Question 1 of Paper 5 asks you to plan and draw an experiment you may never have built. These pages cover the experiment families that keep coming back. In each one, watch the set-up assembled step by step with the variables and the graph beside it, build it yourself on a bench, then check the wording the examiners want.
Measure B along the axis of a coil: d.c. supply, ammeter and rheostat, a Hall probe on the axis with its own meter.
Like: 9702/52 June 2014, 9702/52 Nov 2016
Electromagnetic inductionA signal generator drives coil P; a c.r.o. reads the e.m.f. in coil Q. Time-base for f, y-gain for the peak.
Like: 9702/52 June 2023, 9702/53 Nov 2023, 9702/52 Nov 2017
Motion and forcesA trolley or block on a ramp, timed with light gates: setting the angle, the timer and what is kept constant.
Like: 9702/52 June 2016, 9702/51 June 2017, 9702/51 June 2023
OscillationsA system driven by a vibration generator: signal generator, measuring amplitude and frequency, timing oscillations.
Like: 9702/51 June 2015, 9702/51 June 2014
Thermal physicsA heater in a liquid: energy from V, I and t (or a joulemeter), temperature, stirring, insulation.
Like: 9702/53 Nov 2015, 9702/51 June 2024, 9702/52 Nov 2024
Light and sensorsA light source and a sensor: keeping the source constant, measuring resistance, distance and background light.
Like: 9702/51 Nov 2017, 9702/51 June 2016, 9702/52 June 2018
Waves and soundA loudspeaker or a struck rod and a microphone on a c.r.o.: reading frequency and amplitude correctly.
Like: 9702/52 June 2015, 9702/52 March 2024
MaterialsA cord or wire under load: clamping, a vertical rule with a marker, diameter with a micrometer, safety.
Like: 9702/52 March 2018, 9702/51 June 2019
We read every Paper 5 Question 1 from 2014 to 2025 that we have, and grouped them by the apparatus they need. Each page is an original experiment in the style of its family, and every step carries what the Cambridge examiner reports said students got wrong.
Next: write the whole plan in the planning trainer. The experiments and wording on these pages are our own.