Are Past papers still helpful?

I am studying Biology, chemistry, maths and french, and i'm wondering whether past papers are going to do any good for the sciences because the whole structure of the exam and the spec have changed. Also when is the best time to start revising properly?

I am studying Biology, chemistry, maths and french, and i'm wondering whether past papers are going to do any good for the sciences because the whole structure of the exam and the spec have changed. Also when is the best time to start revising properly?

Past papers are the revision tool in my opinion. At GCSE I made very few revision notes and just did loads of PPQs, ended up with 2 As in Bio and Chem. You can learn the material really well and still get a low mark if you have no idea of how to apply your knowledge to unknown situations. I say do as many as you can for the sciences and maths. Especially if you're doing AQA or OCR.

There's no real set time to start revising, I personally found it easier at As to start serious revision at around easter, making notes and mindmaps throughout the bulk of the year w.questions alongside to learn the material slowly and effectively. Then I did PPQs and stuck up my mindmaps on every corner of my room at easter. Worked a treat. It is possible to burn yourself out if you start too early. But it's what works for you.

Past papers are still extremely important; they haven't reinvented physics. However, whilst doing them, you need to remember that the exam you will have to take could have some questions with a very different style, and the past papers will not cover 100% of the new specification.

Definitely still do the past papers because a lot of the stuff is still relevant, just leave out questions that you know aren't on the spec anymore. They are likely to release specimen papers which will include questions from the new spec, otherwise I would recommend doing as many questions from the textbook in all their practice sections as you can.