Why use Past Exam Papers as basis
for revision
What was the last
thing you had to
learn? How did
you do it?
Reading through notes or revision guides is NOT effective
revision.
It is not until you try to DO the questions that you realise what
you have and haven’t understood.
Value of using Past Exam Papers as
basis for revision
Practise
• Recognising the ‘topic’ being tested
• Looking at the number of marks allocated and using this to
know what depth of answer is needed / how many steps in
the calculation example
• What sort of answer is expected
• Understanding KEY words e.g. discuss, compare and
contrast, solve, simplify, evaluate, calculate… example
• Generating similar questions of your own
For more detail use the Examiners Mark Scheme
Abbreviations example
Use Past Exam Papers as basis for
revision at home
• Do what you can with out looking things up
• Mark / hand in if appropriate
• Stick with the same paper and have a go at what you
couldn’t do, or got wrong.
• Look things up using
Exercise book
Text book
Internet
Ask a friend
Ask the teacher
• Mark it again
• Later come back to the same paper – can you now do
those questions you had to get help with?
notes
Mymaths
Starting
point
Past
exam
paper
Mark it
Revision
guides
internet
Using Past Exam Papers
Molly Piggott
Cameron Bourne
Why past papers?
• More interesting than a textbook
• Get used to how the exams are set out
and the best way to answer them
• Can measure your improvement easily
• Can identify what you need to work on
easily
Top tips on using past papers
• Mark them
– The papers are no use unless you know how
you’re doing on them
• Try doing them in the time set for the exam
– Make it like an exam by turning off the TV and
music
• If you’ve not done a paper successfully,
don’t panic! Do some more revision and
try it again
• If you find a question you don’t
understand, ask a teacher for help.
• Don’t cheat!