IPC Physics Competition — A Complete Guide
超详细IPC考点分析与真题分类（2010–2025）
The UK Intermediate Physics Challenge (IPC) is, on paper, a forty-question multiple-choice and short-answer paper. In practice it is a precise instrument for sorting students by physical reasoning, not by memorised facts. This guide is built from a question-by-question breakdown of every past paper from 2010 to 2025 — 150 multiple-choice questions and 59 written answers, 209 items total, each recategorised by the physics it actually tests.
How the marks are structured
| Section | Format | Marking | Strategy in one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section A | 10 MCQ (q1–10) | 1 pt each, no penalty | Secure easy marks; guess intelligently on hard ones |
| Section B | 2 short answer (q11–12) | Method / explanation marks | State principle → mechanism → conclusion |
| Section C | 2 long calculation (q13–14) | Step-by-step marks | Write every equation and substitution — method marks survive an arithmetic slip |
Never leave a Section A question blank. The paper does not deduct for wrong answers. Eliminate options with wrong dimensions, physically impossible values, or that ignore the key variable the question is obviously testing. About 40% of Section A questions are d1–d2 (instant or single-step) and only 20% are d4–d5 (multi-step, trap-laden). That ratio is where the marks lie.
Priority study roadmap
Mechanics and electromagnetism together account for roughly 58% of Section A marks, mostly at difficulty d2–d3. That is where to start. The order below is calibrated by frequency times accessibility — the cheapest marks first.
Tier 1 — high frequency, low difficulty (secure these first)
- Kinematics and motion graphs
- Energy, work and power
- Electrical power and energy
- Errors and uncertainties
- Specific heat capacity
- Molecular kinetic theory of gas pressure
- The electromagnetic spectrum
Tier 2 — high frequency, more care needed
- Forces and Newton's laws
- Magnetism and electromagnetism
- Non-ohmic I–V characteristics
- Wave equation and boundary behaviour
- Accuracy, precision and reliability
Tier 3 — differentiation zone (after tiers 1–2 are solid)
- Moments, torque and static equilibrium
- Latent heat
- Momentum and impulse
- Systematic and percentage errors
Section A topic distribution
| Topic area | Share | Key sub-topics (appearances) |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanics | 37% | Kinematics & graphs (15), Energy/work/power (11), Density & pressure (11), Forces & Newton's laws (7) |
| Electromagnetism | 21% | Series/parallel circuits (9), Electrical power & energy (9), Magnetism & EM (6), Non-ohmic elements (6) |
| Experimental & data | 12% | Errors & uncertainties (9), Accuracy/precision (4) |
| Waves & vibration | 11% | Wave equation v=fλ (7), EM spectrum (5) |
| Thermal physics | 11% | Specific heat capacity Q=mcΔT (6), Kinetic theory (6) |
| Atomic & nuclear | 8% | Half-life and activity (6) |
Sections B and C — the hidden priorities
Of 59 written-answer questions across fifteen years, 54 are explanation or mixed, and only five are pure calculation. Three clusters dominate and reward rote preparation:
- Heat transfer, cooling and insulation (5 appearances) — always name conduction, convection and radiation; explain why each is suppressed by the mechanism in question.
- Light: refraction, dispersion and total internal reflection (4 appearances) — explain why a prism splits colours while a parallel-sided block recombines them.
- Ammeter and voltmeter design (3 appearances) — why an ideal ammeter has near-zero resistance; why an ideal voltmeter has near-infinite resistance.
The biggest blind spot: gravity and orbital mechanics appear 6 times in Section C but almost never in Section A. Kepler's third law (T² ∝ R³), escape velocity (v = √(2gR)), and eclipse geometry are Section C staples that standard MCQ preparation entirely misses.