should i start doing past papers or is it too early

For maths, i've been working on separate pieces of content but should i be doing practise papers now? I had some friends in the year above tell me that i should leave past papers until a later date bc if i do them all now, then there wont be enough for me to do, which is fair. I don't want to get into the habit of seeing a question that i've already seen and thinking that i know how to do it when in reality i just remember the answer

Reply 1

Alm_xo

15

Original post by cherrycosmos

For maths, i've been working on separate pieces of content but should i be doing practise papers now? I had some friends in the year above tell me that i should leave past papers until a later date bc if i do them all now, then there wont be enough for me to do, which is fair. I don't want to get into the habit of seeing a question that i've already seen and thinking that i know how to do it when in reality i just remember the answer

I suppose that you might be preparing for your GCSEs and only less than 100 days left until the exams. However, if you are aiming for better grades, it's never too late to start practising. Also, keep in mind that exam boards tend to remove past papers from their websites as the exam dates approach. Therefore, I highly recommend that you focus on doing practice papers to improve your chances of success.

Reply 2

mqb2766

21

Original post by cherrycosmos

For maths, i've been working on separate pieces of content but should i be doing practise papers now? I had some friends in the year above tell me that i should leave past papers until a later date bc if i do them all now, then there wont be enough for me to do, which is fair. I don't want to get into the habit of seeing a question that i've already seen and thinking that i know how to do it when in reality i just remember the answer

I think its a level - edexcel? If so, you could do a full set of papers for each subject/year each week and youd get through about 5 years worth of past papers before your exams and the present set of maths papers goes back to ~2017 + a sample set. If you want to have a higher rate, then maybe do some aqa ones (as theyre not that different). Doing some "early" enables you to focus on your weak areas for a few days (videos, topic questions, ...) and you could do a short reflection "top tips" after each paper/year so its easy to review that near the exam.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 3

cherrycosmos

OP

17

Original post by Alm_xo

I suppose that you might be preparing for your GCSEs and only less than 100 days left until the exams. However, if you are aiming for better grades, it's never too late to start practising. Also, keep in mind that exam boards tend to remove past papers from their websites as the exam dates approach. Therefore, I highly recommend that you focus on doing practice papers to improve your chances of success.

nah i'm doing alevels lol. i've heard people say do past papers during easter but idk if they're just trying to create my downfall. I've done two pure and 1 stats+ mechanics just to see where my weak spots are and work on them but should i really be focusing on them now fully

Reply 4

Alm_xo

15

Original post by cherrycosmos

nah i'm doing alevels lol. i've heard people say do past papers during easter but idk if they're just trying to create my downfall. I've done two pure and 1 stats+ mechanics just to see where my weak spots are and work on them but should i really be focusing on them now fully

a levels are really hard tbf , i would do all the past papers possible if I could.
you could do topic past questions like you said your weak spots ...

I think if you feel ready now and like you want to try a past paper- go for it! Getting into the habit of being timed and doing the questions under pressure will help you out for the real thing. Also, if you're worried about remembering the answers when you use the past papers closer to the real date, you can always ask a parent/carer or teacher to substitute some new numbers in to the questions of the past paper, that way you'll be working out new questions.

Reply 6

radicaledward

10

Start now, if you run out, use other exam boards (especially for maths). I'm doing Edexcel but I decided to do an OCR paper and they were the same types of questions. The only difference might be the mark scheme, how forgiving they are with marks, etc. the specs are very very similar. If you want to see the differences go to TLmaths' website and find his google spreadsheet. You can select what exam board you are taking. I did this and the total number of videos decreased by like 10 (out of about 1000) so there really isn't much change.

Also, you can just redo exam papers you have already done, it helps with time management, exam technique and helps identify your weak points, if you redo them a week or two after you originally did them, you probably would've forgotten the questions by then.

Good luck and start asap!!!
Also one of the best resources I've ever used is TLmaths - watch his videos!