The Most-Tested IGCSE Physics (0625) Topics — We Analysed 6,500+ Past-Paper Questions

Which IGCSE Physics topics actually come up most in the exam? We didn't guess — we analysed 6,525 real past-paper questions from our Cambridge IGCSE Physics (0625) library and tagged every one to its syllabus topic. The result is a clear map of where the marks really are — and where students waste revision time. Here's the data, and how to use it.

The most-tested IGCSE Physics chapters

3 things the data tells you

The 12 most-tested individual topics

Zooming in from chapters to specific topics, these are the single most-examined areas in our 0625 data:

Notice how these spread across all the top chapters — foundational topics like Mass & Weight, Measurement and Protons, Neutrons & Electrons appear constantly because later questions build on them. Nail the fundamentals and you're earning marks everywhere.

Core vs Extended: the split

Of the past-paper questions we analysed, about 68% were Core-tier and 32% Extended-tier. Since an A* requires the Extended papers (2 and 4), make sure a good chunk of your practice is Extended-level — that's where the top grades are won. If you're only doing Core questions, you're training for a C, not an A*.

Questions that come up again and again

Beyond topics, certain question types recur almost every series in our data — some appearing 8–13 times across papers and variants. If you can answer these in your sleep, you're banking marks that show up year after year:

• Echo-sounding — a sound pulse sent from a boat to the seabed and back; calculate the depth or the speed of sound.
• Energy transfer in a power station — the correct order of energy changes in nuclear-fission electricity generation.
• Volume by displacement — reading a measuring cylinder before and after adding a liquid or object.
• Car braking — which form of energy the car's kinetic energy is mostly converted into (thermal).
• Thermal storage & specific heat — night-storage heaters and why particular materials are chosen.
• Convection — what happens to the cool air around a hot surface such as a kettle or radiator.
• Sound from a nearby source — a stationary police car with its siren sounding, and how a pedestrian hears it.
• Static electricity — a plastic rod rubbed with a dry cloth becoming charged, and why.
• Effects of an electric current — identifying its heating and magnetic effects.

How to turn this into a revision plan

1. Front-load the big two
   Spend the most time on Motion/Forces/Energy and Electricity/Magnetism — they're over half the paper.
2. Then Thermal & Waves
   Together with the big two, these cover the vast majority of questions.
3. Drill the high-frequency topics
   Mass & Weight, measurement, protons/neutrons/electrons, half-life — do targeted past-paper questions on each.
4. Keep Space Physics light
   Learn the essentials, but don't let the lowest-yield chapter eat time you need elsewhere.

FAQ

The lesson is simple: IGCSE Physics rewards students who revise where the marks actually are. Put your hours into Forces, Electricity and Thermal Physics, drill the high-frequency topics with real past papers, and don't let a 1.8% chapter steal time from a 28.5% one.