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Edexcel GCSE Physics revision for teachers

These activities are mapped to Edexcel GCSE Physics 1PH0, the separate science. Edexcel organises this course by exam paper rather than by content area, so the useful question is usually which paper you are revising for rather than which topic. Two things follow from that and are worth knowing before you set anything. Four topics are identical to Combined Science with no Physics-only content at all, so an activity on those serves a combined class and a separate class equally. And two topics, astronomy and static electricity, exist only in the separate award, are examined at both tiers, and carry no core practical.

This page lists what we actually have for Edexcel GCSE Physics 1PH0. It is built from the live activities, so it is accurate on the day you read it.

Revising by paper, because that is how this course is built

Edexcel does not group Physics into a handful of large content areas. It splits fifteen topics across two papers, and a teacher three weeks out from a Paper 1 mock has a much more specific question than "what physics shall we revise".

Six topics sit on Paper 1: motion and forces, conservation of energy, waves, light and the electromagnetic spectrum, radioactivity, and astronomy. Eight sit on Paper 2: energy and forces doing work, forces and their effects, electricity and circuits, static electricity, magnetism and the motor effect, electromagnetic induction, the particle model, and forces and matter. Key concepts of physics is examined across both.

Our coverage runs seventeen activities on Paper 1 content and thirteen on Paper 2, with one on the shared key concepts.

The four topics that serve two classes at once

If you teach separate Physics and Combined Science in the same week, four topics here are worth knowing by name: key concepts of physics, conservation of energy, energy and forces doing work, and electricity and circuits. Each is identical across the two awards with no Physics-only content in it at all.

That means an activity on one of those topics can go to both classes without a caveat, which is the only place on this site where that is true. Everywhere else the separate award goes further, and setting separate content to a combined group wastes their time.

The two topics that exist only here

Astronomy, on Paper 1, and static electricity, on Paper 2, are entirely absent from Combined Science.

Both have a property worth using: all of their content is examined at Foundation and Higher alike, neither contains Higher-only material, and neither carries a core practical. There is no tier decision to make and no practical to work around, which makes them unusually straightforward to set as independent revision for any student in the class.

Astronomy is also one of the two best covered topics here, with four activities.

Where it is thin

Several topics currently have a single activity: electricity and circuits, electromagnetic induction, static electricity, conservation of energy, and energy and forces doing work. Light and the electromagnetic spectrum and astronomy have four each.

If you are revising Paper 2 in specification order, the first half will feel better supplied than the second.

Finding the right one

The lists below group by classroom use rather than by paper, worked out from what each activity contains. Homework is not a heading, because nearly all of them suit it.

The three activities embedded below are playable here without an account.

Using them

For a short repeated cycle with a recheck built in, revision intervention a department can sustain has the shape. For the practical side of running short recall sessions, and the seven ways they stop working, see running retrieval practice in a GCSE lesson. To put several in front of one class in order, build a sprint.

Our past paper archive carries Edexcel's own Physics papers and mark schemes, free and unaltered.

What this page does not do

It does not cover the core practicals as a set.

It does not decide the tier for you, except in astronomy and static electricity where the specification makes that decision unnecessary.

It does not track anything, so there is no completion list to check.

Every live Physics activity for Edexcel

31 activities, all mapped to Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Physics (1PH0).

Good for independent study (18)

Good for mock preparation (17)

Good for starter (4)

Good for tutor time (1)

See all 31, by topic

Try it with your class

Edexcel Physics 15 minutes

Our Solar System

13 steps, 9 interactive, 10 activity types.

Best used for
Starter Intervention Mock preparation
  • Starter: Short enough to open a lesson and still leave time to teach.
  • Intervention: Mostly questions, so it finds the gap quickly.
  • Mock preparation: Asks students to build an answer, not just recognise one.

Try one question

Which planet orbits closest to the Sun?

Edexcel Physics 16 minutes

Stopping Distances

14 steps, 9 interactive, 7 activity types.

Best used for
Homework Independent study Intervention
  • Homework: Set it as a link. It marks itself.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.
  • Intervention: Mostly questions, so it finds the gap quickly.

Try one question

If a car doubles its speed, what happens to its braking distance?

Edexcel Physics 15 minutes

Fission & Fusion

12 steps, 8 interactive, 9 activity types.

Best used for
Starter Independent study Mock preparation
  • Starter: Short enough to open a lesson and still leave time to teach.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.
  • Mock preparation: Asks students to build an answer, not just recognise one.

Try one question

What happens during nuclear fission?

Common questions

Which paper does each activity belong to?

Every topic in this specification sits on Paper 1 or Paper 2, except key concepts of physics, which is examined across both. The lists on this page follow that split, so you can revise for one paper without wading through the other.

Can I use these with a Combined Science class?

For four topics, yes: key concepts of physics, conservation of energy, energy and forces doing work, and electricity and circuits are identical to Combined Science with no Physics-only content. Everywhere else the separate award goes further, so check before setting.

What is in the separate Physics that is not in Combined?

Two whole topics: astronomy on Paper 1 and static electricity on Paper 2. Both are examined at Foundation and Higher, neither has Higher-only content and neither carries a core practical, which makes them unusually clean to set as independent revision.

How does this differ from AQA Physics?

The physics overlaps, but the organisation does not. AQA groups its content into eight topic areas; Edexcel splits fifteen topics across two papers and flags what is shared with Combined Science. Set from the specification your class is entered for.

Where is coverage thinnest?

Several topics have a single activity, including electricity and circuits, electromagnetic induction and static electricity. Light and the electromagnetic spectrum and astronomy are the best covered, with four each.

Will I see who has completed them?

No. Following a shared link records nothing about who followed it, which is a deliberate choice about children's data.

Put one in front of a class

Tell us the subject and how long you have. You get a link to hand out, and it marks itself.

Create a free teacher account

Written by David Wright, Co-Founder, DoRevision.

David builds DoRevision with his son Noah (15). David has spent his career building EdTech products, and Noah has grown up watching lines of code being written. As a student at an important stage of his education, together they are building the revision platform that Noah is using to help revise for his GCSE exams and hopes his friends will find useful too.

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Related for teachers

  • GCSE revision intervention a department can sustain A workable shape for revision intervention: find the gap, work on one narrow thing, check whether it moved, repeat. Built around what a small department can keep up for a term, and clear about what this site can't tell you.
  • Running retrieval practice in a GCSE lesson The practical half of retrieval practice: what twelve minutes of it looks like, the seven ways it stops working, and how to keep running it without generating marking. The evidence behind it is on a separate page.