Free AQA GCSE Physics practice questions (Higher tier, all eight topics)

The mistake that costs the most marks in each topic

Physics marks go missing in the same places every year, and most of them are habits rather than gaps in knowledge. These are the ones our teaching partner sees most, one per topic plus the equations. If any of them reads as news, start there.

• Energy: squaring the mass instead of the speed in kinetic energy, or dropping the factor of a half. Write the substitution out before pressing any keys.
• Electricity: writing I = Q x t instead of I = Q / t, and leaving time in minutes. Both equations want seconds, so 30 minutes has to become 1800 s first.
• Particle model: turning density upside down. Density is mass divided by volume, so dividing volume by mass gives a number with the wrong unit.
• Atomic structure: saying isotopes differ in protons. They differ only in neutrons; change the protons and you change the element.
• Forces: confusing mass with weight. Mass is in kilograms and does not change with location; weight is a force in newtons that does. A weight quoted in kilograms loses the mark.
• Waves: measuring amplitude from crest to trough. Amplitude is measured from the rest position to a crest, so crest to trough is twice the amplitude.
• Magnetism: taking attraction as proof of a magnet. Attraction only shows a magnetic material, because an induced magnet is always attracted; only repulsion proves a permanent magnet.
• Space physics: muddling the solar system with the galaxy. The solar system is one star and what orbits it; the Milky Way holds many billions of stars.
• Equations: leaving a mass in grams or a length in centimetres. Divide grams by 1000 and centimetres by 100 before substituting, and remember areas and volumes convert by 10 000 and 1 000 000.

The equations sheet is not the same as knowing the equations

AQA supplies the Physics Equations Sheet as an insert, and students often read that as one less thing to learn. It is not. The sheet gives you the equation once you already know which one you need, and it tells you nothing about what each symbol means, which unit each quantity takes, or how to rearrange the thing to make the unknown the subject. Those three steps are where the marks sit, and they are why our bank carries a whole category devoted to the equations rather than treating them as part of the topics.

Why these questions describe diagrams instead of drawing them

This version of the bank has no diagrams, and the questions are written so that none are needed. Where a question would normally lean on a circuit diagram or a graph, the setup is described in words instead: the values of two resistors in series, the readings taken from a velocity-time graph. That keeps every question answerable on a phone screen and readable by a screen reader. Diagrams are planned for a later release and will be reviewed by our teaching partner before they ship.

Not affiliated with AQA

RiverMap Learning is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by AQA or any exam board. Every question here is original and written to the public AQA subject content for specification 8463; no exam paper, mark scheme, equations sheet or textbook text is reproduced. The specification points cited are locators, so you can check coverage against the definitive specification published by AQA.