IB Physics Paper 1A: How to Revise for Multiple Choice (and Stop Losing Easy Marks)

SL students answer 25 multiple choice questions in Paper 1A. HL students answer 40 questions. Both sit Paper 1A in the same exam session as Paper 1B (data-based questions). There is no penalty for wrong answers in Paper 1A, so you should attempt every question. At SL you have roughly 70 seconds per question, and at HL roughly 60 seconds.

No. There is no negative marking in IB Physics Paper 1A. A wrong answer scores zero, the same as a blank. This means you should always attempt every question. If you are unsure, eliminate the options you know are wrong and make your best guess from the remaining options. Never leave a question blank.

The most effective approach is to work through real Paper 1A questions organised by topic rather than doing full past papers from the start. Work through all the questions you can find for one topic, check your answers, and analyse any questions you got wrong to identify the misconception behind your error. Once you have covered all topics this way, move to timed full practice papers. Track your score and time, and target any topics where you are consistently losing marks.

The most common reasons are: falling for deliberate misconception traps (the wrong answer options in Paper 1A correspond to specific common errors, not random guesses), making calculation errors under time pressure by skipping steps, misreading questions (missing a negative sign, overlooking a non-zero intercept, or missing a word like "not"), and spending too long on one difficult question at the expense of others they could have answered correctly.

Paper 1A and Paper 1B together form the Paper 1 component, which is worth 36% of the final IB Physics grade. Paper 1A (multiple choice) accounts for 25 marks at SL and 40 marks at HL. Paper 1B (data-based questions) accounts for 20 marks for both SL and HL. Both papers are sat in the same exam session.