OCR GCSE Physics equation sheet 2027: What you get and what you must memorise

If you're sitting OCR GCSE Physics in 2027, the good news is you don't have to memorise every equation on the spec. OCR hands you a supplementary equation sheet with every physics paper, and on 5 May 2026 Ofqual confirmed that'll keep being the case for the lifetime of the current GCSE Maths, Physics and Combined Science specs. You walk in, they give you an insert, and every equation you need is printed on it. Our complete GCSE formula sheets guide covers what each board gives you.

There's a wrinkle though. OCR runs two GCSE Physics specs, not one: Gateway Science A (J249) and Twenty First Century (J259). They cover the same physics but the equation lists aren't identical, and the spec splits them into 'recall' and 'select and apply' columns. Twenty First Century breaks a few things out as separate entries where Gateway folds them in. If a teacher tells you about 'the OCR physics sheet' as if it's one document, that's a shortcut.

One more thing to flag before we get into the tables. Both specs still describe which equations students must 'recall' and which they 'select and apply'. The Ofqual provision overrides that on exam day (both lists end up on the sheet), but the spec text itself hasn't been rewritten, so the old framing still turns up in textbooks and past-paper mark schemes.

Under the current Ofqual provision, OCR issues a supplementary equation sheet with every GCSE Physics paper, including the combined-science physics papers. It's a separate insert handed to you with the question paper at the start of the exam. You can write on it, you can keep it next to you throughout, and every candidate gets their own fresh copy.

The sheet lists the equations from the OCR content tables, so you don't need to pull them out of memory. Ofqual's May 2026 decision confirmed the provision continues for the lifetime of the current OCR specs.

For the actual 2027 PDF, go to OCR's assessment-resources page for your spec (J249 or J259) and download the version labelled for your exam year. Don't revise off last year's by accident.

OCR Gateway lists its physics equations in section 5d of the specification. It splits them into 'recall and apply' and 'select and apply', with the Higher-tier-only ones flagged. Under the current provision, every item in both lists appears on the sheet you sit with. Cross-check against OCR's Gateway assessment-resources page for the current year's version before your exam.

Gateway's equation reference codes all start with PM. Don't mix them up with the Twenty First Century codes, which are P-numbers. They're spec-specific.

OCR Twenty First Century lists its equations under section 5h, with its own numbering (P1.3.6, P4.2.1 and so on). The content is physics-equivalent to Gateway, but the list is structured a bit differently. Twenty First Century breaks a couple of relationships out as separate entries where Gateway rolls them in.

Two visible differences. Twenty First Century lists V = W/Q (potential difference as energy per charge) and P = E/t as explicit recall items, where Gateway tucks the equivalents inside E = QV and P = W/t. Twenty First Century also lists change in momentum as Δp = Ft (impulse) in the select-and-apply column, where Gateway handles that via the generic p = mv on Higher tier.

The sheet gives you the formula. It doesn't do the physics for you. A few things OCR still expects you to bring from your own revision, and losing marks on these is one of the easier things to avoid once you know they're coming.

Units are the big one. Mass in kilograms, distance in metres, time in seconds, temperature change in degrees Celsius or kelvin. Leave numbers in grams or centimetres and your answer will be out by a factor of 1,000 or 100, and the mark scheme will punish it. Unit conversions are assumed knowledge, not something the sheet reminds you of.

Rearranging is next. The sheet gives V = IR, but the question might want R, so write R = V/I before you substitute. The sheet gives v² − u² = 2as, and a question that wants u will need you to rearrange carefully and take the square root at the end. Doing this on paper is more reliable than doing it in your head, especially when nerves are involved.

A few relationships live elsewhere in the spec and aren't printed on the sheet. T = 1/f (period from frequency) is embedded in the wave content. Distance equals the area under a velocity-time graph is treated as a method, not a formula, so it won't show up. Half-life for radioactive decay is dealt with verbally and in graphs rather than as a 'given' equation. Build these into your revision alongside the sheet, not after it.

If a teacher's told you about 'the OCR physics sheet' as if it's one document, that's a shortcut. The two OCR GCSE Physics specs publish separate sheets with different section labels. The physics itself is close to identical, but a handful of structural choices make the lists feel different in practice.

GCSE physics content is close to standardised across boards, but the sheets differ in small ways that matter if you've got notes from somewhere else. AQA (specification 8463) also puts its equations on one sheet, and labels the Higher-only ones in the same format OCR does. Edexcel's sheet mirrors AQA's structure fairly closely.

If you're switching schools, or you've been handed resources that mention another board, two practical things. Don't practise with another board's sheet in front of you; the ordering and wording differ, and getting familiar with your own board's layout saves time on exam day. And Combined Science students on any board get a shorter list than triple-science students, so a resource flagged as 'OCR Physics' might include equations you'll never see.

Having the equations in front of you isn't the same as being quick with them. Students who only open the sheet when they're stuck lose time that students who use it from question one don't.

Print OCR's current PDF for your spec and physically slot it next to every past paper you sit at home. Looking across to the sheet, then back to the question, is a habit worth building before exam day rather than on it. Highlight the three or four equations your target topics lean on most heavily (forces and electricity for Gateway Paper 1, waves and energy for Paper 2) so you can find them in a second.

Always write the equation out before substituting. Even with the sheet in front of you, examiners give a method mark for the correct equation set up in the correct form. Students who skip straight from the question to the arithmetic sometimes drop that mark on arithmetic they later get wrong, when they could have banked it on the equation step.

Rearrange explicitly, in writing. The sheet gives you one form of each equation, and the question usually wants a different subject. Writing out R = V/I or h = GPE/(mg) on paper before the numbers go in is slower than doing it in your head, but it's much more reliable under exam pressure.

Memorise the short ones anyway. F = ma, V = IR, W = mg, Q = It, v = fλ, p = mv. Six of the most common. The sheet is there as a backup for the longer or more awkward equations; fluency on the short ones saves seconds per question across a full paper. Our grade-9 GCSE Physics guide covers equation fluency and the exam-technique patterns that go with it.

If your revision runs on structured lessons rather than reading the spec cover to cover, Cognito's OCR Gateway Physics course and OCR Twenty First Century Physics course walk through every equation on your sheet with worked examples. For each one you get a short video explaining what the equation describes physically, a sample question that uses it, and a quiz block to check you can rearrange it in both directions.

The combined-science version is covered under the same course area, with the separate-science-only equations clearly flagged so you don't waste time on content that isn't on your paper. If you're starting equation revision from scratch two months out, the course-by-topic structure is the fastest way to get fluent, and you can slot your actual exam sheet alongside it as you work through.