9709 Paper 1
How Cambridge awards marks in 9709 Paper 1
Paper 1 is 1 hour 50 minutes, 75 marks, and about 10 to 12 structured questions. It is 60% of the AS and 30% of the A Level. The marks on the script are not the grade. A grade threshold is applied after marking.
M, A and B are different marks
M
Method
A valid method applied to this question. A slip in arithmetic does not remove it. Writing the formula and stopping does not earn it. Substitute the numbers, or factorise so the factors expand back to the quadratic you were given.
A
Accuracy
A correct answer or a correct intermediate step. It is only available after the method mark it depends on. Three significant figures is the usual allowance for a numerical answer, or 1 decimal place for an angle in degrees, unless the question asks for something else.
B
Independent
A correct statement or result that does not need a method mark first. Quoting a standard result can be a B mark. It is still lost if the statement is wrong.
DM / FT
Dependent and follow-through
DM means this method mark needs an earlier mark. FT means a later accuracy mark can be given for correct work from your own earlier error. Follow-through is never automatic. The scheme has to allow it.
The front of the paper says unsupported calculator answers score nothing. The June 2024 Principal Examiner Report for Paper 1 repeats that for quadratics, trigonometric equations, definite integrals, gradients, simultaneous equations, intersection points and sums of series. A correct number with no working can still score zero on those items.
A quadratic, scored the way the scheme scores it
Worked example
Solve x² − 5x + 6 = 0 by factorising
- Write the equation. Do not jump to the roots.
- Method: (x − 2)(x − 3) = 0. Multiply it back out. You must get x² − 5x + 6, not a different quadratic.
- Accuracy: x = 2 or x = 3. Both roots. One root is not the whole accuracy mark on a two-root question.
If the only line on the page is “x = 2, x = 3” from a solver, the method mark is not there. If you use the formula, write a = 1, b = −5, c = 6 inside it. Quoting x = (−b ± √(b² − 4ac)) / 2a with no values is the case the examiner report says is not enough.
Worked example
Then a follow-on step
- Differentiate y = x³ − 4x. dy/dx = 3x² − 4. That derivative is the method.
- Gradient at x = 2 is 3(4) − 4 = 8. Show the substitution. The accuracy mark sits on that line.
- If the derivative was wrong, a later “hence” part can still earn a follow-through mark only when the scheme says FT. Do not assume it.
The same habit covers a definite integral: write the limits substituted, not only the calculator value of the area.
Question patterns that drop marks on Paper 1
- Quadratics and trig equations. Show factorisation, the formula with values, or completing the square. The syllabus lists those three. A calculator root on its own is not one of them.
- Exact answers. A rounded decimal is rejected when the question says exact. Simplify a fraction of fractions. Keep a surd as a surd.
- Premature rounding. If the answer is wanted to 3 significant figures, keep at least 4 in the working. The June 2024 report says early rounding is a common way to lose the accuracy mark.
- Sector and arc questions. Write s = rθ and A = ½r²θ with θ in radians, then show the quadratic or the elimination. Two equations with no method after them scored at most half marks in that report.
- Geometric series that become a quadratic. Solve the quadratic on the page. The report notes candidates who reached the quadratic and then hid the solving.
- “Show that” and “hence”. Use the result you were told to show. Starting again, or dropping a term such as the −6x in a derivative, changes the question and can wipe the part.
- Inequalities. A check number either side of each critical value tells you which interval you want. The report says candidates often found the critical values and then chose the wrong side.
Mark the paper the evening you sit it
- Sit 10 to 12 questions in 1 hour 50 minutes. Paper 1 is structured questions, not a booklet of one-mark items.
- Use the mark scheme for that paper and that series. Write M, A or B next to the line that earned it, and a dash where you had an answer with no method.
- Redo only the question types in the dash column the next day: quadratics, radians, series, differentiation, integration.
- A hard part left until the end is still worth a method line. Be accurate on the parts you can do, and do not let one stuck part decide the paper. Paper 1 is 30% of the A Level, so those method marks are the margin for Paper 3.
Grade thresholds are a separate step. Cambridge sets them after the scripts are marked, which is why a raw score that felt low can still be a high grade, and why a careless paper can miss the threshold even when the methods were known. The threshold does not define M and A marks.