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QCE Physics · Year 12

QCE Physics: what actually gets examined

Every question from 4 official QCAA papers, coded by unit, topic and marks — so you can decide what to revise from evidence rather than a feeling.

4 QCAA papers, 2022–2025 · 174 questions · 386 marks

Three topics carry 82% of the marks in QCE Physics, Gravity and motion, Electromagnetism and Quantum theory are where the paper spends its marks. Start there.

Counted from 4 official QCAA Physics papers (2022–2025). 174 questions, 386 marks. Nothing estimated.

5 of 5topics in every paper on file
134marks in the single biggest topic
20multiple choice marks, every paper
50%indicative share per unit, from teaching time

The cognitive verbs that carry the paper

Share of written-response questions by QCAA cognitive verb, matched against QCAA's own Cognitive verb framework. Revising the content without revising the directive is how marks get lost. The lower / middle / higher grouping is ours — QCAA publishes the list but does not band it. Based on the 69% of written responses that open with a listed cognitive verb; the rest open with wording outside it, such as a direct question.

Calculate28% · 18qlower order
Determine23% · 15qmiddle order
Describe14% · 9qlower order
Explain12% · 8qmiddle order
Identify9% · 6qlower order
Other9% · 6q
Contrast

Lower orderMiddle orderHigher order

Each tile is one key word; its size is that key word's share of written-response questions that open with one. The smallest 5 are grouped as Other: Deduce 2% · 1q, Discuss 2% · 1q, Sketch 2% · 1q, Use 2% · 1q, Draw 3% · 2q.

Where the marks sit

Each unit with its topics underneath. The bar is that topic's share of its own unit, and the chip says how many of the papers on file examined it.

Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism

234 marks

50% indicative share, inferred from equal teaching time — not a published mark weighting

Gravity and motion Every paper 134 marks

54 questions · 57% of this unit · Practise →

Electromagnetism Every paper 100 marks

45 questions · 43% of this unit · Practise →

Concept pages in this unit:

Study Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism →

Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics

152 marks

50% indicative share, inferred from equal teaching time — not a published mark weighting

Quantum theory Every paper 83 marks

35 questions · 55% of this unit · Practise →

Special relativity Every paper 37 marks

18 questions · 24% of this unit · Practise →

The Standard Model Every paper 32 marks

22 questions · 21% of this unit · Practise →

Concept pages in this unit:

Study Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics →

Across 4 papers the units carried 234, 152 marks — against an indicative 50% share each, inferred from equal teaching time (QCAA's syllabus gives each topic an indicative hour count; Units 3 and 4 are 45 hours each). The QCAA Physics General Senior Syllabus (Units 3 and 4) publishes no mark weighting; the counted share is the only measured figure.

How each topic gets asked

The 5 biggest topics, by the shape of the questions actually set on them. Revising the content without revising the directive is how marks get lost — the cognitive verbs below are QCAA's own, counted from the papers.

Gravity and motion

Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism · 134 marks across 54 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×23 · Short answer ×22 · Extended response ×9

QCAA cognitive verbs Calculate ×13 · Determine ×5 · Explain ×2 · Identify ×2 · Describe ×1

Electromagnetism

Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism · 100 marks across 45 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×22 · Short answer ×18 · Extended response ×5

QCAA cognitive verbs Determine ×7 · Identify ×3 · Describe ×2 · Calculate ×2 · Explain ×1 · Draw ×1 · Sketch ×1

Quantum theory

Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics · 83 marks across 35 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×16 · Short answer ×16 · Extended response ×3

QCAA cognitive verbs Explain ×5 · Calculate ×5 · Determine ×4 · Describe ×2 · Use ×1 · Discuss ×1 · Identify ×1

Special relativity

Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics · 37 marks across 18 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×9 · Short answer ×7 · Extended response ×2

QCAA cognitive verbs Describe ×2 · Calculate ×1 · Draw ×1

The Standard Model

Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics · 32 marks across 22 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×10 · Short answer ×12

QCAA cognitive verbs Contrast ×3 · Describe ×2 · Identify ×1 · Deduce ×1

What the markers wanted

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes subject reports after each paper. This is our reading of the 2022–2025 feedback, in our words, grouped by unit and cited to the year and question it was seen in. It describes what markers rewarded in papers already sat; it does not predict the next one. The originals are linked below.

Across the paper

  • Calculation marks followed working a marker could trace. QCAA reported that answers which used the numbers and diagram in front of them to lay out each step read better than a bare final figure
  • Graph questions turned on tying a feature of the line to a physical quantity: an intercept or a gradient had to be read off and then named as the flux density, the work function or the speed it stood for
  • A trendline was expected to follow the data. Assuming it runs through the origin was reported as a recurring way marks were lost on graphical analysis
  • The command verb set the depth required. Describing meant giving the features of a phenomenon rather than naming it, and explaining meant more than copying a formula out of the data book
  • Answers were better kept tight. QCAA noted that contradictory or loose extra material alongside a correct point could stop that mark being awarded

Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism

Better responses

  • Gravitational field questions built on a graph were answered well when students located the point where the net field cancels and turned that reading into an equation for the separation
  • Electric field work rewarded taking a gradient from a properly fitted line and carrying it through to the charge on the drop
  • Transformer explanations scored when they ran from Faraday's Law to the changing flux linking the two coils and then to the voltage induced in the secondary
  • Electrostatics answers did well when the force-distance relationship and the direction of each force were both settled before any arithmetic began
  • Orbital questions were handled cleanly when the period supplied for one body was converted to seconds before Kepler's third law was applied

Where marks were lost — and how to keep them

  • Naming what a graph feature represents, so an intercept becomes the magnetic flux density rather than staying an unlabelled number
  • Explaining a transformer through the rate of change of flux, instead of restating that the voltage differs between the coils
  • Fitting a line to the data as it falls, rather than forcing it through the origin
  • Keeping the vector nature of forces in view when several charges act on one another

Seen in 2025 Q23, 2024 Q25, 2023 Q3, 2022 Q3, 2022 Q27.

Practise Gravity and electromagnetism →

Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics

Better responses

  • Answers comparing the Bohr and Rutherford atoms worked when they set out the features of each model, named what Rutherford's could not account for, and said what quantised energy levels resolved
  • Relativity descriptions scored when time dilation, length contraction and relativistic momentum were all named and each was tied to what the travelling object actually experiences
  • Photoelectric explanations rewarded joining photon energy to frequency, bringing in the threshold frequency, and separating intensity from energy per photon
  • Emission spectrum answers did well when every possible transition between the given levels was tracked and the differing photon energies followed from that
  • Contrasting quarks with leptons rewarded the finer detail that only the charged leptons feel the electromagnetic force

Where marks were lost — and how to keep them

  • Saying what an effect does to the object rather than only listing which effects occur
  • Working through simultaneity from each observer's frame in turn, using the scenario given instead of a general statement about relativity
  • Giving the precise difference a contrast asks for, rather than a broad generalisation that covers both particles
  • Carrying a photon calculation through to the quantity asked for once the transition has been identified

Seen in 2025 Q4, 2025 Q9, 2025 Q24, 2024 Q7, 2023 Q1, 2023 Q7, 2023 Q21, 2022 Q1.

Practise Revolutions in modern physics →

2025 QCAA subject report →2024 QCAA subject report →2023 QCAA subject report →2022 QCAA subject report →

How the paper is built

Marks by question format across the same 4 papers.

Multiple choice 8020 / 20 / 20 / 20 per paper
Short answer 20149 / 43 / 56 / 53 per paper
Extended response 10529 / 27 / 21 / 28 per paper

Multiple choice is exactly 20 marks in every paper. The rest moves around: short answer ran 49, 43, 56, 53 marks and extended response ran 29, 27, 21, 28 marks. 4 papers is not enough to call that a trend.

Every question, by topic

All 174 questions from the 4 papers, listed under the topic each was coded to — year, question number, marks as printed on the paper, cognitive verb and format — with QCAA's own copy of the paper linked on every row. The questions themselves are read there, not here. Open a unit to see its list.

Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism99 questions · 234 marks · show

Gravity and motion · 54 questions, 134 marks

Electromagnetism · 45 questions, 100 marks

Practise Gravity and electromagnetism →

Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics75 questions · 152 marks · show

Quantum theory · 35 questions, 83 marks

Special relativity · 18 questions, 37 marks

The Standard Model · 22 questions, 32 marks

Practise Revolutions in modern physics →

The papers this is counted from

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes every paper and its marking guidelines. These links go to QCAA's own copies — read the questions there. QCAA publishes each year in more than one booklet, and every one this page counted is linked.

2022 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2022 Paper 1 — question and response →2022 Paper 2 — question and response →2023 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2023 Paper 1 — question and response →2023 Paper 2 — question and response →2024 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2024 Paper 1 — question and response →2024 Paper 2 — question and response →2025 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2025 Paper 1 — question and response →2025 Paper 2 — question and response →

These are the external examination papers. They are not the whole subject: Physics is also assessed by internal assessments set and marked by your school, which QCAA does not publish — so nothing on this page covers that part of your result.

Study Physics on Revizi

QCE Physics TopicsQCE Physics PracticeQCE Physics Study NotesQCE Physics Past PapersQCE Past Exam PracticeQCE Exam PracticeQCE Flashcards HubAll QCE Questions by TopicQuestions by Topic — all curricula

Frequently Asked Questions

Which QCE Physics topics come up every year?

5 of the 5. Every topic marked "Every paper" above was examined in all 4 papers on file. That describes the papers analysed, not a prediction — examiners set each paper fresh.

Which QCE Physics unit is worth the most marks?

Unit 3: Gravity and electromagnetism 234, Unit 4: Revolutions in modern physics 152 marks across the 4 papers analysed. The syllabus publishes no mark weighting for them; the indicative share on this page is inferred from equal teaching time (QCAA's syllabus gives each topic an indicative hour count; Units 3 and 4 are 45 hours each), and the counted share is a different measure.

What is the biggest single topic in QCE Physics?

Gravity and motion, with 134 of the 386 marks counted across 4 papers.

How was this analysed?

Every question in 4 official QCAA QCE Physics papers (2022–2025) was counted against the QCAA Physics General Senior Syllabus (Units 3 and 4): its mark value, its format and its key word, and the unit and topic it assesses. Marks are reconciled against each paper's own stated total.

Are the exam questions reproduced here?

No. Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority owns the papers. This page publishes counts and links to QCAA's own copy of each paper so you can read the questions at the source. The analysis is ours; the papers stay with QCAA.

Does this predict what will be in my exam?

No, and it is not meant to. It describes what has been set. Examiners write each paper fresh and can weight a neglected topic heavily, which is why every topic is listed here, including the ones examined least.

Can I see which QCE Physics questions were set on each topic?

Yes. Every question from the 4 papers is listed above under the topic it was coded to, with its year, question number, marks and cognitive verb, and a link to QCAA's copy of that paper. The question itself is read there, not here.

What did the QCAA markers say about QCE Physics?

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes marker feedback after each paper. The "What the markers wanted" section above is our reading of it across 4 years, in our words, grouped by unit and cited to the year and question it was seen in, with the originals linked.

Coded against the QCAA Physics General Senior Syllabus (Units 3 and 4). Where a question is coded to more than one topic its marks are split evenly, so topic totals within a unit can round a mark or two above the unit total. A topic is marked "Every paper" when it appears in all 4, "Most papers" when it is missing from one, and "Comes and goes" when it is missing from more — the one-paper tolerance absorbs a single coding miss rather than publishing it. Last updated 2026-09-01 · Exam papers © Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, linked at source.