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New A Level maths - old spec pure questions converted to new spec

(Please let me know if this is useful and I'll keep making more).

If you're revising new spec A Level pure maths then you may have noticed that the new spec papers are quite different to old spec papers. Because of this the old spec papers aren't great as a revision resource even though the content is very similar. If you have run out of new spec pure resources (I know some students who have) then you may be looking to old spec for more revision practice.

One of the main differences is that most old spec questions are structured whereas new spec questions often tend not to be. To practice these unstructured questions I have attempted to change old spec Edexcel questions into new spec questions by removing parts of the question (you can use these for any exam board). You could try doing this yourself but it may be tricky and you'll have to look at previous parts as you do it which ruins the idea! So hopefully this thread will be useful.

I cannot guarantee that these mimic the difficulty of new spec questions and some of them may actually be harder than new spec. You can find the mark schemes to these questions online (C3 and C4) - you will need to look through the mark scheme for the whole question when you do this.

C3 June 2012 Q5c

C3 June 2012 Q8d

C4 Jan 2012 Q5b

C4 Jan 2012 Q8c

C4 June 2013 Q5b

C4 June 2013 Q7b

C3 Jan 2013 Q7c

C3 June 2013 (R) Q8e

C4 June 2014 Q6iii

C34 IAL June 2014 Q13d

C4 IAL Jan 2014 Q7c

C3 IAL Jan 2014 Q5b

C2 IAL June 2014 Q14c&d

C4 June 2017 Q8c



Also here are some old OCR MEI questions for statistics & mechanics which I feel are good practice for the new spec which often has a focus on modelling/problem solving and the questions are harder than old spec Edexcel for example (there are also some tough IAL questions included). If anyone has suggestions for more questions like this then please suggest them. Again you can find the answers to all of these online.

Important : when looking at any old spec statistics mark scheme be aware that these were created before students were required to have a new spec calculator. So questions that can be done now simply on a calculator may have a longer solution in the old spec mark scheme.

OCR MEI M1 June 2016 Q6

OCR MEI M2 June 2009 Q3

OCR MEI June 2011 S1 Q7

OCR MEI June 2012 S2 Q3

OCR MEI Jan 2012 M1 Q7

OCR MEI Jan 2006 S2 Q2

S2 IAL Jan 2015 Q7

M2 IAL Jan 2016 Q3

M2 IAL Jan 2016 Q6

(edited 4 years ago)

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PRSOM :sad: Will try some of these tomorrow :yep:
Reply 2
Tagging some people who may be interested. Please let me know if you think they're useful/not useful, too hard/too easy. It's hard for me to judge whether they are that useful and whether I should make more. Thanks :smile:

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All looks good! I think it would be good to have a question on connected rates of change/forming differential equations since people seem to struggle with these. I'll have a dig.
Reply 4
this looks good thanks! will have a go and let you know how I find them
Reply 5
Original post by _gcx
All looks good! I think it would be good to have a question on connected rates of change/forming differential equations since people seem to struggle with these. I'll have a dig.

Great, feel free to make your own questions like I've done and post them in this thread.
these look great:smile: i'll give some a go nearer to my end of years:wink:
Reply 7
This is really useful! Thanks x
Thanks for this, only just seen it now. I'll give them ago, about to do a specimen paper
Reply 9
Wow some of these are quite tricky but I am really enjoying doing these, because its so satisfying when you get the answer after a full page of working out ahah- it's actually beautiful :') Thank you for your time in making these!!
Reply 10
Thank you!
Reply 11
A few more have been added. They're all hard questions but the last one is particularly tough.
Does anyone have a solution to the last question?

It's the only one I can't work out and its getting annoying now....

Thanks in advance
Reply 13
Original post by SkylineS4
Does anyone have a solution to the last question?

It's the only one I can't work out and its getting annoying now....

Thanks in advance

The original question is here (Q13):

https://pmt.physicsandmathstutor.com/download/Maths/A-level/C4/Papers-Edexcel/June%202014%20(IAL)%20QP%20-%20C34%20Edexcel.pdf

and mark scheme is here:

https://pmt.physicsandmathstutor.com/download/Maths/A-level/C4/Papers-Edexcel/June%202014%20(IAL)%20MS%20-%20C34%20Edexcel.pdf

I recommend looking at the original question first because it guides you through the process instead of having to do it from scratch which is tough.
Original post by Notnek
The original question is here (Q13):

https://pmt.physicsandmathstutor.com/download/Maths/A-level/C4/Papers-Edexcel/June%202014%20(IAL)%20QP%20-%20C34%20Edexcel.pdf

and mark scheme is here:

https://pmt.physicsandmathstutor.com/download/Maths/A-level/C4/Papers-Edexcel/June%202014%20(IAL)%20MS%20-%20C34%20Edexcel.pdf

I recommend looking at the original question first because it guides you through the process instead of having to do it from scratch which is tough.


Thanks, great questions btw!
Do you have any modelling questions as well?
Reply 15
Original post by SkylineS4
Thanks, great questions btw!
Do you have any modelling questions as well?

I'm just preparing some old OCR MEI modelling type questions that can be used for new spec. I'll let you know once I've compiled them.
Original post by Notnek
I'm just preparing some old OCR MEI modelling type questions that can be used for new spec. I'll let you know once I've compiled them.


Thanks :biggrin:
Do you plan on making any of these for the applied section (stats and mechanics)?
Reply 18
I have added some old spec OCR MEI A Level statistics/mechanics questions to the OP which I feel are good practice for the new spec. I'll be adding more over the coming days. If anyone finds more old spec questions that they thought were hard or included modelling type questions then please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

people who have posted in this thread

Wow these are great, you're a lifesaver :biggrin:.

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