Exam Questions & Where To Find Them
Mocks are looming for Y11 students. The first mocks are only a few weeks away and the exam season starts soon as well. You can find a GCSE countdown below HERE.
It can be a frightening and overwhelming time. However, it does not need to be. You might have some gaps in your knowledge as your GCSE studying started in Y9. Everyone can appreciate that it was a long time ago if you are a Y10 or a Y11 student. However, there is time to close that gap. You can either get help from your school or reach out to a tutor to help you close that gap.
If you are soon to sit your mocks, my biggest advice is to start going over old exam papers.
Here is my advice on how to revise for mocks
1) Download a paper from AQAs own website and download a past paper HERE. (Please see screenshots below of how to download past papers).
2) Sit the paper at home. Answer the questions using your notes and your book to the best of your ability. Don’t worry about how long it will take. Just complete the paper.
3) Mark that paper using the mark scheme. Did you find something particularly difficult? If you came across that question again – would you be able to answer it? If you still do not understand, reach out for help. Try to close the knowledge gaps as much as you can at this stage. Only after you have revised and filled the knowledge gaps, go to the next stage.
4) Download a new past paper. This time, try to answer all questions without your notes. Don’t worry about how long time it takes. Just see if you have improved since the last time you sat the last practice paper.
5) Mark that paper using the mark scheme from the website. Did you have any knowledge gaps? Try to close those gaps.
6) Download another past paper. This time, try to complete the paper within the time frame given (1 hour and 15 min for a combined H or F science paper or 1 hour and 45 min for a separate science paper).
7) Mark your paper and see if there are any gaps in the knowledge and try to close them
8) Try a few others using the last rule and see if you can improve your grade.
Download combined science past papers (instructions for separate science below.)
Those students that study combined science will still sit three paper 1 science papers and three paper 2 science papers (paper 1 and 2 Biology, Paper 1 and 2 Chemistry, and paper 1 and 2 Physics). Each paper is 1 hour and 15 min long. Combined students need to download each paper separately. HERE is how you download one of the papers.
Use the drop-down menu and fill in the options below.
You will now see this:
Here is an example of what you need if you are revising paper 1 combined science higher Chemistry paper.
Download the following from above:
1) Insert
2) Mark scheme higher paper 1
3) Question paper higher paper 1
Download the following if you are revising chemistry foundation paper 1 combined science
1) Insert
2) Mark scheme foundation paper 1
3) Question paper foundation paper 1
4) To get a new paper from a different year - change the "series to 2020" etc.
Separate science past papers
Students that study separate science will still sit three paper 1 science papers and three paper 2 science papers (paper 1 and 2 Biology, Paper 1 and 2 Chemistry, and paper 1 and 2 Physics). Separate science students need to download each paper separately. Each paper is 1 hour and 45min long. HERE is how you download one of the papers.
Use the drop-down menu and fill in the options below.
You will now see this:
Most students that sit in separate science, sit on the higher paper. Here is an example of what you need to download if you are revising paper 1 Chemistry.
Download the following if you are revising a higher paper 1 separate science
1) Insert
2) Mark scheme higher paper 1
3) Question paper higher paper 1
To find more question papers from different years – use the drop-down menu and change “series” to another year
To change the subject use the drop-down menu to change “specification"
If you need help, please don’t hesitate to contact Bump Your Grade