What this practice covers
These questions are drawn from past CIE 9702 Physics papers and filtered to oscillations. You answer, you find out immediately whether you were right, and you get the reasoning for the correct option and for each distractor. Wrong answers go to a mistakes locker so you can come back to exactly those.
Practice is free. You need an account only so your progress and your mistakes are still there next time.
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What examiners see students get wrong here
These are the errors that cost marks on oscillations, taken from our own topic notes. Read them before you practise and you will recognise the traps in the questions.
- Measuring amplitude as the full swing from one extreme to the other rather than from equilibrium.
- Dropping the minus sign from a = -ω²x, which loses the entire point of the definition.
- Saying the period depends on the amplitude.
- Leaving the calculator in degree mode when evaluating sin ωt or cos ωt. The argument is in radians.
- Choosing x = x₀ sin ωt when the oscillator was released from maximum displacement, where the cosine form is needed.
- Forgetting the ± in v = ±ω√(x₀² - x²), or squaring the bracket incorrectly by writing (x₀ - x)².
- Saying doubling the amplitude doubles the energy. It quadruples it.
- Saying kinetic energy is maximum at the extremes of the motion. It is maximum at equilibrium.
Revise it first
If any of the above is unfamiliar, work through the notes before practising: Oscillations revision notes.