QCAA Physics 2025 General Senior Syllabus (applies from the 2026 cohort; the 2019 syllabus was examined 2020-2025)
Physics is assessed through internal assessments completed at school and a QCAA external assessment built on Unit 3 and Unit 4 subject matter. The external assessment comprises two papers. Paper 1 is issued as a multiple choice question book alongside a question and response book, while Paper 2 is a question and response book of longer items requiring worked calculation and written justification. QCAA has also released sample external assessment papers produced as a pre-implementation trial, which are useful for format familiarity.
Past papers on this subject span more than one syllabus. Papers written under an older one still work as practice, but the units and topics they test have changed — the index labels every paper with the syllabus it was set under.
Physics 2019 syllabus (v1.2) · 2020–2025Physics 2025 syllabus (v1.3) · 2026–present
The units and topics, one by one
Each area below lists the concepts named in the syllabus, what the QCAA exam asks of them, and the mistake that most often costs marks.
Area 1 of 4
Thermal, nuclear and electrical physics (Unit 1)
Unit 1 sets up three separate models that all reappear later. Heating processes use the kinetic particle model to explain temperature as average particle kinetic energy, then quantify energy transfer with specific heat capacity and latent heat, distinguishing conduction, convection and radiation and applying conservation of energy to mixing and calorimetry problems. Nuclear physics covers the nuclear model of the atom, isotopes, and alpha, beta and gamma decay, including writing and balancing nuclear equations so that both mass number and atomic number are conserved, along with half-life, fission and fusion, and the biological effects and uses of ionising radiation. Electrical circuits cover charge, current as rate of charge flow, potential difference, resistance and Ohm's law, series and parallel arrangements, power dissipation, and the behaviour of moving charges that later becomes the basis for electromagnetism.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 3 points
- Heating processes (kinetic particle model, specific heat capacity, conservation of energy)
- Ionising radiation and nuclear reactions (decay types, nuclear model, balancing nuclear equations)
- Electrical circuits (conservation of charge, potential difference and resistance, moving charges)
What the exam asks
Unit 1 is assessed through school-based assessment rather than the external papers, which examine Units 3 and 4. The habits built here carry directly into the exam, since energy conservation reasoning, correct handling of decay and conservation equations, and confident circuit analysis all reappear inside electromagnetism and nuclear-related questions in the senior units.
Where marks go missing
Using the specific heat capacity relationship straight through a phase change. While a substance is melting or boiling the temperature does not change, so that stage needs the latent heat relationship instead, and a single-equation answer silently omits the largest part of the energy transferred.
Area 2 of 4
Linear motion and waves (Unit 2)
Unit 2 builds the vector and wave toolkit. Linear motion distinguishes distance from displacement and speed from velocity, defines acceleration, and works through the constant-acceleration equations while reading displacement-time and velocity-time graphs for gradient and area. Waves are classified as longitudinal or transverse, described by wavelength, frequency, period, amplitude and speed, and examined through reflection, refraction, superposition, standing waves and the Doppler effect. Optics applies the wave model of light to reflection and refraction using Snell's law, critical angle and total internal reflection, dispersion, diffraction through slits and interference patterns, which is the evidence base later set against the particle model in Unit 4. Thermodynamics and further electricity extend Unit 1 where the school's course covers them. Nothing here is assessed externally, but every senior calculation assumes this fluency.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 4 points
- Linear motion (displacement, velocity, acceleration, vector equations, SUVAT, gradients)
- Waves (longitudinal vs transverse, wavelength, frequency, period, wave behaviour)
- Thermodynamics and further electricity (where applicable)
- Optics / wave model of light (reflection, refraction, total internal reflection, dispersion, diffraction, interference)
What the exam asks
This unit is covered by internal assessment, not the external assessment, which is restricted to Units 3 and 4. Its skills are examined constantly in disguise, because projectile and circular motion questions are vector kinematics problems, and the wave behaviour of light studied here is the exact evidence that quantum questions in Unit 4 ask you to weigh.
Where marks go missing
Mixing sign conventions partway through a motion problem. If upward is positive then acceleration due to gravity must be entered as negative for the whole calculation, and switching midway produces a plausible-looking number with the wrong direction or magnitude.
Area 3 of 4
Gravity and electromagnetism (Unit 3)
Unit 3 is the heaviest calculation unit in the external assessment. Gravity and motion starts by resolving vectors into components, then applies that to projectile motion, treating horizontal and vertical motion as independent, and to uniform circular motion with centripetal acceleration and force. Newton's law of universal gravitation introduces gravitational field strength and orbital motion, and Kepler's laws relate orbital period to radius for satellites and planets. Electromagnetism begins with electrostatics and Coulomb's law, electric fields and field diagrams, then magnetic fields around current-carrying conductors and solenoids, the force on a current-carrying conductor and on a moving charge. Electromagnetic induction ties the two halves together through magnetic flux and flux density, Faraday's law relating induced electromotive force to rate of change of flux, and Lenz's law giving the direction of the induced effect.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 2 points
- Gravity and motion (vector components, projectile motion, uniform circular motion, Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, Kepler's laws of planetary motion)
- Electromagnetism (electrostatics, Coulomb's Law, magnetic fields, magnetic flux/flux density, electromagnetic induction, Faraday's Law, Lenz's Law, EMF)
What the exam asks
Expect multi-step numerical items with a diagram: a projectile launched at an angle, a satellite orbit, a charge moving through a field, or a coil moving relative to a magnet. You are asked to calculate and then justify direction using a stated law. Explanation marks require the physical reasoning, not only the substituted formula.
Where marks go missing
Stating that the induced current opposes the magnetic field. Lenz's law says it opposes the change in flux, so a coil experiencing a decreasing field produces a current that maintains it. Answers phrased as opposition to the field get the direction backwards half the time.
Area 4 of 4
Revolutions in modern physics (Unit 4)
Unit 4 replaces classical assumptions with modern ones. Special relativity starts from the two postulates, the invariance of physical laws in inertial frames and the constancy of the speed of light, and derives time dilation, length contraction and the distinction between proper and relative measurements, extending to relativistic momentum and mass-energy equivalence. Quantum theory covers black-body radiation and the failure of classical prediction, the photoelectric effect with threshold frequency, work function and stopping voltage, the photon model, wave-particle duality and de Broglie wavelength, and atomic energy levels producing discrete emission and absorption spectra. The Standard Model then classifies matter into quarks and leptons and their generations, distinguishes baryons from mesons within the hadrons, and describes the four fundamental forces with their exchange particles, applying conservation rules to particle interactions.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 3 points
- Special relativity (postulates, time dilation, length contraction, relativistic momentum/energy)
- Quantum theory (photoelectric effect, wave-particle duality, atomic energy levels, black-body radiation)
- The Standard Model (particle classification, quarks and leptons, baryons and mesons, fundamental forces)
What the exam asks
Relativity items give a scenario with a stated velocity and ask which observer measures the proper time or length before calculating. Photoelectric questions supply a graph or data set to extract threshold frequency, work function or Planck's constant. Standard Model items ask you to classify a particle from its quark composition or check an interaction against conservation rules.
Where marks go missing
Assuming brighter light gives photoelectrons more energy. Intensity changes how many electrons are emitted, while their maximum kinetic energy depends only on the frequency of the incident light and the work function of the metal, which is precisely what the classical wave model failed to predict.
Common questions
What is on the QCE Physics external assessment?
The external assessment examines Unit 3 and Unit 4 subject matter, meaning gravity and motion, electromagnetism and induction, special relativity, quantum theory and the Standard Model. Unit 1 and Unit 2 content is assessed internally in Year 11, though the kinematics, energy and circuit skills built there are assumed in senior calculations.
What are the sample QCAA Physics exam papers?
Alongside the live papers, QCAA has published sample external assessment papers for Paper 1 and Paper 2 that were produced as a pre-implementation trial before the assessment went live. They are not from a real cohort, so treat them as a guide to format and question style rather than as a difficulty benchmark.
Which QCE Physics syllabus applies to me?
The 2019 syllabus governed cohorts examined from 2020 to 2025, and the 2025 edition applies to students completing the course from 2026 onward. All existing external assessment papers were written under the earlier edition. The physics itself is largely unchanged, so those papers remain the best available practice material.
Do I need to memorise formulas for QCE Physics?
You need to know which relationship applies and why, which matters more than recall alone. Marks are awarded for selecting the correct relationship, substituting consistently, carrying units through and stating direction for vector quantities, so practise writing the reasoning line before the arithmetic rather than jumping to a number.