The Physics Question Bank

Six-mark questions worry students more than anything else on a physics paper. They’re the longest answers, they feel open-ended, and it’s hard to know when you’ve written enough.

The good news: the most common type, “describe a method”, has a clear target.

How they’re marked

Six-mark questions are marked in levels, not by counting points. To reach the top level, your method must be complete and in a logical order, so that someone else could follow it and get a valid result.

That gives you a test to apply to your own answer: could a student who has never done this practical follow your steps and end up with the answer the question asks for? If they’d need to guess what to measure, or how to get from the measurements to the result, you’re not at the top level yet.

A model answer

Describe how to determine the spring constant of a spring. (6 marks)

1. Hang the spring from a clamp stand with a metre ruler clamped vertically beside it.
2. Measure the original length of the spring, reading at eye level using a pointer.
3. Hang a 100 g mass (weight about 1 N) on the spring and measure the new length.
4. Add masses one at a time, measuring the length each time.
5. Calculate extension = new length − original length, and weight using W = mg.
6. Plot force against extension. The gradient of the straight section is the spring constant (F = ke).

Why it works

• It’s numbered and in order. Numbered steps make the logical sequence obvious to the examiner, and to you while you write.
• It names the equipment. Clamp stand, metre ruler, pointer, masses.
• It says how each quantity is measured. The equation is F = ke, so the answer explains how to get F (from the masses, using W = mg) and how to get e (new length minus original length).
• It finishes with the result. Many answers stop at “record the results”. This one ends with how the spring constant is actually found.

A four-step plan for any method question

1. Write down the equation that gives the answer the question wants.
2. For each quantity in it, note which instrument measures it.
3. Put the steps in the order you’d actually do them, numbered.
4. End with the calculation or graph that gives the final result.

One more warning: don’t contradict yourself. A wrong statement in an otherwise good answer can stop you reaching full marks, so don’t add extra points you’re unsure about.

Practise with 20 model answers

Our free long-answer questions page has 20 extended-response questions in the styles that come up most on recent AQA papers: describing methods, comparing and evaluating with data, explaining with the particle model, how devices work, forces and motion, and radiation and space. Plan your answer on paper first, then open the model answer and compare.

For the method questions, it helps to know the practicals well. The required practicals slideshow covers all ten.