A manageable pair with several demanding steps
The June 2025 Foundation set combines Breadth in physics and Depth in physics. Both papers reward secure basic knowledge, but the Depth paper adds two extended responses and more practical reasoning. The estimated difficulty is moderate within Foundation tier: many early marks come from selecting, completing or identifying, while the harder marks require linking ideas, processing data and controlling units. This judgement comes from the tasks and marking rules, not candidate performance statistics.
Where revision pays off
Waves are the largest primary-topic allocation, covering basic properties, electromagnetic radiation, calculations and a practical method. Energy transfers in motion, electrical current and describing motion also deserve sustained practice. These areas combine familiar equations with transferable skills. Learn how to select an equation, rearrange it, substitute values and check the final unit. An equation sheet helps only if you recognise which quantities belong together.
Practical skills run across several topics. Revise how to control variables, draw a sensible best-fit line, interpret trends and explain a specific improvement. Some generic investigation marks are assigned to Ideas about Science rather than to their physical context, so the chapter chart should not be read as a count of every topic mentioned.
What the marking rules reveal
No principal-examiner report is included. The following pitfalls are therefore inferred from the supplied mark schemes. Numerical answers can lose a final mark through omitted conversion, incorrect standard form or missing units. Show working: selection, substitution and conversion can earn separate credit, and some later answers permit error carried forward.
For acceleration, use the change in speed divided by elapsed time, not simply the final speed divided by time. For a return journey, include the full distance travelled. When interpreting radioactive decay, connect the timescale to the half-life and use a quantitative comparison where requested. Distinguish contamination from irradiation, and match precautions to the radiation involved.
In explanations, name the objects or particles involved and connect cause to effect. Repeating that collisions happen more often does not explain why. A method needs measurable quantities, suitable equipment and enough procedure to be carried out. The six-mark responses reward a coherent account covering all requested strands, including errors or consequences where relevant.
A practical exam approach
Use about one minute per mark on a first pass and retain fifteen minutes per paper for checking and unfinished work. Follow the exact number of ticks or responses requested. On calculations, check prefixes, time units, powers of ten and rounding before moving on. On graphs, read both axes carefully and use changes between two points when finding a gradient. Reserve a brief planning pause for each extended response so that no requested strand is missed.
Preparing for the next series
The supplied earlier history repeatedly includes waves, forces, circuits and pressure, making them sensible core priorities. Motors and electric charge have older positive entries but no dedicated primary allocation here; cosmology appears in all three earlier series but is absent here. Treat these as gap-based revision prompts. Missing historical entries are not confirmed zeroes, and a topic is never guaranteed to return because it appears overdue. Keep broad syllabus coverage alongside targeted practice.