21: naming “gravity” as an extra force beside weight, and describing transformer action as current crossing the core.
• Paper 22: giving an average speed where a tangent gradient was needed, and drawing diffracted wavefronts with a changed wavelength.
• Paper 32: scales in multiples of 3, lines forced through the origin, and not subtracting the original length to find extension.
• Paper 42: thinking repeats improve accuracy instead of reducing random error, and rule readings without the trailing “.0”.

Grade thresholds – June 2025

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 31	200	153	125	97	69	58	47
11, 21, 41	200	157	128	99	71	59	48
12, 22, 32	200	157	128	99	70	58	47
12, 22, 42	200	160	130	100	71	59	48

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2024

November 2024 leaned on forces and momentum, particle explanations of gas pressure and conduction, dispersion and lens diagrams, ultrasound, transformers, filament lamp circuits, alpha and beta decay, half-life and fusion in stars. The practical papers covered volume and density, resistor and LED circuits, moments, lens graphs and planning. Calculations were generally sound. Strong scripts rearranged equations correctly, answered the command word set and drew neat ruled diagrams. Weaker scripts gave vague particle accounts, restated the question, mishandled prefixes, recorded readings to the wrong precision and could not test whether two values agreed within experimental accuracy.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11, Question 15: adding momenta instead of using conservation; Paper 11, Question 38: confusing nucleon number with proton number.
• Paper 12, Question 10: using the engine force instead of the resultant force for work done.
• Paper 21: not taking the square root when finding speed from kinetic energy, calling half-life half the lifetime, and calling fusion fission.
• Paper 22: stating the third law without naming the force on each body, and treating Boyle’s law as direct proportion.
• Paper 41: voltmeters drawn in series, and gradient points chosen too close together.
• Paper 42: moving fixed apparatus to focus an image, and not converting kilograms to grams.

Grade thresholds – November 2024

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 31	200	150	124	98	72	60	48
11, 21, 41	200	155	127	99	72	59	47
12, 22, 32	200	157	129	101	73	61	50
12, 22, 42	200	158	129	100	71	59	47

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2024

The June 2024 theory papers leaned on electricity and magnetism (the motor effect, induction, filament lamps, fuses and Ohm’s law), particle explanations in thermal physics, light and sound, isotopes and half-life, and the life cycles of stars. The practical papers centred on electrical readings, cooling, balancing a rule for moments and planning a lens focal-length experiment. The report connects strong scripts with reading the whole question, writing the formula before substituting, handling prefixes and using exact physics terms. Weaker scripts were vague or repeated the question, misread graphs and tables, mixed up paired ideas such as motor and generator, and drew graphs with awkward scales or forced lines.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11, Question 13: counting wasted energy as useful in efficiency; Paper 11, Question 28: echo timing that missed the sound travelling there and back.
• Paper 12, Question 2: choosing the resultant of the pulling forces instead of the balancing drag at constant velocity.
• Paper 21: drawing the filament lamp graph straight, rating a fuse for one appliance instead of the total current, and ending the Sun as a supernova or black hole.
• Paper 22: giving normal incidence as 90 degrees, and claiming proportionality when the line misses the origin.
• Paper 32: describing the result of balancing instead of the technique, and graphs with scales in threes and tiny gradient triangles.
• Paper 42: in the lens plan, drawing ray diagrams and leaving out the screen and how to move it to focus.

Grade thresholds – June 2024

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 31	200	154	127	100	73	61	50
11, 21, 41	200	155	127	99	71	59	48
12, 22, 32	200	158	129	100	72	61	50
12, 22, 42	200	159	129	99	70	59	48

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2023

The November 2023 theory papers asked for explanation: particle accounts of gas pressure, momentum conservation with Newton’s third law, ways thermal energy is transferred, electromagnetic induction and Lenz’s law, fission chain reactions and orbits. Most candidates could recall and use formulae. Marks went on powers of ten and standard form, rearranging equations, choosing the perpendicular distance for a moment and oscilloscope settings. Stronger scripts gave exact definitions and kept to the question. Weaker ones drifted into learned material or answered a past-paper question they remembered. In practical work, consistent recording, units in table headings, sound gradient and intercept work and plans that analysed results set candidates apart.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: linking load to length instead of extension, treating excess pressure as the actual gas pressure, and running a transformer on d.c.
• Paper 12: not linking constant speed to zero acceleration, and thinking particle kinetic energy rises during boiling.
• Paper 21: using the final temperature instead of the change, thinking thermistor resistance rises with temperature, and finding orbital period from the radius.
• Paper 22: rearranging F = pA wrongly, not adding atmospheric pressure, and unbalanced beta-decay equations.
• Paper 31: best-fit lines joined from the first point to the last, and intercepts read from a false origin.
• Paper 32: doubling the period instead of squaring it, and vague “human error” comments.

Grade thresholds – November 2023

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 31	200	148	123	98	74	61	49
11, 21, 41	200	148	123	98	73	61	49
12, 22, 32	200	151	124	97	71	59	47
12, 22, 42	200	152	124	96	68	55	43

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2023

June 2023 gave weight to content from the updated syllabus: momentum, pressure acting at right angles to a surface, the kelvin scale, diffraction and space physics, with the solar system on Paper 21 and stars and the universe on Paper 22. Solar-system knowledge was firmer than momentum or diffraction, and some candidates seemed new to the astronomy content. Routine calculations usually went well. Explanation was the dividing line: stronger candidates applied a physical principle and worked from a formula, while weaker ones just stated outcomes or answered another question. On the practical papers, sensible scales, units in table headings and real conclusions made the difference.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: using the slope distance instead of the vertical height for work against weight, and giving mass remaining when mass decayed was asked.
• Paper 12: taking refraction angles from the surface instead of the normal, and putting a star’s life-cycle stages in the wrong order.
• Paper 21: confusing momentum with moment, and putting the full e.m.f. across one resistor instead of using total resistance.
• Paper 22: not seeing the kilowatt-hour as an energy unit, not adding atmospheric pressure, and treating the light-year as a time.
• Paper 41: best-fit curves forced through every point, and “errors” that were misreadings, not flaws in the method.
• Paper 42: missing the reciprocal step when finding focal length, and not marking gradient points on the graph.

Grade thresholds – June 2023

Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
11, 21, 31	200	148	123	98	73	62	52
11, 21, 41	200	149	125	101	77	66	56
12, 22, 32	200	147	118	89	60	48	37
12, 22, 42	200	154	125	96	67	55	43

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

How to use this page

1. Start with our free all-topics diagnostic to see which topics are weakest. Every free diagnostic is listed on the diagnostics page.
2. Sit one full past paper under timed conditions. Check the exam calendar so you know how long you have before your own exams.
3. Mark it strictly with the official mark scheme, then read that series’ notes above to see whether your errors match what examiners saw.
4. Tick off the topics you dropped marks on in the O Level Physics checklist, and learn what each command word asks for on our command words page.
5. Fix those topics using the notes and practice on the O Level Physics subject hub, then test yourself in the 5054 self-check question bank.
6. Sit a paper from a different series and compare your mark with that series’ thresholds. For June 2026 thresholds on our flagship syllabuses, see grade thresholds.
7. If you want a teacher to go through your answers with you, book a trial lesson.

About these notes

The grade thresholds come from Cambridge’s grade-threshold tables, and the examiner notes are our own summaries of Cambridge’s Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers for the series from June 2023 to June 2026 listed above. Everything is written in our own words. Thresholds change every series and must never be used to predict future ones. If you spot an error, please report a correction.