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Edexcel A-Level Mathematics - Statistics & Mechanics - 19 October 2020




Edexcel Mathematics Paper 3 (Statistics & Mechanics)



Date: 19 October 2020
Session: PM
Length: 2h
Marks: 100 (a third of the total A-level)

Paper 3 can cover anything on the Statistics & Mechanics part of the specification.

If you want to use old spec resources, there is a content mapping document here. Be aware that the style is different and the old specification does not cover everything.

A checklist is available here.
(edited 3 years ago)

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Reply 1
Anyone got this paper after aqa chemistry in the morning?
Question when do i use 2 - variable on the calculator and when do i use 1 variable or is it 100 percent 1 variable everytime for exams pls quick i dont have much time till monday
Reply 3
Original post by emoanimelover1
Question when do i use 2 - variable on the calculator and when do i use 1 variable or is it 100 percent 1 variable everytime for exams pls quick i dont have much time till monday

I haven't seen any questions that use 2 variable tbh i think it's just 1-variable? Make sure you have the freq column tho for 1-variable
yes i have a frequency column thanks for this i will now know to avoid the 2nd variable
Original post by Unlucki
I haven't seen any questions that use 2 variable tbh i think it's just 1-variable? Make sure you have the freq column tho for 1-variable


yeah that’s right i’m pretty sure
Reply 6
Anyone else in agreement that this paper could be around the same difficulty as last years paper 3 (i.e relatively easy) considering the first 2 papers have been quite tough? Or are we expecting a third hard paper as well?
Original post by Ibi_M
Anyone else in agreement that this paper could be around the same difficulty as last years paper 3 (i.e relatively easy) considering the first 2 papers have been quite tough? Or are we expecting a third hard paper as well?


that’s a good argument but it’s best not to assume an exam is easy. I’m gonna revise like it’s the 2018 stats and mechanics paper.
what are the predictions for paper 3 considering topics that were tested in 2018,2019?
We expecting an extra couple of questions in the exam like papers 1 & 2? There's normally only been 10 in paper 3
Original post by emoanimelover1
yes i have a frequency column thanks for this i will now know to avoid the 2nd variable


you do need the 2nd variable actually for work out product moment correlation coefficient
Original post by sanadtw3
you do need the 2nd variable actually for work out product moment correlation coefficient

Was just about to ask do we still need to know regression but thanks that solves it i havent seen it in so many edexcel papers but i dont trust edexcel
Anyone know what the grade boundary for paper 3 was in 2019 for A*? All the A* marks are missing on Edexcel website.
Original post by beachpanda
Anyone know what the grade boundary for paper 3 was in 2019 for A*? All the A* marks are missing on Edexcel website.


~74 I think
Original post by beachpanda
Anyone know what the grade boundary for paper 3 was in 2019 for A*? All the A* marks are missing on Edexcel website.

It was 75, I found it randomly from an Edexcel slideshow once (sorry it's not cropped lol)
Screenshot_20200924-002719.jpg
Original post by Unlucki
It was 75, I found it randomly from an Edexcel slideshow once (sorry it's not cropped lol)
Screenshot_20200924-002719.jpg

if i get 50 on paper 1 70 on paper 2 and 90 on paper 3 do i still get the a* cause my overrall was higher than the a* grade or is that a no?
Original post by emoanimelover1
if i get 50 on paper 1 70 on paper 2 and 90 on paper 3 do i still get the a* cause my overrall was higher than the a* grade or is that a no?

Nope, that would add up to 210 so you'd still get an A. The grade boundaries for individual papers are just notional, i.e. they don't really mean anything in an actual exam series. They just publish them because they recognise that it may be useful as a 'guide' in e.g. mocks or when you're revising. But the only thing that's important in the real thing is what your total marks are out of 300
Reply 17
Original post by alebaja
what are the predictions for paper 3 considering topics that were tested in 2018,2019?

Be prepared to see some conditional probability questions like they did in the 2018 paper on the battery question as if I recall correctly they did not ask a conditional probability question in 2019 for a binomial/normal distribution question.
Original post by Ibi_M
Be prepared to see some conditional probability questions like they did in the 2018 paper on the battery question as if I recall correctly they did not ask a conditional probability question in 2019 for a binomial/normal distribution question.


Remind me what conditional probability is again ?
Original post by Uzair63
Remind me what conditional probability is again ?

Probability of an event happening given another event happened. Looks like this P(B|A)

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