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Which O-Level Pure Physics topics come up most often?
We counted every question in 30 O-Level Pure Physics papers in Rae's library: 1040 questions across 22 topics. The most common single topic is Forces, mass/weight, Newton's laws, terminal velocity, at 11.1% of all questions.
Every topic, ranked
| Topic | Questions | Share | Papers | Avg marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forces, mass/weight, Newton's laws, terminal velocity | 115 | 11.1% | 30 | 1.8 |
| Pressure, density, hydraulic and liquid pressure | 90 | 8.7% | 27 | 1.8 |
| Speed, velocity, acceleration graphs | 87 | 8.4% | 25 | 1.5 |
| Moments, equilibrium, centre of gravity | 79 | 7.6% | 22 | 1.7 |
| Light reflection, refraction, lenses and images | 72 | 6.9% | 19 | 1.7 |
| Energy stores, work, power, efficiency, energy resources | 71 | 6.8% | 21 | 1.7 |
| Wave properties, sound, echoes, ultrasound | 57 | 5.5% | 16 | 1.6 |
| Atomic structure, radioactive decay, half-life, uses/hazards | 48 | 4.6% | 11 | 1.5 |
| Kinetic particle model of matter and states | 46 | 4.4% | 20 | 1.7 |
| Units, measurement tools, scalars vs vectors | 45 | 4.3% | 21 | 1.2 |
| Electromagnetic induction, generators, transformers | 42 | 4.0% | 16 | 1.6 |
| Heat transfer: conduction, convection, radiation | 41 | 3.9% | 20 | 1.8 |
| Internal energy, specific heat and latent heat | 41 | 3.9% | 19 | 1.9 |
| Current, e.m.f., potential difference, resistance | 33 | 3.2% | 12 | 1.5 |
| Static charge, electric fields, hazards/uses | 29 | 2.8% | 12 | 1.7 |
| Household electricity, power, safety, wiring | 27 | 2.6% | 15 | 1.3 |
| Series/parallel circuits, potentiometers, sensors | 24 | 2.3% | 11 | 1.5 |
| Graphical vector addition and free-body diagrams | 22 | 2.1% | 16 | 2.2 |
| Electromagnetic spectrum regions and uses/hazards | 22 | 2.1% | 12 | 1.5 |
| Magnetic effect of current, motor effect, Fleming's rule | 20 | 1.9% | 9 | 1.7 |
| Magnetism properties and field patterns | 15 | 1.4% | 11 | 1.2 |
| Practical experimental skills and data handling | 14 | 1.3% | 4 | 1.5 |
How to use this
Topic frequency is a guide to where revision time pays back, not a prediction. The three topics that appear most here (Forces, mass/weight, Newton's laws, terminal velocity, Pressure, density, hydraulic and liquid pressure, Speed, velocity, acceleration graphs) are worth being fluent in, but a topic near the bottom of the table can still carry a whole question in any given year.
Method, and what this is not
These counts come from real O-Level Pure Physics papers held in Rae's library (papers dated 2014 to 2025), which include school preliminary papers as well as national papers. Each question is labelled with one topic. This is a count of what our library contains, not an official SEAB distribution, and it does not tell you what will be set in a future exam. Questions that could not be labelled with a single topic are excluded from the counts.
You are welcome to cite or link to this page. If you would like the underlying counts in another format, get in touch through the O-Level Pure Physics page.