AQA Combined Science physics revision guides
Four free PDF handbooks for the physics in AQA GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy (8464), 42 pages in all, written for Foundation and Higher. Together they cover the physics specification and its eight required practicals, the equations and how to choose them, the mistakes that cost marks, and five years of official grade boundaries.
These are not past papers or practice books. They are the reference set that sits beside them: use them to decide what to revise, check a method before practising it, and turn a mock score into a realistic grade target.
Free to download. No sign up, no email required. Independent resources aligned to AQA GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy 8464, not produced, approved or endorsed by AQA.
Which revision guides can I download?
Four handbooks for the physics papers, each covering both tiers. Use them alongside our Trilogy physics books: AQA Foundation resources and AQA Higher resources have the learning books and exam workbooks.
Specification and practicals reference
Covers how Trilogy is assessed, then the seven physics topics in 22 specification entries with paper, tier and a revision audit, what Combined Science does not require from separate Physics, required practicals 14 to 21, and a working scientifically and maths checklist.
Download the specification and practicals referenceEquations handbook
Covers the current equation sheet arrangements, then 25 equation cards from kinetic energy to wave speed, each with its tier, topic, units, a selection check and a common trap, with worked examples on most cards, plus practical maths and an equation misuse checklist.
Download the equations handbookCommon mistakes handbook
Covers 32 physics mistakes across electricity, energy, particles, atoms, forces, waves, magnetism, practicals and maths, each labelled as examiner-report evidence or a specification risk, with a repair routine and retest, plus 16 retest prompts and a diagnostic log.
Download the common mistakes handbookGrade boundary handbook
Covers the official June 2022 to 2026 Trilogy boundaries out of 420 for both tiers, five-year ranges and medians for every double grade, the notional boundaries for both physics papers in each year, and a marks planner for all six papers.
Download the grade boundary handbookHow do the four guides work together?
Each guide answers one revision question: what is on the course, which formula or equation to use, why marks are being lost, and what grade a score is worth. Used in that order, they turn a vague plan into a list of named topics to fix.
A revision loop using all four guides
- Audit: go through the specification reference and mark each topic red, amber or green
- Prepare: before practising a red topic, read its equation card and common trap
- Practise and mark: answer exam-style questions on the topic, then mark them honestly
- Repair: match every lost mark to an entry in the common mistakes handbook and follow its repair routine
- Measure: add up a mock score and compare it with the grade boundaries for the same year
What else is inside
- the assessment structure: six papers, two each in biology, chemistry and physics, each 70 marks in 1 hour 15 minutes. The physics papers carry 140 of the 420 marks, and the double grade comes from all six
- physics only: biology and chemistry are not covered in these guides
- Foundation and Higher content in the same books, with Higher-only content marked
- a scope guard, so separate Physics content such as space physics is not revised by mistake
- sources cited throughout, so a parent or tutor can check the facts
- boundaries shown as history, not predictions: they move every year
- 42 printable A4 pages across the four guides
What is inside each guide?
The sections below follow each handbook’s own contents. The longest is 15 pages and the shortest 5, 42 pages in all.
Specification and practicals reference
- Six papers, 420 marks, a double grade: where physics fits
- 22 specification entries across the seven physics topics
- What Combined Science does not require from separate Physics
- Required practicals 14 to 21: aim, method, errors and exam readiness
- Working scientifically, maths checklist and topic audit cards
Equations handbook
- Equation sheet arrangements for 2027 and beyond
- 25 equation cards with tier, topic and units
- A selection check and common trap on every card
- Maths for required practicals 14 to 21
- An equation misuse checklist
Common mistakes handbook
- Evidence method: examiner reports versus specification risks
- 32 entries across the physics topics and practical skills
- A repair routine and retest on every entry
- Examiner-report themes and a repair mastery scale
- 16 retest prompts and a diagnostic log
Grade boundary handbook
- Why physics papers have no separate grade
- June 2022 to 2026 Trilogy boundaries, both tiers
- Five-year ranges and medians for every double grade
- Notional boundaries for Physics Papers 1 and 2
- A progress tracker and six-paper marks planner
How should a student use these?
Start with the specification reference, because it shows what is left to learn. Keep the formula and mistakes handbooks open during practice, and use the grade boundary handbook after each mock, not before it.
Planning revision in Year 10 or early Year 11
Work through the specification reference a topic at a time. Anything red goes on the revision plan, with the matching equation cards and required practical alongside it.
After a mock
Add all six paper marks, compare the total with the boundaries for the same tier, and use the physics notional boundaries to see whether physics is helping or holding the grade back.
Fixing a weak physics paper
List the lost physics marks, match each one to the common mistakes handbook, and use the retest prompts. A mistake is only fixed when it stays fixed on an unseen question.
Guide: maths skills for Physics
The equations, rearranging, graphs and standard form that physics questions expect, in one checklist.
Read the maths skills guideGuide: GCSE Science resits
How Combined and separate Science resits work, and how to plan the months before the exam.
Read the resits guideGuide: last-minute revision
What to do with the final weeks when there is no time left to cover everything.
Read the last-minute guideRevision guide questions
The guides are free for personal use and written for AQA Combined Science Trilogy 8464 physics. These answers cover boundaries, equations, sources, licensing and choosing the right course.
Are these official AQA documents?
No. They are independently written guides aligned to the AQA GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy (8464) specification. The boundaries are transcribed from AQA’s published documents, with the source given for each, but no AQA question, mark scheme or artwork is reproduced.
Do the physics papers get their own grade?
No. Combined Science: Trilogy awards one double grade, such as 6-5, from the total of all six papers out of 420. AQA publishes notional boundaries for each physics paper, and the grade boundary handbook includes them, but they are for analysis only.
Can the grade boundaries predict my grade this year?
No. Boundaries are set after each exam to reflect how hard the papers were, so they move every year. The five years of figures show the range each double grade has needed, which makes them useful for setting a mock target, but they are not a forecast.
Do students still need to learn the equations?
Yes. AQA provides the Physics equation sheet in the Combined Science physics papers, but it does not tell a student which equation to use, how to rearrange it or which units to convert first. The equations handbook covers selection and checking for exactly that reason.
Do these guides cover biology and chemistry?
No. They cover the physics in Combined Science: Trilogy only, Topics 18 to 24 in AQA’s numbering. Our biology and chemistry resources are still to come.
Are they free? What is the licence?
The guides are free to download for personal and household educational use. Tutors and schools need permission before copying them for learners, and resale, paid redistribution and third-party uploading are not permitted.
Is this the right course? My school does triple science.
These guides are for Combined Science: Trilogy (8464). If you take GCSE Physics as a separate subject, use the AQA GCSE Physics revision guides instead: they include space physics and the longer papers.
Practice finds the gaps. A tutor closes them
Fourteen of our tutors teach Science, and Combined Science is covered by tutors who teach across biology, chemistry and physics. Lessons are one to one on Zoom, £30 each, and the first 30 minutes are free with no card details. If the same mistake keeps coming back after the repair routine, that is the moment to have the idea retaught.