How to practise past papers so the practice counts

Why “doing papers” often does not work

Most students know that past papers matter. Many use them badly. They do a paper, check the score, feel good or bad, and move on to the next one. The mistakes from that paper then show up again in the exam.

A past paper is useful for three things. It shows how questions on a topic are really asked. It shows exactly what earns marks. And it shows where you run out of time. The method below uses all three.

Step 1: learn the topic first

Practising a topic you have not learned mostly teaches you that you have not learned it. Finish a section of the syllabus first, and only then go to past-paper questions on it.

Step 2: drill one topic across many years

Before you sit whole papers, work through one topic at a time using questions from many different years. After fifteen questions on electrolysis from ten sittings, the patterns become clear: the same ideas are asked about in different ways. The topic drill on Eudika Learn pulls questions on one topic from every year and session in the bank, and gives feedback after each answer. There is also a written questions by topic mode for structured questions. You can open both from any subject’s past-paper page.

Step 3: mark honestly against the mark scheme

This step makes the biggest difference, and it is the one most often skipped. For written answers, read the official mark scheme point by point and give yourself a mark only when your answer says what the scheme says. “I basically meant that” does not earn the mark in the exam, so it should not earn it at home either.

On Eudika Learn, you type your answer or photograph your handwritten work. Then the mark scheme is revealed and you tick each point you earned. An optional AI marker can fill in the ticks first, and you can change any of them; it uses grading credits. Multiple-choice questions are marked at once, and each option explains why it is right or wrong. The wrong options are often the most useful to read.

Step 4: keep a mistakes list and clear it

A wrong answer is useful only if you come back to it. Eudika Learn keeps two lists for you:

After each paper, the results page also shows the topics to review, meaning those where you scored under half, each linking straight to a drill.

Step 5: sit whole papers on the real clock

Once most topics are secure, sit complete papers under exam conditions: the real time limit, no notes and no pausing. Multiple-choice papers can be sat as timed papers. Written papers can be answered on screen with a pen, a ruler, a protractor and a scientific calculator, so diagrams and working are done the way they are in the exam hall. Then mark the paper as in Step 3, and add every lost mark to your list.

Step 6: build mock papers in the final weeks

When you have worked through the most recent papers, a mock test lets you build your own paper. You choose the sittings, the topics and the number of questions, and questions come from every year in the bank. It is timed, and the mark scheme stays hidden until you hand it in. It is a good way to target weak topics under exam pressure.

A weekly rhythm

As a starting point, adjusted to your own timetable:

Where to start

Updated 29 September 2026