Paper 6 workout · Alternative to Practical style · 12 marks
The experiment is on the page. The marks are yours.
Paper 6 tests the same practical skills without a lab. Read the meters in the figure, complete the table, calculate the resistance, plot your graph and evaluate the method. Every attempt has different data. Allow about 20 minutes.
Past-paper referenceOriginal experiment, wording and numbers, written in the style of Cambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 Paper 6 (Alternative to Practical). It is not copied from a past paper.
Practise next: 0625/62 February/March 2023, Question 3 (resistance of a wire at five lengths, graph of R against l) · official past papers
Practise next: 0625/61 May/June 2024, Question 2 (resistance per centimetre of a wire) · official past papers
This type of experiment has come up 24 times (14 in Paper 5, the Practical Test, and 10 in Paper 6, the Alternative to Practical) in the past papers we checked. Show the list
Checked: Cambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 Papers 5 and 6, 2014 to 2025. Only the papers in our collection are listed, so the real number may be higher. Question papers are available from Cambridge.
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How this question is marked
Reading the meters (a)
Each reading to within half a small division of the scale.
Table (b)
Headings with quantity and unit, and every resistance calculated as V / I to 2 or 3 significant figures.
Graph (c)
Axes labelled, sensible scales, accurate plotting and a well-judged best-fit line.
Analysis and evaluation (d) to (g)
A large gradient triangle, a conclusion that uses the graph, a precaution that suits the experiment and a variable that must stay constant.
Habits that save marks
Work out what one small division is worth before you read any analogue scale.
A straight line that misses the origin is not direct proportion.
Switching off between readings stops the wire heating up and changing its resistance.
The marking follows the conventions in published Cambridge mark schemes. The experiments, readings and wording on this page are our own.