CSCA Physics Syllabus 2026 — Every Topic That Can Appear

Who Needs CSCA Physics?

Physics is required for engineering, computer science, physical sciences and most technical programmes, and many medical programmes ask for it alongside Chemistry. It is not required for business, economics or most liberal arts degrees — check your target programme's admission brochure before committing months to it.

This guide lists every topic that can appear, how the marks are distributed across the four modules, and where students reliably lose points.

Paper Format

• 48 questions in 60 minutes — about 75 seconds per question.
• Marked out of 100, reported separately from your other subjects.
• Available in both Chinese and English.
• No calculator. Expect numbers chosen to work out cleanly by hand — if an answer is coming out ugly, check the working.

Module 1 — Mechanics (30–35%)

The largest block on the paper, and the foundation for much of the rest.

• Kinematics in one and two dimensions
• Projectile motion
• Newton's three laws
• Friction and normal forces, including inclines
• Work, energy and the work-energy theorem
• Conservation of energy
• Momentum, impulse and collisions
• Circular motion
• Gravitation and orbital problems

Newton's second law, projectile motion, energy conservation and momentum are the reliable earners; orbit problems appear in almost every paper. See the Mechanics module.

Module 2 — Thermodynamics (12–15%)

Roughly 6 to 8 questions. Almost all of them are energy bookkeeping.

• Temperature scales and the three modes of heat transfer
• Thermal expansion, including bimetallic strips and expansion gaps
• Calorimetry, specific heat capacity and the method of mixtures
• The ideal gas law and the three simple gas laws
• The First Law of Thermodynamics and the four standard processes
• The Second Law and entropy
• Heat engines, refrigerators, efficiency and the Carnot limit
• PV diagrams and work as area under the curve
• Phase changes and latent heat
• Kinetic theory and root-mean-square speed

Two habits carry this module: convert every temperature to Kelvin before you start, and identify which quantity the process makes zero. The Thermodynamics module works through each process type.

Module 3 — Electromagnetism (25–30%)

The second-largest block, and the one with the most calculation-heavy questions.

• Electric charge and Coulomb's law
• Electric fields and electric potential
• Capacitors and stored energy
• DC circuits, Ohm's law and internal resistance
• Kirchhoff's rules
• Magnetic fields and the force on charges and currents
• Ampere's law and field sources
• Electromagnetic induction and Faraday's law
• Lenz's law and its applications
• AC circuits and transformers

Circuit questions almost always involve internal resistance, so terminal voltage is emf minus I times r, not simply the emf. Resistors and capacitors combine in mirror-image ways — learn the pair together. See the Electromagnetism module.

Module 4 — Optics, Waves and Modern Physics (15–20%)

Roughly half geometrical optics, half wave and quantum physics.

• Reflection and mirrors
• Refraction, Snell's law and total internal reflection
• Lenses and image formation
• Interference and the double-slit experiment
• Diffraction
• Wave properties of light
• Standing waves and resonance
• The photoelectric effect
• Atomic spectra and energy levels
• Nuclear physics basics: decay types, half-life, mass-energy

The sign convention decides half the geometrical optics marks, so write it down before substituting. See the Optics, Waves and Modern Physics module.

How the Marks Are Spread

Module	Share of the paper
Mechanics	30–35%
Electromagnetism	25–30%
Thermodynamics	12–15%
Optics, Waves and Modern Physics	15–20%

These are estimates from the pattern of past papers rather than a published breakdown, and the ranges deliberately overlap. Use them to prioritise, not to predict.

Where Marks Are Actually Lost

• Unit conversion. Millimetres left in a formula expecting metres, Celsius left in a formula expecting Kelvin, litres left in a formula expecting cubic metres. Convert everything in one pass at the start.
• Sign conventions. Work done by a gas versus on a gas; a diverging lens with a negative focal length; the direction of an induced current.
• Skipping the diagram. A free-body diagram, a circuit sketch or a ray diagram takes seconds and prevents the errors that cost minutes.
• Not sanity-checking. Is the efficiency below the Carnot limit? Is the final temperature between the two starting temperatures? Is the image real or virtual? These checks catch most arithmetic slips.

How to Prepare

Start with Mechanics — it is the biggest block and the concepts recur throughout Thermodynamics and Electromagnetism. Then take Electromagnetism, then Thermodynamics, then Optics and Modern Physics.

All four modules are free on CSCA.HELP, each with worked examples, formula sheets and common-mistake warnings, and you can sit a full-length timed practice exam when you want to know where you really stand.