| Component | Max | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100 | 38 | 48 | 59 | 68 |
| Internal assessment | 24 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 |
| Paper 1 (multiple choice) | 39 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 24 |
| Paper 2 | 90 | 26 | 35 | 45 | 54 |
| Paper 3 | 45 | 23 | 27 | 32 | 36 |
| Component | Max | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100 | 35 | 45 | 55 | 65 |
| Internal assessment | 24 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 |
| Paper 1 (multiple choice) | 29 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
| Paper 2 | 50 | 14 | 19 | 25 | 30 |
| Paper 3 | 35 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 26 |
Paper 1
Many schools found it harder than usual; one shared item was discounted for an editing error, and blanks rose towards the end, especially at SL.
Found difficult
- forces and friction
- work and energy
- magnetic force on a moving charge
- electric fields
- kinetic theory of gases
- black-body radiation
- time management
| Q | Topic | How it went | Where marks were lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SL4 / HL3 | friction between two stacked blocks | Most struggled | ignored weight of the upper block in table friction; ignored friction between the blocksTip: Draw a separate free-body diagram for each block before writing equations. |
| SL5 / HL5 | terminal velocity of a projectile | Mixed | Nothing specific reported.Tip: Terminal velocity means equilibrium in both directions, so motion ends vertical. |
| SL11 / HL8 | gas height proportional to absolute temperature | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| SL15 / HL10 | polarizers (discounted) | Mixed | question removed for missing information |
| SL21 / HL14 | circuit with opposed cells | Mixed | over-analysed the loop with cancelling cellsTip: Spot when opposing cells give zero current in part of a circuit. |
| SL23 / HL19 | centripetal acceleration of linked wheels | Mixed | Nothing specific reported.Tip: Linked wheels share rim speed, so compare accelerations with v squared over r. |
| SL28 / HL24 | graph of radiated power against temperature | Most struggled | did not invert the fourth-power relationship |
| HL 6 | kinetic energy from work and potential energy | Mixed | ignored change in gravitational potential energyTip: Include every energy change when applying the work-energy principle. |
| HL 17 | magnetic force on a proton near a wire | Most struggled | assumed force perpendicular to current and velocity in one stepTip: Apply a direction rule twice: first for the field, then for the force. |
| HL 18 | average gravitational field from falling asteroid | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| HL 22 | fuel mass for accelerating a car | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| HL 25 | specific energy of fusion | Mixed | skipped the final conversion to MJTip: Track units and powers of ten through every conversion step. |
| HL 30 | gravitational potential between two planets | Most struggled | treated potential as a vectorTip: Potential is a scalar: add contributions from each body. |
| HL 31 | initial motion of a charge near equipotentials | Most struggled | chose the shortest path to the equipotentialTip: Field lines are perpendicular to equipotentials and point to lower potential. |
| HL 34 | rms voltage (option misprint) | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| HL 36 | time constant of an RC circuit | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| HL 38 | expression for an energy | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported.Tip: Use units to eliminate options that cannot be an energy. |
| SL 7 | kinetic energy from a force-displacement graph | Most struggled | forgot to add the initial kinetic energy; many blanksTip: Area under force-displacement gives the change in kinetic energy, not the final value. |
| SL 12 | molecular speed and temperature | Most struggled | assumed speed proportional to TTip: Molecular speed scales with the square root of absolute temperature. |
| SL 30 | fuel consumption rate, energy density and efficiency | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported.Tip: Exaggerate one variable to see whether it belongs in the numerator. |
What to practise
- Use multiple-choice items during teaching to expose misconceptions.
- Teach estimation, cancelling and powers of ten without a calculator.
- Encourage strategies: units, extreme values, sketches and leaving expressions unevaluated.
- Read the whole stem; questions are built from the guide, not from past papers.
- Guess rather than leave blanks, since wrong answers cost nothing.
Paper 2
Most centres judged it fair; calculations were generally clear and accurate, but explanations using physics vocabulary lagged, more so at SL. HL candidates may have been short of time.
Found difficult
- nuclear energy levels
- single-slit diffraction
- gravitational fields
- circular motion
- standing waves
- uncertainty principle
- Bohr model
- black-body radiation
- powers of ten
Well prepared
- kinematics
- wave equation
- specific heat capacity
| Q | Topic | How it went | Where marks were lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | free-fall calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 1bi | base units of a drag constant | Mixed | forgot to square the velocity unit |
| 1bii | forces on a falling ball | Mixed | vague about the forces acting |
| 1ci | falling ball graph | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 1cii | acceleration from a velocity-time graph | Mixed | used overall values instead of a tangent; tangent gradient miscalculatedTip: Draw a proper tangent at the point and read its gradient carefully. |
| 1ciii (HL) | sketching acceleration of a falling ball | Mixed | copied the earlier graph shape; curve not tending to zero |
| 1civ (HL) | power delivered | Most struggled | used P = Fv inappropriately |
| 1d | change in velocity on bouncing | Mixed | ignored direction; bald wrong answer with no workingTip: Treat velocity as a vector and show working so error carried forward can apply. |
| 2ai | specific heat calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2aii | energy for a phase change | Mixed | treated it like a temperature rise |
| 2b | internal energy of water and ice | Mixed | assumed internal energies equal |
| 3a | energy transfer in a wave | Mixed | did not mention oscillations |
| 3bi | wave reading | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 3bii | wavelength | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 3biii | wave speed | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 3ci, 3cii | position and motion of a particle on a wave | Most struggled | placed the dot below P with a downward arrowTip: Shift the wave slightly forward to see where each particle moves next. |
| 3di (HL) | energy and amplitude | Mixed | dropped the square on the amplitudeTip: Check each substitution against the formula you wrote. |
| 3dii (HL) | displacement in an oscillation | Mixed | displacement larger than amplitude from power of ten slips |
| 3e / SL 3d | standing waves in a pipe | Most struggled | repeated a calculation without explaining; no discussion of nodes and antinodes |
| 4a | circuit calculation | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 4bi | circuit calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 4bii | effect of adding a parallel resistor | Mixed | ignored internal resistanceTip: Explain voltmeter changes via the lost volts across internal resistance. |
| 4ci | magnetic force direction | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 4cii | charged particle in a magnetic field | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 4ciii (HL) | substitution in a field formula | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 5a | forces in circular motion | Most struggled | drew centripetal force as an extra force; centrifugal force at SLTip: Centripetal force is the resultant; never add it as a separate arrow. |
| 5b (HL) | show-that in circular motion | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 5ci / SL 5bi | circular motion calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 5cii / SL 5bii | radiation calculation with emissivity | Answered well | substituted electron charge for emissivity |
| 6ai | particle physics | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 6aii | fundamental interactions | Mixed | omitted the electromagnetic interaction |
| 6aiii | conservation of strangeness | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 6bi | binding energy | Mixed | called it energy holding the nucleus togetherTip: Define binding energy as energy needed to separate the nucleus into nucleons. |
| 6bii | binding energy calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 6biii (HL) | nuclear energy levels | Most struggled | described electron transitions |
| 7ai (HL) | single-slit diffraction | Most struggled | used the grating formula; often blank |
| 7aii (HL) | single-slit diffraction | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 7bi (HL) | resolution of a telescope | Mixed | power of ten slips |
| 7bii (HL) | meaning of the resolution angle | Mixed | vague about the angle's significance |
| 8a (HL) | quantum physics calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 8bi (HL) | uncertainty principle | Most struggled | cancelled the deltas in the equation |
| 8bii (HL) | electron probability sketch | Most struggled | guessed without calculation |
| 9ai (HL) | units derivation for a capacitor | Mixed | combined unrelated equations to force units |
| 9aii (HL) | capacitor item | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 9bi (HL) | capacitor value at an instant | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 9bii (HL) | sketching a capacitor graph | Mixed | drew a sine instead of a cosine |
| 9c (HL) | effect of changing capacitance | Mixed | did not say p.d. stays constant |
| 10c (HL) | item not described | Most struggled | quoted loosely related data booklet formulae |
What to practise
- Show working so examiners can award error carried forward.
- Learn what each data booklet symbol stands for.
- Take care when sketching curves.
- Sanity-check the order of magnitude of every answer.
HL Paper 3
Few blanks and most students taught their option; Astrophysics was the most popular. Calculation-based items went well, while sign conventions, relativity reasoning and controlled variables were weak.
Found difficult
- proportionality
- controlled variables
- simultaneity
- Lorentz transformation
- thermodynamic cycles
- lenses and ray diagrams
- orbits of planets and comets
Well prepared
- uncertainty propagation
- spacetime diagrams
- rotational dynamics
- adiabatic processes
- stellar parallax
- mass-luminosity relation
- cosmic scale factor
| Q | Topic | How it went | Where marks were lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1ai | reason for a controlled variable | Mixed | said mass is fixed to balance the rodTip: Say how the controlled variable would affect the dependent variable. |
| 1aii | straight line versus proportional | Mixed | called a line not through the origin proportionalTip: Proportional means a straight line through the origin. |
| 1aiii | improving experimental technique | Mixed | gave irrelevant environmental factors |
| 1b | constant from a graph | Answered well | worked in grams; wrong unit for the constant |
| 1c | sketching a non-linear relationship | Mixed | drew straight lines or rising parabolas |
| 2a | negligible uncertainties | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2b | percentage uncertainty | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2c | latent heat calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2d | rounding an uncertainty | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2e | effect of calorimeter mass | Most struggled | inconsistent conclusion about the systematic error |
| 3a-3c | electron moving beside a wire in two frames | Mixed | omitted the electric force in the moving frame |
| 4a | length contraction | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 4bi | light catching a receding spaceship | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 4bii | Lorentz transformation | Mixed | wrong value of x substituted |
| 5a-5b | spacetime diagram and simultaneity | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 5c | order of events for another observer | Most struggled | answered which event was seen firstTip: Distinguish when events occur from when they are seen. |
| 5d | light paths on a spacetime diagram | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 6a-6c | relativistic mechanics | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 7a, 7b | equivalence principle | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 8ai | meaning of moment of inertia | Most struggled | said resistance to rotation, not to change in rotation |
| 8aii-8d | rotational dynamics calculations | Answered well | could not convert radians to revolutions |
| 9a-9c | gas laws and adiabatic change | Answered well | used general gas law in an adiabatic step |
| 9di | first law table | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 9dii | sign of net work and heat in a cycle | Most struggled | did not see the gas has net work done on itTip: Track signs of Q, W and internal energy change around the whole cycle. |
| 9e | entropy of surroundings | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 10a-10c | fluids | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 11a | Q factor | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 11b | damped oscillation | Mixed | wrong period on the sketch |
| 12a | converging lens | Mixed | sign convention confusion |
| 12b | diverging lens | Mixed | sign convention confusion |
| 12c | ray diagram for a Galilean telescope | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 13a | angular magnification of the Moon | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 13b | reflecting telescopes | Mixed | claimed mirrors suffer chromatic aberration |
| 14a | material dispersion in optical fibres | Most struggled | missed that colours arrive at different times |
| 14b | transit times in a fibre | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 15 | X-ray attenuation | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 16 | ultrasound imaging | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 17a-17c | stellar spectra and orbits | Mixed | wavelength in nm wrong; described comets without orbit shape |
| 18a | brightness of a binary system | Mixed | referred to distance instead |
| 18b | parallax, luminosity and mass | Answered well | forgot to square distance |
| 18c-18f | stellar evolution and type Ia supernovae | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 19 | cosmic microwave background | Mixed | unaware CMB was predicted first |
| 20 | redshift and scale factor | Answered well | confused R0 with the Fermi radius |
| 21 | cosmology | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
What to practise
- Organise working in answer boxes from top left.
- Show all working in show-that questions.
- Be concise and write legibly.
SL Paper 3
Some ran short of time or skipped Section A; Astrophysics and Engineering dominated. Layout, power-of-ten slips and missing show-that working cost marks.
Found difficult
- proportionality
- controlled variables
- sketching graphs
- simultaneity
- Lorentz transformation
- thermodynamic cycles
- lenses and ray diagrams
- optical fibres
- orbits of planets and comets
Well prepared
- spacetime diagrams
- rotational dynamics
- adiabatic processes
- stellar parallax
- mass-luminosity relation
- cosmic scale factor
| Q | Topic | How it went | Where marks were lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1ai | reason for a controlled variable | Most struggled | said mass is fixed to balance the rod |
| 1aii | straight line versus proportional | Most struggled | called a line not through the origin proportional |
| 1aiii | improving experimental technique | Most struggled | did not mention small release angle |
| 1b | constant from a graph | Mixed | worked in grams; wrong unit |
| 1c | sketching period against mass | Most struggled | missing intercept; wrong curve shape |
| 2a | negligible uncertainties | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2b | percentage uncertainty | Mixed | used final temperature |
| 2c | latent heat calculation | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 2d | rounding an uncertainty | Answered well | gave uncertainty to too many significant figuresTip: Quote an uncertainty to one or at most two significant figures. |
| 2e | effect of calorimeter mass | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 3 | electron beside a wire in two frames | Mixed | omitted the electric force |
| 4 | length contraction and Lorentz transformation | Most struggled | wrong x value in the transformation |
| 5 | spacetime diagram and event order | Mixed | confused seeing with occurring |
| 6ai | meaning of moment of inertia | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 6aii | rotational equilibrium | Mixed | wrote force instead of torque |
| 6aiii-6d | rotational dynamics calculations | Answered well | could not convert radians to revolutions |
| 7a-7c | gas laws and adiabatic change | Answered well | Nothing specific reported. |
| 7di | first law table | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 7dii | sign of net work in a cycle | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 7e | entropy of surroundings | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 8a | converging lens magnification | Most struggled | sign convention errors |
| 8b | diverging lens | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 8c | Galilean telescope ray diagram | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 9a | angular magnification | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 9b | reflecting telescopes | Most struggled | claimed mirrors suffer chromatic aberration |
| 10 | dispersion in optical fibres | Most struggled | Nothing specific reported. |
| 11 | stellar spectra and orbits | Mixed | nm conversions wrong; no mention of orbit shape |
| 12a | brightness of a binary system | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 12b | parallax, luminosity and mass | Answered well | forgot to square distance |
| 12c | HR diagram and evolution | Answered well | regions not labelled |
| 12d | Cepheid variables for distance | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 13 | cosmic microwave background | Mixed | Nothing specific reported. |
| 14 | redshift and scale factor | Mixed | confused R0 with the Fermi radius |
What to practise
- Prepare for Paper 1B by practising uncertainty treatment and graph analysis.
- Practise best-fit lines, gradients and the meaning of proportional.
- Analyse data from unfamiliar experiments with non-linear relationships.
- Use answer-box papers in routine tests.
Internal assessment
What moderators raised about the scientific investigation this session, criterion by criterion.
- Personal engagement. interest claimed artificially; all three descriptors needed for full marks
- Exploration. background copied from textbooks instead of giving only the relevant equation
- Exploration. key concepts like range versus path or efficiency misunderstood in methodology
- Analysis. max/min gradient lines drawn from first and last points only, ignoring the rest
- Analysis. correlation coefficient misused when data have uncertainties; unjustified linear or polynomial fits
- Evaluation. linear with negative gradient wrongly called inversely proportional; superficial discussion of method
- Communication. loose terminology (speed/velocity, linear/proportional) and padded reference lists of unused sources
About this summary
After every session the IB sends schools a subject report: how candidates did on each paper and question, and what teachers should work on. This page is my reading of the Physics report for May 2024 TZ2, in my own words. No text from the report or from the exam questions is reproduced, and it is not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate.
This session was one of the last on the 2014 Physics syllabus (Papers 1, 2 and 3 with options); from May 2025 the papers are 1A, 1B and 2. Session codes: TZ is the time zone variant of the papers. Other variants of the same session:
Frequently asked questions
Which questions were hardest in Physics May 2024 TZ2?
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The questions most candidates struggled with were on friction between two stacked blocks, graph of radiated power against temperature, magnetic force on a proton near a wire and gravitational potential between two planets. The tables above list every question discussed in the report, paper by paper.
What did candidates find difficult in May 2024 TZ2?
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Across the papers the examiners listed forces and friction, work and energy, magnetic force on a moving charge, electric fields, kinetic theory of gases, black-body radiation, time management and nuclear energy levels, among others.
What were the grade boundaries for Physics May 2024 TZ2?
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Physics HL: a 7 from 68 out of 100 overall in May 2024 TZ2. Physics SL: a 7 from 65 out of 100 overall in May 2024 TZ2. The component boundaries are in the table on this page.
Is this the official IB subject report?
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No. It is my summary of the report the IB issues to schools after each session, rewritten in my own words with a teacher's reading of it. No text from the report or from exam questions is reproduced. Your school's IB coordinator can access the original.