How to Revise with Past Papers for IGCSE, GCSE, O Level and A Level

By Next Gen Remote Learning editorial team · 2026-10-26 · For: Secondary-school students and their parents

Past papers are one of the most useful revision tools available, but only if you use them actively. Simply reading old questions, or doing paper after paper without checking your answers, wastes much of their value. This guide sets out a method you can use with any exam board.

Why practice questions work

Answering questions from memory is a form of retrieval practice: you strengthen learning by recalling it, rather than by rereading it. Research in cognitive psychology has repeatedly found that practice testing improves long-term retention compared with restudying the same material. Past papers add a second benefit: they show you how your exam asks questions and what the examiners reward.

Step 1: Get the right papers and mark schemes

Use papers for your exact qualification and syllabus code, for example Cambridge IGCSE, Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, or a specific GCSE or A Level specification. Syllabuses change, so check the syllabus year and use recent papers first. Exam boards publish sample and past assessment materials on their websites, and your school may have access to more.

Always get the mark scheme for each paper. Where they exist, examiner reports are also very useful: they describe common mistakes candidates made.

Step 2: Start with topic questions, then full papers

While you are still learning the content, answer individual questions on topics you have just studied.
As the exam gets closer, do full papers under timed conditions, without notes, in one sitting.
Save the most recent papers for the final weeks, so you can use them as a realistic rehearsal.

Step 3: Mark your work honestly with the mark scheme

Mark strictly, as an examiner would. Mark schemes reward specific points, key words, method and units. If your answer is "nearly right" but misses the point the scheme asks for, it doesn't get the mark. Learning exactly what earns marks is part of the skill.

Step 4: Keep a mistakes log

For every lost mark, write down the topic, what went wrong and the correct approach. Sort mistakes into types:

Knowledge gap: you didn't know the content. Go back and relearn it.
Misread question: you answered a different question. Practise underlining command words such as "explain", "describe" and "evaluate".
Exam technique: right idea, but missing the key words, working or units the mark scheme needed.
Careless error: arithmetic slips or copying mistakes. Build in time to check.

Your mistakes log becomes your revision plan: the topics that appear most often are where extra practice pays off most.

Step 5: Redo questions later

Return to questions you got wrong a few days or weeks later, without looking at your previous answer. Spacing practice out over time, rather than cramming, is another technique with strong research support. If you can now answer the question correctly, the gap has closed.

A simple weekly routine

Two or three short sessions of topic questions on what you studied that week.
One timed section or full paper, once you have covered enough of the course.
Fifteen minutes reviewing your mistakes log and redoing earlier wrong answers.

Adjust the routine to your exam dates and workload. If the same mistakes keep coming back, that is a good moment to ask a teacher or tutor to explain the topic in a different way.