Why past papers work

Past papers are practice tests. Researchers have studied practice testing for a long time, and the findings are clear.

A large review of study techniques rated practice testing and spreading your study over time as the most useful methods. It rated rereading, highlighting and summarising low (Dunlosky et al., 2013). In other words, the things many of us do most are the things that help least.

One well-known experiment compared students who reread a text with students who took a test on it. A few minutes later, the rereaders did better. Days later, the students who had been tested remembered more. The rereaders also felt more confident, even though they kept less (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006). A later review of many studies found the same pattern: practice tests beat restudying (Adesope et al., 2017).

So a past paper is not just a preview of the exam. Trying to answer it is itself a way of learning. The effort of pulling an answer out of your memory is what makes it stay.

Five mistakes that waste past papers

1. Reading the paper instead of answering it. Looking at a question and thinking "I know this" is rereading. Write the answer, or at least the plan of the answer, before you look anything up.

2. Checking the answer too early. If you look at the solution after one minute, you skip the part that does the work. Give each question a real attempt first.

3. Only doing the topics you like. It feels good to score well on a strong topic. Your marks grow fastest on the topics you avoid.

4. Never timing yourself. The GCE is a timed exam. If you only practise without a clock, the real paper will feel rushed.

5. Not looking back at mistakes. A wrong answer is the most useful thing a past paper gives you. If you do not study it, the same mistake comes back in the exam.

A weekly plan for past papers

You do not need to do a full paper every day. A steady plan works better, because spreading practice over time is one of the methods the research rates highly (Dunlosky et al., 2013).

Step 1: Map the paper to the syllabus. Take one subject. Go through a past paper and note which part of the Board's syllabus each question comes from. After two or three papers you will see which topics come up often and how they are asked.

Step 2: Do short timed sets. Two or three times a week, pick a few questions on one topic. Set a timer. Answer them with your notes closed.

Step 3: Mark honestly. Use the marking guidance or a worked solution if you have one. If not, check against your textbook or ask a teacher. Mark yourself the way an examiner would, not the way a friend would.

Step 4: Keep a mistakes page. For every question you got wrong, write three short lines: what the question asked, what you did, and what the right method is. Read this page before your next set. This page will become your best revision notes.

Step 5: Come back to the same topic later. A week later, try a different question on the same topic. If you get it right without notes, move on. If not, it goes back on your list.

Step 6: Sit one full paper under exam conditions each month. As the exam gets closer, do this more often. Use the real time limit. Put your phone away. Afterwards, add every mistake to your mistakes page.

Tips for O-Level and A-Level

For Form 5 students at O-Level, cover many subjects. Rotate them so that no subject goes more than a week without practice. Short sets of a few questions are enough on most days.

For Upper Sixth students at A-Level, the questions are longer and the method matters more. Practise writing full answers, not just final results. In essay subjects, plan your answer in a few lines before you start writing. The plan is often where the marks are won.

For everyone: work with a friend when you can. Test each other on questions from a past paper, then explain your answers out loud. If you can explain it, you know it.

What to do next

KET's GCE Papers page has O-Level and A-Level past papers to download and practise, free with an account: ket.academy/gce-papers. Pick one subject, print or open one paper, and do your first timed set this week. For study tips and updates, follow the KET Foundation channel on WhatsApp.