If you're on OCR Twenty First Century Physics B (spec code J259), there are 8 compulsory practicals you need to know. OCR calls them PAGs, short for Practical Activity Groups, rather than required practicals. Each PAG is a group of techniques, and your school picks one specific activity (or writes its own) that covers the apparatus and skills listed.
This guide walks through all 8 OCR B Physics PAGs in the order the spec lists them, explains how they get examined across the Breadth and Depth papers, and shows where OCR B diverges from OCR Gateway Physics A (J249).
A quick note on labels, because every board picks a different one. OCR says PAGs. AQA says required practicals. Edexcel says core practicals. Same idea, different word. This article is OCR Twenty First Century (OCR B) only. If you're on AQA, our AQA required practicals guide covers all 10 of theirs.
This article was last checked against the OCR Twenty First Century Physics B (J259) specification on 14 October 2026. OCR tweaks its specification wording from time to time, so cross-check the official spec PDF before relying on specific detail.
OCR has TWO Physics specs: Gateway A (J249) and Twenty First Century B (J259). Both separate specs have the same 8 PAGs; J259 labels them PAG1-PAG8, Gateway J249 labels them PAG P1-PAG P8. Gateway splits content by paper; Twenty First Century uses the Breadth and Depth paper model. Check your spec code before you start revising.
All 8 OCR B Physics PAGs
The OCR specification says you have to complete at least eight practical activities, split into eight Practical Activity Groups based on the Department for Education's GCSE subject content for Biology, chemistry and physics. OCR B labels its PAGs PAG1 to PAG8. Gateway separate Physics (J249) uses the same groups but calls them PAG P1 to PAG P8, so the letter prefix isn't a Combined Science thing.
At Higher tier you sit J259/03 (Breadth) and J259/04 (Depth). Each is 1 hour 45 minutes, 90 marks, 50% of the qualification.
| PAG | Title | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Materials | Densities of regular and irregular solids and of liquids |
| 2 | Forces | Effect of forces on springs; extension and limit of proportionality |
| 3 | Motion | Acceleration of a trolley down a ramp; speed and acceleration measurement using light gates or ticker tape |
| 4 | Measuring waves | Speed, frequency and wavelength of waves in a ripple tank and in a solid or stretched spring |
| 5 | Energy | Specific heat capacity of a metal block; energy transfer measurement using a joulemeter or electrical input |
| 6 | Circuit components | I-V characteristics of a filament lamp, diode and ohmic resistor at constant temperature |
| 7 | Series and parallel circuits | Brightness and current in bulbs in series vs parallel; investigating total resistance |
| 8 | Interactions of waves | Reflection off a plane mirror; refraction through a rectangular prism or glass block; electromagnetic waves with matter |
Because each PAG is a group of techniques rather than one fixed experiment, two schools can teach PAG 3 using different kit (one with light gates, one with ticker tape and timers) and both are valid. OCR publishes example activities, but centres can swap them out.
How practical skills are assessed
There's no separate practical exam for OCR B Physics. Practical skills are examined through written questions on both the Breadth and Depth papers, and your school signs a Practical Science Statement confirming you've done the PAGs. The OCR specification states: "No less than 15% of the questions will assess practical skills."
AO1 (demonstrate knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (apply knowledge and understanding) are each worth 40% of the overall grade; AO3 (analyse information and ideas; interpret and evaluate; develop and improve experimental procedures) is worth 20%.
Physics carries the highest maths floor of the three sciences, set by Ofqual at 30% for Level 2 Physics. In practice, about 30% of marks across the papers have to involve calculation, formula rearrangement or data analysis. Several PAGs lean straight into that. PAG 3 Motion wants equations of motion and gradients off distance-time and velocity-time graphs. PAG 5 Energy wants specific heat capacity and E = mc*ΔT. PAG 6 Circuit components wants V = IR and gradient interpretation. An equations booklet is provided in every OCR B Physics paper, so you don't have to memorise every formula, but you do have to be fluent at rearranging and applying them.
OCR B also runs a chapter called P7 Ideas about Science on separate J259. It isn't a PAG, but it covers scientific method, data interpretation and ethics, usually framed around real-world contexts. A lot of the Depth-paper extended-response questions sit at the overlap between a PAG and P7.
The practical-skills chapter on OCR B separate Physics is Chapter P8.
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Gateway vs 21st Century
OCR Twenty First Century Physics B and OCR Gateway Physics A share the same 8 PAG groupings with closely parallel titles, but they label them differently in the spec PDFs. The two routes also split on paper structure and on how chapters are framed.
On labelling, OCR B calls the PAGs PAG1 to PAG8; Gateway J249 calls the same 8 groups PAG P1 to PAG P8. A resource tagged to a J249 PAG will generally apply to the same J259 PAG. The Gateway Combined spec J250 merges some PAGs into fewer groupings (P1-P6), but that's the Combined spec, not the separate J249 route.
On paper structure, Gateway separate Physics splits content between papers using topic chapter labels. OCR B uses Breadth and Depth: both papers cover all chapters, and the difference is question style. Breadth is multi-topic shorter questions; Depth is deeper application and extended-response synoptic reasoning. If you're on OCR B, don't walk into the exam expecting Paper 1 to only cover topics X to Y.
On chapter names, OCR B uses narrative-led titles: P1 Radiation and waves, P2 Sustainable energy, P3 Electric circuits, P4 Explaining motion, P5 Radioactive materials, P6 Matter, models and explanations, P7 Ideas about Science, P8 Practical skills. Gateway uses more conventional labels. Swapping chapter labels between the two courses is a common revision slip.
OCR B labels its PAGs PAG1 to PAG8; separate Gateway Physics A (J249) labels the same 8 groups PAG P1 to PAG P8 with the same titles, and OCR publishes the same example activities for both. The chapter titles and paper models differ, so don't assume a resource for one works unchanged for the other.
Study tips for the 8 PAGs
Reading the method isn't enough. PAGs test whether you can think like a scientist, not whether you can recite a recipe.
For each PAG, pick the activity your class actually ran and write the method out from memory. Then check it against your notes or a Cognito video. The steps you forgot are the steps that would have cost you marks in the exam. Pay attention to the small details OCR likes to probe: measuring at eye level to avoid parallax, taking repeat readings and calculating a mean, knowing the difference between light gates and ticker tape in PAG 3 and the specific advantage of each (light gates reduce reaction-time error; ticker tape gives a continuous record), measuring springs beyond the limit of proportionality in PAG 2 and spotting where Hooke's law breaks down.
For each PAG, prepare answers for the four question types that keep showing up: method, variables, explanation of results, and evaluation and improvement. You want a specific improvement with a specific reason, not "repeat it".
Sketch the graphs you'd expect for the quantitative PAGs. For PAG 2 Forces, a force-extension graph that's linear through the origin until the limit of proportionality, then curves. For PAG 3 Motion, a velocity-time graph where the gradient is acceleration. For PAG 5 Energy, a temperature-time graph where you can get specific heat capacity from the gradient. For PAG 6 Circuit components, the characteristic I-V shapes for an ohmic resistor (straight line through origin), a filament lamp (S-shape) and a diode (zero in reverse, sharp rise once you clear a threshold forward voltage).
For the Depth paper, practise linking a PAG to P7 Ideas about Science reasoning. A question on PAG 5 (specific heat capacity) can swerve into evaluating a claim about energy efficiency. A question on PAG 1 (density) might ask you to decide which of two materials is more suitable for a given purpose when there's uncertainty in the data.
Finally, work through past paper questions grouped by PAG. OCR recycles wording and graph shapes year on year, and the mark schemes are the clearest guide to the exact phrases they're after. Our guide to the hardest GCSE Physics topics ranks the topics by difficulty if you want to decide where to put your time.
On calculation questions, write the formula first, then substitute values, then rearrange and compute, then state the unit. Drop any of those four steps and you'll lose method marks even if the final number is right.
How Cognito helps
Our OCR Twenty First Century Physics course covers all 8 PAGs through short video lessons, worked examples and exam-style questions. Each PAG has its own lesson walking through the technique, apparatus, variables and exam language. Jump into the OCR B Physics course and track your progress through the whole spec. For the wider shape of the qualification, our complete guide to OCR Twenty First Century GCSE Physics covers Breadth and Depth paper structure, chapter list and timing in one place.
