OCR A Level Physics A (H556) Past Papers 2026

Modelling Physics

Duration: 2h 15m

Exploring Physics

Duration: 2h 15m

Unified Physics

Duration: 1h 30m

Practical Activity Groups

Duration: Pass/fail, assessed throughout the course

SHM: linking initial displacement to amplitude, and applying the isochronous property

H556/01 2023 Q21(a)(iii): 'A reasonably large proportion of candidates did not link the idea of initial displacement to the amplitude of this motion.' The isochronous property — that period is independent of amplitude — was often recalled but rarely applied to justify why the period stays constant when amplitude changes.

H556/01

Practical investigations: describing graphical analysis, gradient meaning and error propagation

H556/01 2023 Q18 (Level 3 response criteria): 'There is no reference to graphical analysis at all. This resulted in this response being marked as a Level 1 response.' Examiners note that candidates often calculate g from single data points rather than describing the required graph and propagating uncertainties through it.

H556/01, H556/03

Coherence and path/phase difference in wave superposition

H556/02 2023 Q16(b): 'While many candidates had an appreciation that it was related to phase, there were many responses that it was when two waves were in phase.' Around half of candidates could correctly explain coherence. Candidates also confused path difference (in wavelengths or metres) with phase difference (in radians or degrees).

H556/02

Acoustic impedance and its role in ultrasound reflection at boundaries

H556/02 2023 Q17(c)(ii): 'Only around 40% used the term [acoustic impedance] correctly and only half of this appreciated that this was the difference between B and C and their surrounding mediums rather than simply the difference between B and C.' The attenuation coefficient was frequently substituted for acoustic impedance.

H556/02

Nuclear binding energy per nucleon — fusion releases energy because binding energy per nucleon increases

H556/02 2024 Q20(c)(i): 'few candidates appreciating the idea that an increase in binding energy per nucleon would result in energy given out. Many candidates simply restated the question, by saying low mass would join to give higher mass or stated that iron was the most stable isotope.'

H556/02

Stellar physics: Chandrasekhar limit applies to the remnant core, not the whole original star; Wien's law and H-R diagram limitations

H556/03 2023 Q3(a)(i): candidates 'have not been sufficiently distinguished' between original star and remnant core. H556/01 2024 Q21(c) found that 'the range of luminosities was about 10' on a logarithmic scale — candidates who noticed this quantitative aspect reached higher marks than those who gave qualitative descriptions only.

H556/01, H556/03

Resistivity versus resistance — misreading a familiar-looking problem that actually asks for an invariant quantity

H556/02 2023 Q8: 'Only a little over one quarter of the candidates appreciated this; by far the majority calculated the ratio of resistances.' The question asked about resistivity (which is constant for the same material regardless of wire dimensions) — candidates assumed it was the same question type as a resistance-ratio problem.

H556/02

Resonance in unfamiliar physical systems — recognising forced oscillation and describing frequency-amplitude behaviour quantitatively

H556/03 2024 Q4(c)(ii): 'Many candidates did not realise that this was a question about resonance, presumably because of the unfamiliar context.' Common errors: not labelling scales on the amplitude-frequency graph; not marking the resonance frequency numerically; only describing amplitude change without describing how frequency varied.

H556/03