Assessment overview

There are eight teaching topics and a practical skills topic:

• P1: Matter
• P2: Forces
• P3: Electricity
• P4: Magnetism and magnetic fields
• P5: Waves in matter
• P6: Radioactivity
• P7: Energy
• P8: Global challenges
• P9: Practical skills

Foundation tier (grades 5 to 1)

Higher tier (grades 9 to 4)

* Indicates the inclusion of synoptic assessment.

Students must complete either the foundation tier (paper 1 and paper 2) or the higher tier (paper 3 and paper 4) to be awarded the OCR GCSE (9-1) in Physics A (Gateway Science).

Content overview

Content is split into eight teaching topics (P1–P8) and a practical skills topic (P9). Students develop their knowledge of the fundamental physical concepts and the unified models which derive from them. They discover how complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world can be described in terms of a small number of key ideas.

The topics are:

• P1: Matter
  • The particle model
  • Changes of state
  • Pressure

• P2: Forces
  • Motion
  • Newton's laws
  • Forces in action

• P3: Electricity
  • Static and charge
  • Simple circuits

• P4: Magnetism and magnetic fields
  • Magnets and magnetic fields
  • Uses of magnetism

• P5: Waves in matter
  • Wave behaviour
  • The electromagnetic spectrum
  • Wave interaction

• P6: Radioactivity
  • Radioactive emissions
  • Uses and hazards

• P7: Energy
  • Work done
  • Power and efficiency

• P8: Global challenges
  • Physics on the move
  • Powering Earth
  • Beyond Earth

• P9: Practical skills
  • A practical-based topic which provides students with the skills required for the 15% practical content in the examinations
  • Students complete at least eight practical activities and have the opportunity to use all the apparatus and techniques listed in the specifications
  • This will include awareness of safety procedures and the use of appropriate scientific diagrams to record apparatus and procedures
  • Practical skills are embedded within all the teaching topics P1 to P8.