Past papers are not a library to browse. They are a gym. You go there to do reps under load: time pressure, unfamiliar wording, and strict marking. Treated this way, they turn vague confidence into exam skill.
Set the constraints
Choose a section. Set a timer. Clear the desk. Use the same calculator and stationery you’ll use on the day. If the exam gives 35 minutes, give yourself 33. You are training, not sightseeing.
Sit, then mark hard
Work straight through. Leave blanks and move on. When the timer ends, stop. Now mark with the official scheme. If your working doesn’t earn the mark points, don’t award them. This hurts and that’s the point.
Build a mistake log
For every miss, record three things: the trigger (what the question looked like), the miss (what you did), and the fix (what you should recognise and do next time). Keep it short—one line each.
Turn mistakes into drills
Once you have ten items in the log, build a 20‑minute drill: five quick questions you can generate by changing numbers or contexts from the originals. Redo variants within a week. If a mistake repeats, your drill is too easy—raise the load.
Cycle the papers
Rotate across years. Do not mine a single paper for comfort. After two weeks, re‑sit the same section cold. Aim for speed first, then polish. Keep marks in a simple table so progress is obvious.
Pacing by question type
Multiple choice measures recognition and traps. Short answer measures precision. Extended response measures structure under time. Train each pace: rapid scan for MCQ, line‑by‑line marking for short answer, skeleton plan first for extended response.
The scoreboard
Create a one‑page table: date, paper section, raw mark, scaled mark, top three mistakes. Add a brief plan for the next drill. This turns practice into feedback instead of vibes.
Build endurance and accuracy
Endurance comes from volume with integrity. Do three short, timed sets rather than one marathon. Accuracy comes from tight feedback loops. After each set, mark immediately, log errors, and do a two‑minute micro‑drill on the worst miss. This prevents fossilising bad habits.
Paper selection without running out
Alternate between official past papers and high‑quality school sets. Save the most recent official paper for the final month. Mix topics to avoid overfitting to a single year’s quirks.
When to stop
Stop a session when accuracy drops below eighty percent and errors look careless. Fatigue is now training the wrong thing. Rest, then return with a shorter, harder drill.
Two‑week cycle template
- Week 1: two short, timed sets and one full section. Log and drill.
- Week 2: one short set, one mixed‑topic set, and a repeat of last fortnight’s section.
- Repeat. Every fourth week, sit a full paper under exam timing.
Common traps to avoid
- Endless note‑making after marking. Mark, log, drill—then stop.
- Repeating the same paper until it feels friendly. Rotate topics aggressively.
- Loose timing. Train with a visible countdown; finish the line you’re on and move.
- Marking your own writing too kindly. Read the scheme out loud and compare line by line.
Time it, mark it, log it, drill it, repeat. That’s the whole method. Boring to read, powerful to do. If you run it for six weeks, you will walk into the exam knowing exactly what to do with the first page.
