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January 2012

International GCSE Mathematics A

(4MA0) Paper 2F
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January 2012
Publications Code UG030742
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International GCSE Mathematics A
Specification 4MA0
Paper 2F

General Introduction to 4MA0

January 2012 hosted for the first time, the winter session of the International GCSE
Mathematics A. All previous sessions had taken place in November. The total number of
candidates rose to slightly over 2550, the highest entry for a winter session. Foundation
entries, which had been decreasing, recovered to nearly 450 (from 300 in November 2010).
Candidate entries for the higher tier were just over 2100.

Most of the 480 Foundation tier and 2200 Higher tier candidates took the opportunity the
papers gave them to show what they knew.

Paper 2F

Introduction

The questions on this paper made appropriate demands of candidates and were generally
accessible. Average candidates scored well on the first half of the paper but only abler
candidates gained full marks on some of the later questions, especially Question 18(b) (Ratio)
and Question 23 (Inequalities). Most candidates showed their working clearly and neatly.

Report on individual questions

Question 1

This bar chart question was a straightforward start to the paper. There were few errors on the
first three parts and, although the final part proved more demanding, it was still answered
correctly by the majority of candidates.

Question 2

The number topics tested in parts (a) to (f) appear regularly and most candidates scored well.
The only incorrect answers which appeared often enough to be noticed were in part (c),
where ‘tenths’ and ‘hundreds’, were sometimes given as the value of the 4 in the number
2345. Many candidates found part (g) – converting 1920 millimetres to metres – much more
difficult, 19.2 and 192 being the popular wrong answers.

Question 3

In the first part, the majority scored the marks for ‘isosceles’, or some recognisable variant of
the word, and for drawing the line of symmetry. The second part was much harder but,
nevertheless, many candidates gained full marks, usually for a kite or an isosceles trapezium.
A sizeable minority drew a triangle, instead of a quadrilateral.

International GCSE 4MA0_2F January 2012 3

Question 4

All but a handful of candidates gained full marks in parts (a) and (b), finding the next two
terms in the sequence and explaining the need to subtract 3 from the previous term. Parts (c)
and (d) proved more demanding but were still well answered. In part (c), 5, the 16th term,
was the most popular wrong answer. In part (d), there was a pleasing number of good
explanations, mostly based on the idea that, because 2 is followed by −1, zero cannot be a
term. The next most common explanation used the idea that the terms of the sequence are not
multiples of 3.

Question 5

Most candidates scored well on all three parts of this question on fractions. In part (a), the
30
simplest form of was almost always correct. In part (b), 1 mark was occasionally lost
45
5
through premature approximation, when was initially converted to a decimal or a
6
7
percentage and, in part (c), the minority who were unsuccessful in their attempt to convert
8
to a decimal gave a variety of answers, such as 87.5, 7.8 and 0.78.

Question 6

In general, rotational symmetry is less well understood than line symmetry. The order of
rotational symmetry is part (a)(i) was usually correct but responses to the other three parts
were much more variable.

Question 7

Place value caused problems for many candidates in part (a), ‘tenths’ being the most popular
wrong answer. Most candidates successfully ordered the decimals in part (b), although it was
noticeable that, when the answer was incorrect, 0.1 was almost always either the first number
or the final number in the candidate’s list. Success rates in the remaining three parts were
commendably high, particularly the conversion of 0.07 to a percentage in part (e). The only
error which appeared with any frequency was 2.7 in part (c).

Question 8

The majority of candidates accurately calculated the mean, although there was occasional
confusion between mean and median.

International GCSE 4MA0_2F January 2012 4

Question 9

All three parts were well answered. Errors were especially rare on part (a), although both 77
(32 + 45) and 7 (5 + 2) appeared occasionally. The presence of a negative number and a
decimal in part (b) made it more demanding and there was a range of incorrect answers. The
most regular of these was −2, the result of incorrect evaluation of −12 + 14. Much less
frequent but much more surprising was 5.5 ( −12 + 5 × 3.5) . Part (c) was accessible to the
majority of candidates, who gained the first mark for a correct substitution. A good number
went on to rearrange this correctly and solve the resulting equation to gain full marks.
However, a significant number of candidates made an error with the signs in their attempt at
rearranging, 9 = 3d + 24 often becoming 3d = 24 − 9 . There was also frequent sight of −15 as
a final answer, which was the value of 3d, rather than d. Another recurring wrong answer was
51 (3 × 9 + 4 × 6) , the result of misinterpreting the question.

Question 10

It was pleasing to see many fully correct solutions to part (i), with clear use of correct, stated
units. It was, perhaps, surprising to see how many chose to convert both measurements to
centimetres, rather than work in the units of one of the given measurements. Inevitably, there
was also much confusion over conversion between millimetres and metres; candidates were
at least able to gain one method mark for division based on an incorrect conversion. The
accuracy mark was lost if candidates did not give the integer value for the number of
paperclips. On the whole, candidates found greater difficulty with the concept of part (ii),
although many clear solutions were seen. Common errors were simply using the decimal
remainder from part (i) as the answer or subtracting the number of paperclips from the
original length of the wire.

Question 11

6 . 7 − 2 .5
The majority of candidates evaluated accurately.
2 .8 × 0 .4

Question 12

Many candidates were able to work out an unknown angle in both an equilateral and an
isosceles triangle. This often led to full marks but the final mark was sometimes lost through
candidates’ lack of familiarity with capital letter notation for describing an angle. Other
candidates found either 60° or 51° but not both. Beyond this, attempts were variable and
often based on the false assumption that the diagram had 2 lines of symmetry.

Question 13

Only a minority of candidates gained full marks; not all those who found 1, 7, 7 correctly
then found the range. Some left 1, 7, 7 as their answer while others gave the range as 7 or 1-7.
Of those who did not obtain 1, 7, 7, many scored 1 mark for 0, 7, 8 or for three positive
integers with either a sum of 15 or a median of 7.

International GCSE 4MA0_2F January 2012 5

Question 14

135
A high proportion of candidates started correctly with and many of these went on to use
180
this quotient to find the correct time, although a substantial number gave answers of 0.75 or
75. Some successfully applied more intuitive methods, such as working out that the aeroplane
travelled 3 km each minute and then used this fact. Candidates who gained no credit
180
generally used either or 135× 180 , the former often leading to answers of 80 or 90 and
135
the latter 24 300 or 405.

Question 15

Generally, candidates appreciate the need to show algebraic working and many did this
sufficiently well to gain full marks. A few scored just 1 mark for a first step towards a
solution before errors, usually involving difficulty with the relevant positive and negative
signs, crept in. The award of 2 marks was rare; those who could progress correctly to that
stage were almost always able to give the correct solution, although a small minority did
4
obtain the solution x = from 4x = 7.
7

Question 16

Although the context of dominoes had not been used before, most candidates demonstrated a
sound knowledge of probability, including notation, and applied it successfully on both parts
of this question, especially the first. In the second part, many correctly calculated the sum of
3 2
and , although some found the product of these two fractions and others just stated both
8 8
fractions.

Question 17

There was wide variation in the quality of attempts to draw the graph. Some lines were fully
correct; some were based on plotting just two points but there were others where candidates
had worked out and plotted all the integer coordinate pairs for the given x values. On the
whole, working out and plotting a series of points led to greater success. The scale on the y-
axis caused some problems and a substantial number of candidates were unable to attempt
this question.

International GCSE 4MA0_2F January 2012 6

Question 18

There were many correct answers to the first part of this question on ratio, although some
32
candidates found = 4 and left this as their answer, which gained 1 mark out of 2. Others
8
32
found , which scored no marks.
7
The second part proved far less accessible and was often not attempted. It generated much
arithmetic, in which almost every combination of the given numbers with all four
mathematical operations was seen. The most popular wrong answer was 101.25, the result of
45 72
either × 72 or 45 × , usually performed in two separate steps, and the working
32 32
(72 – 32) + 45 was also sometimes used. A few candidates found a multiplier, either
72 32
(2.25) or , which, on its own, received no credit and it was never used correctly.
32 72
Candidates who scored full marks invariably found the real length of the lorry
( 45 × 32 = 1400 cm) and then divided it by 72.

Question 19

In part (a), as always when candidates are required to describe a single transformation,
combinations of transformations, which receive no credit, appeared regularly, especially
combinations of rotations and translations. A fair number of candidates gained full marks and
many scored 2 marks out of 3, often losing the third by wrongly describing the sense of the
rotation as ‘clockwise’ or by omitting either an angle or information about the centre of
rotation.
Approximately half the candidates translated the triangle correctly in part (b), many of those
who failed to score being unable to make an attempt. Those who made an unsuccessful
attempt were often one square out, either horizontally or vertically.

Question 20

Many candidates were able to make inroads into this question by the use of a factor tree or
repeated division, which were often fully correct. Some of these went on to score the final
mark but others sacrificed it by giving their answer as a product of prime factors
( 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5) , instead of as the product of powers of prime factors ( 2 3 × 5 2 ).

Question 21

The majority of candidates correctly gave c 7 as the answer to the first part, although c12 had
some support.
About a quarter of candidates achieved some success on the second part. They used a variety
of approaches, ranging from the formal construction and solution of equations to more
informal inspection methods. The most frequent error was to ignore the y in the denominator.
Thus, answers of 3 (from n + 3 = 6) and of 2 (from n × 3 = 6) appeared more often than the
correct answer.

International GCSE 4MA0_2F January 2012 7

Question 22

In part (a), working out the area of a triangle using base × height only was probably as
common as using the correct formula and many ignored the fact that there was more than one
triangle in the total area of the rhombus. Consequently, incorrect answers of 96 and 24 were
at least as common as the correct answer. A surprising number instinctively used
Pythagoras’ Theorem to work out the length of AB, going on to use this in a variety of
inventive, but doomed, methods. Adding all the lengths given on the diagram was not an
uncommon approach.
The use of Pythagoras’ Theorem to find the length of a hypotenuse is understood well by
most candidates and many gained full marks. There seemed to be less evidence of candidates
losing a mark for giving their answer to less than 3 significant figures, although this does
continue to occur. There were occasional attempts to use trigonometry but these met with no
success.

Question 23

In part (i), an algebraic solution to the inequality was beyond all but the strongest candidates,
although a minority was confident with the notation and found this question straightforward.
The double ended inequality defeated many, who tried to manipulate it in a variety of ways,
often involving 14 (8 + 6), especially 4 x ≤ 14 , which led to an answer of x < 3.5.
A little more success was achieved in part (ii), where occasionally a fully correct answer was
seen. Some candidates scored 1 mark out of 2 for listing three correct values and omitting
one, usually 0.

International GCSE 4MA0_2F January 2012 8

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