AQA GCSE Physics

Save My Exams revision notes align with the GCSE AQA Physics syllabus and provide clear explanations of each concept, helping you to understand complex Physics terms and formulas. One of the elements of effective revision is practising past papers and topic questions. It allows you to familiarise yourself with the exam's structure and the types of questions that typically appear. We've compiled a collection of AQA GCSE Physics Past Papers and Topic Questions in one easy-to-navigate place.

Revision Notes

  • Concise & detailed revision notes for every topic
  • Downloadable PDFs
  • Designed for the AQA GCSE Physics syllabus
  • See our team of creators here

Topic Questions

  • Past paper and exam-style questions, organised by topic
  • Course-specific and 100% exam-aligned
  • Student friendly model answers written by experienced teachers & examiners
  • Progress tracking across 35+ topics & 1305+ questions, sorted by difficulty

Past Papers

  • Past papers
  • Mark schemes

Common Questions

In Paper 1, students are assessed on topics 1 to 4. These are Energy, Electricity, Particle Model of Matter and Atomic Structure.

Students are given an equation sheet with 12 equations. These are the equations for: – Pressure in a column of liquid – The constant acceleration equation –Force and change in momentum – Elastic potential energy – Change in thermal energy – Wave frequency and period – Magnification – Force on a conductor in a magnetic field – Thermal energy for a change of state – The transformer equation – Power in coils of a transformer – Boyle’s law for an ideal gas

Students are expected to be able to recall equations for: – Speed – Acceleration – Newton’s second law – Weight – Density – Hooke’s Law – Moments – Momentum – Kinetic energy – Gravitational potential energy – Work done – Efficiency – Power – Pressure – Wave speed – Current and charge – Energy and charge – Ohm’s law – Electrical power

Students can only access a grade 9 in AQA GCSE Physics by sitting the higher tier papers. Questions are split into standard demand and high demand - the latter is aimed at grades 8 and 9. 30% of the marks in GCSE physics test mathematical skills, so to achieve a grade 9 students must be confident with multi-step calculations. 40% of the questions are application questions, so in addition to having a knowledge of the necessary scientific principles, students must be comfortable using their knowledge in new scenarios. The best way to practice these skills is to answer as many exam-style questions as possible and get a feel for AQA’s mark schemes and question styles.

While AQA GCSE Physics and Edexcel GCSE Physics have a lot of similarities, they are different courses run by different exam boards. Your school will choose which course its students take. Most topics are the same but taught in a different order, and the differences are very subtle. For example, AQA says that gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg while Edexcel says it is 10 N/kg. The resources at Save My Exams are course-specific so you can be confident you are learning the right content for the course you are studying!

There are 8 topics in AQA GCSE Physics, but the last one (Space Physics) is only for students taking GCSE Physics as opposed to Combined Science. For a full list of all the topics and sub-topics in the AQA GCSE Physics course, check out our revision notes.