A guide for students · From the spring before the exams
How to use past papers well
Past papers are most useful sat as the real thing, timed and with notes closed, then marked with the board’s mark scheme and followed up topic by topic. The mark matters less than the list of questions where marks were lost, because that list is what the next weeks of revision should be built on.
When should you start doing past papers?
Once most of a course has been taught, which for many students is some time in the winter or spring before the exams. Before that, single questions from past papers on the topics you have covered are the better use of them, so the full papers are still unseen when you are ready to sit them as a practice exam.
Every board’s papers and mark schemes are linked here by course. Keep the most recent ones back for the last few weeks, because they are the closest to what you will sit.
How to sit a past paper
Sit it in one go, in the time the real paper allows, with your phone in another room and nothing to look things up in. It is uncomfortable, and that is the point: running out of time, blanking on a question and deciding what to skip are all things you would rather meet at home than in the exam hall.
If a whole paper is too much at first, do one section under timed conditions. The habit of working to the clock is the thing you are building, and it transfers.
Marking it properly
Mark it with the board’s own mark scheme and be strict: the scheme lists the points and the working that earn marks, and an answer that knew the content but missed those points loses the marks in the real exam too. Most boards also publish an examiner’s report for each paper, which says where students commonly lost marks, and it is worth reading beside your own script.
The total can be turned into a grade on the board’s real grade boundaries with the grade calculator, which also shows how much the grade would have changed from one year’s boundaries to another.
What to do with the marks you lost
Sort each lost mark into one of three kinds: content you did not know, a question you knew but answered in a way the mark scheme did not reward, and marks lost to time or careless slips. The first needs relearning and testing, the second needs practice at that question type with the mark scheme beside you, and the third needs more timed practice.
Then come back to those topics over the following weeks rather than only the next day. Testing yourself on what you got wrong, spaced out, is what turns a past paper into better marks in the next one.
Where to check
Checked against these on . The rules change from year to year, so the pages above are the ones to trust if anything here disagrees with them.
Common questions
How many past papers should I do?
Enough to have sat several under timed conditions for each paper you will take, and to have followed up the marks you lost on each. Doing fewer papers properly does more than racing through many without marking them.
Where can I find past papers and mark schemes?
On each exam board’s website. cookie links every board’s papers and mark schemes by course, so you can find the ones for your subject and board in one place.
Are old specification papers still useful?
Often, for the topics that have not changed, but check the current specification, since some topics are added or removed when a course is reformed.
What is an examiner’s report?
A report the exam board publishes after each series on how students answered each question, with the common mistakes. It is one of the most useful documents for understanding what a mark scheme wants.