Q: What does Cambridge IGCSE Physics Paper 5 assess? A: Paper 5 is the one-hour-15-minute Practical Test. Candidates perform experiments, take and process measurements, and demonstrate the same AO3 experimental skills and contexts assessed through written material in Paper 6.
TL;DR For the 2026-2028 Physics syllabuses, Paper 5 has 40 marks and contributes 20%. It is a candidate-run laboratory examination. Confirm the syllabus code and Paper 5 component entry with the examination centre before choosing papers or making practical arrangements.
Last reviewed: 19 July 2026. This guide is bounded to Cambridge's published 0625 and 0972 specifications. The syllabuses define assessable skills and contexts, but they do not publish the exact experiments or question order for a future paper.
12 noon to 2pm, 2pm to 4pm, 4pm to 6pm, or 6pm to 8pm
Jurong East Centre (Vision Exchange)
Weekdays
12 noon to 2pm or 2pm to 4pm
Weekends
6pm to 8pm or 8pm to 10pm
Timings last updated: 17 July 2026. Confirm the venue and exact session before travelling.
Pricing
Alternative route
Paper 6 Alternative to Practical, 1 hour
All candidates take one practical paper from a choice of Paper 5 or Paper 6. Cambridge says both papers require the same experimental skills, require understanding of the same experimental contexts, and test the same assessment objective.
The papers are not identical. Paper 5 requires candidates to perform experiments in a laboratory. Paper 6 presents practical work through questions, diagrams, readings, observations, tables, or other supplied material.
2. Confirm the entry and centre arrangements
Do not infer Paper 5 from school type, candidate status, or access to a laboratory outside the examination centre. The centre makes and administers the entry and provides the examination arrangements.
Ask the centre to confirm in writing:
the syllabus code, 0625 or 0972;
the examination series and administrative zone;
whether the entry uses Paper 5 or Paper 6;
the final component code on the Statement of Entry;
the centre's reporting time, permitted items, and local instructions.
Cambridge describes 0972 as graded 9 to 1 and otherwise the same as 0625, but 0972 is available only in specified administrative zones. Use the live availability notice and the candidate's actual entry rather than a general assumption about location.
The syllabus gives centres a general apparatus, materials, and reagents list and states that specific Practical Test requirements appear in Confidential Instructions sent before the examination. Candidates should follow the centre's instructions rather than trying to predict or bring an unpublished setup.
3. The AO3 skills Cambridge may assess
The current syllabus groups AO3 into five areas.
Selecting and using techniques, apparatus, and materials
Candidates may need to identify, complete, or label apparatus; select and justify a suitable method; follow instructions; explain apparatus use; address hazards; or explain how accuracy can be improved.
Planning experiments and investigations
The specification includes identifying independent and dependent variables, explaining controlled variables, choosing a suitable number and range of values, selecting apparatus, describing a procedure, addressing risk, recording and processing results, and making a reasoned prediction.
Cambridge does not publish one mandatory planning paragraph. A response or working method should answer the actual task instead of forcing every investigation into a memorised template.
Making and recording measurements
Candidates may read analogue or digital apparatus, interpolate to the nearest half-scale division where required, correct a zero error where required, repeat measurements where appropriate, and record values systematically with suitable precision and units.
Interpreting and evaluating data
This includes calculations, graphing, gradients and intercepts, conclusions supported by data, anomalous results, and deciding whether values agree within experimental accuracy. For these syllabuses, Cambridge states that experimental accuracy may be assumed to be plus or minus 10% when a question asks whether results are equal within its limits.
Evaluating methods and improvements
Candidates may identify measurement, random, or systematic error, explain a source of uncertainty, evaluate control of variables, and suggest a change to the apparatus or method. An answer such as "human error" does not identify which measurement or procedure is limited.
4. Published experimental contexts
Cambridge says candidates should be familiar with practical work involving:
measurement of quantities such as length, volume, and force;
small distances or short time intervals;
derived quantities, such as spring extension per unit load or resistance;
relationships between two variables;
comparisons of measured or derived quantities;
heating, cooling, and temperature measurement;
springs, balances, motion, and oscillations;
electric circuits, including current and potential difference;
optics using items such as pins, mirrors, prisms, lenses, and transparent or opaque blocks;
unfamiliar procedures using simple apparatus.
These are syllabus contexts, not a promise that every paper contains one mechanics, one circuit, one optics, and one thermal experiment. Confidential Instructions and the live question paper determine a particular examination setup.
5. Practical measurements and working records
Follow the apparatus and question actually supplied.
Check the zero where the instrument and task make that relevant.
Read a scale to one half of its smallest division when interpolation is required.
Record a measurement at a precision supported by the instrument.
Put the quantity and unit in a table heading, such as time / s.
Repeat a reading where appropriate.
Keep working records systematic enough to support later calculations and conclusions.
Follow centre and question safety instructions, including switching off or disconnecting apparatus where directed.
Do not apply one universal technique to every setup. Timing several oscillations, switching off a circuit between readings, stirring a liquid, or aligning pins can be appropriate in a particular task, but each choice should be justified by the supplied apparatus, variables, and question.
6. Graphs and data interpretation
Cambridge publishes specific graph conventions.
Label each axis with the quantity and unit.
Unless instructed otherwise, use more than half the grid in both directions and choose a sensible scale.
Mark points clearly and plot them within half a small square.
Draw one thin, smooth best-fit line or curve by inspection.
Ignore a clearly anomalous point only when it has been identified as anomalous.
Follow the question when determining a gradient, intercept, or graph reading.
The specification does not say that every graph must start at the origin, that every relationship is linear, or that a gradient always has units. Use the dimensions of the plotted quantities and the actual instruction.
7. A source-bounded preparation method
The following is study advice, not a Cambridge rule.
Verify the syllabus and component code before selecting papers.
Become familiar with the published apparatus list and the safe use of common school-laboratory equipment.
Practise setting up, adjusting, reading, and troubleshooting apparatus under supervision.
Tag each error by the relevant AO3 skill: apparatus, planning, measurement, data, or evaluation.
Redraw tables and graphs using Cambridge's published conventions.
For an evaluation, name the limited step, explain its effect, and propose a change that addresses that limitation.
Complete timed work only after the underlying apparatus and reasoning errors are understood.
The syllabus does not require one commercial course, one provider, one mock schedule, or a fixed number of laboratory sessions. Any practice should match the candidate's actual entry, current specification, safety arrangements, and learning needs.
8. What this guide does not establish
The syllabuses do not establish:
that a particular Singapore centre offers Paper 5;
that school or private-candidate status determines the practical component;
the exact apparatus, experiment, or question order in a future paper;
a guaranteed mechanics, electricity, optics, or thermal pattern;
a fixed practical-mock or laboratory-session requirement;
grade improvement from laboratory tuition or any other preparation format.
Use the syllabus for the assessment contract, the centre for the candidate's entry and examination arrangements, and live examination documents for series-specific administration.
Worked application: turn evidence into a conclusion
Suppose a candidate investigates how one controlled change affects a measured physics quantity in IGCSE Physics Paper 5: Current 0625 / 0972 Practical Test Guide. The plan names the independent variable, gives a sensible range with at least five values and states how the dependent variable is measured. Other relevant factors are held constant. Raw readings are recorded with units and consistent precision, repeated where scatter is plausible, then processed into a graph or derived quantity. The conclusion describes the observed relationship and cites the trend rather than saying only that the prediction was correct. An evaluation identifies a specific limitation, explains its likely effect and proposes a practical improvement that directly reduces that limitation.
Connect planning, measurement and evaluation
The strongest practical answers form one chain. The question determines the variables; the variables determine the apparatus and range; the apparatus determines resolution and plausible uncertainty; and the intended relationship determines the table, graph and calculation. Plan the analysis before collecting data so every required raw measurement is recorded. A derived quantity cannot be recovered reliably if one of its component readings was never taken.
Use repeat readings to expose random variation, not as a ritual. Repeats are most useful when a reading is difficult to judge, a time interval is short or the system fluctuates. If repeats are close, calculate a mean. If one value is anomalous, investigate it and repeat that condition rather than deleting it without justification. A zero error affects every reading systematically and is corrected differently from scatter.
Evaluation should name the route from limitation to effect. For example, a broad pointer makes a length endpoint uncertain, which creates scatter in the calculated gradient; replacing it with a thin fiducial marker reduces that reading uncertainty. Saying only "use better equipment" does not identify what becomes better or why the evidence improves.
Common misconceptions and corrections
Changing several variables together. Vary only the independent variable and control the other relevant factors.
Recording only processed values. Keep the raw readings, units and consistent precision needed to audit every calculation.
Drawing a dot-to-dot graph. Use an appropriate best-fit line or curve and identify anomalies from the overall pattern.
Calling every difference human error. Name the physical or measurement cause and explain its effect on the result.
Offering an improvement with no causal link. State the limitation, its consequence and how the change reduces it.
Assessment guidance
Paper 5 and Paper 6 assess the same AO3 reasoning even though one uses laboratory work and the other supplies experimental information. Read scales to the requested precision, include units in table headings and use most of the graph grid with a simple scale. Show gradient triangles and calculations clearly. Conclusions must refer to observations or numerical trends. Planning answers need operational steps, a suitable range, control variables, safety where relevant and a stated analysis method. Evaluation marks reward specific, feasible improvements linked to identified limitations, not generic instructions to repeat or be more careful.
Retrieval practice
Redesign the worked application for three different independent variables. For each version, list apparatus with range or resolution, five values, control variables, raw table headings, the expected graph and one safety control. Then diagnose one random and one systematic error, calculate a mean with an anomaly, describe a best-fit trend and write two limitation-effect-improvement chains.
