Past papers are a fantastic tool to use when revising for exams. Students who prepare with them well can drastically improve their grades. Follow the steps below to find the best ways to use past papers, no matter what subject you’re studying.
Find the Correct Papers
The first step to making use of past papers is knowing the right ones to look for. This seems obvious, but it’s harder than it sounds.
- Make sure you know the exact name of your exam board, and don’t get confused by similar ones such as Eduqas and WJEC Eduqas.
- Be careful of slight variations in the course options available, for example some have a higher and foundation level, and languages often have a first- and second-language version.
- You also need to check which papers you’re actually taking. Many courses have optional papers that can be swapped for a piece of coursework if your school chooses, and subjects like History have a range of modules that can be selected.
- Finally, pay attention to the year of examination. Exam boards update their specifications every few years, and they announce these far in advance. When they release a new specification, they usually also put out a sample paper, and you should check how similar this is to the past papers that follow the old specification.
Once you know exactly what papers to look for, check your exam board’s website for past papers. Some only post a few papers publicly, so you should also search online for sites that collect past papers from all exam boards.
Look for Related Content
The best way to use past papers is with support tools that will help you understand how to get top marks on them.
- You should always refer to the paper’s mark scheme, which you can usually find with the paper, as you can see here on the Eduqas site.
- Many revision websites provide model answers (especially essays) for questions from past papers. Search online for a question you’re looking at to see if you can find a model answer like this one from Save My Exams.
- As mentioned above, when exam boards change the specification, they often release a sample paper. Alongside this, they usually create an exemplar answer document, which helpfully provides plenty of commentary from the exam board on what answers earn good marks and why, as Edexcel provides in this document. To find these, search ‘exemplar’ + the name of your exam and board.
- Many exam boards also provide exemplars for actual past papers, too, using answers from real students. Reading several answers to the same question in a row and trying to estimate their mark before you look at the examiner’s response is an excellent way of understanding how to get good marks. You can see an Edexcel past paper answer document here.
Use Past Papers at the Right Time
There are limited numbers of past papers for every exam, so you shouldn’t look through all of them as soon as possible. It’s best to be strategic to get the best use out of them.
- Look through one or two past papers early in your course. Use these to understand what sort of questions you’ll be asked and how to answer them well.
- Closer to the end of your course, search for the exemplar//model answers mentioned previously. When you know which papers you can find these for, do the papers yourself first, then compare your answers against the samples you’ve found.
- When you’re doing revision, make sure there are a couple of past papers you haven’t seen previously, and do these under timed conditions. If your exam board doesn’t share enough past papers for this to be possible, or a change in specification makes it difficult, try looking online for mock papers made by teachers or look at a reputable revision guide company such as CGP, who make books like this.
Many students also find it helpful to go through past papers with a tutor, who can point out the tricky parts where students often lose marks and highlight simple tips to improve grades. If you’d like exam paper help like this, contact us to arrange revision sessions tailored to your exams.