Exam Focus

🎯 Exam Focus

Frequently Examined

Motor effect questions appear regularly, especially at higher tier. Examined in Edexcel 1PH0/2 (Paper 2). Edexcel frames questions around real applications — loudspeaker coils, electric motors in appliances, railgun-style devices — so practise applying F = BIL to context you haven't seen before. Edexcel higher tier also uses "magnetic flux density" (B) explicitly in questions and mark schemes.

• Fleming's Left-Hand Rule (2 marks): Given two of the three directions (current, field, force), find the third. Practice using the actual hand rule.
• F = BIL calculation (3 marks): Straightforward substitution. Show working, give units (N).
• DC motor explanation (3-4 marks): Explain the role of the commutator — reverses current every half turn to maintain continuous rotation.
• How to increase motor speed (2 marks): More current, stronger magnets, more turns. Explaining each earns marks.
• "What happens if current reverses?" (2 marks): Force reverses direction — motor spins in opposite direction.
• "Suggest" questions (Edexcel): Given an unfamiliar coil configuration or novel device, suggest how the force could be increased or its direction changed — apply the three B, I, L factors.