How to Make the Most out of Past Papers | New Specification

Hey friends, welcome back to my channel. So last  year I did A levels in maths, further maths,   physics and chemistry, and I think the reason I  got A stars in them all is definitely because of   past papers. I can't speak much for the other  sciences like biology and psychology, and   definitely not for the humanities, but I hope that  you guys can still get some ideas on how to make   the most out of the past papers you'll be doing at  this time of year. So I'll be covering my points   in a semi-chronological order with timestamps in  the description below. So my first bit of advice

is to start tracking your past papers, because  tracking something is often the first step to   actually getting it done, and you don't want to  be leaving these past papers till the last minute,   like for the weekend before your actual exam,  because at that point it's unlikely that you'll   be able to make the most of them. I would suggest  making an excel sheet and a calendar with the past   papers you've done, and their scores and the ones  that you plan on doing. And even having the ones   you plan on doing in a calendar, so you know which  ones you're going to be doing on which days, and   you can plan it just right for when your actual  exams will be up. So when planning these papers,   don't feel tempted to do them all. Sure,  for the new spec you should do them all,   but for the old spec it may only be worth doing  one or two. I'll go into more detail about this   topic of whether you should do all the old spec  papers in a future video. In my case last year,   I only had a little bit of content left at this  point in the year. So I just read ahead a bit,   just so I could sit down and do a whole paper  rather than skipping questions, which I hadn't   covered at that point. But I mean, it's completely  fine that if you skip a few questions which you   haven't covered, as long as you make sure that you  will be going back to the questions and you have   made a note of them for when you have covered that  bit of content. And even when planning which past   papers you're going to be doing, you can also plan  a few AS papers. So especially for the new spec AS   papers to get some of that AS content down too.   My second bit of advice is don't get caught up

in thinking that you have to perfect every bit of  content before you start doing past papers. You're   going to have to know a good amount of content  so you can make the most of them, but don't   think that you have to like understand everything  completely. Because that's exactly why past papers   come in useful. The whole point in doing them is  that you can start applying the content you know   in a timed fashion on actual exam questions. And  having the questions you get wrong outline which   bit of content you don't understand as well as you  thought you did. And of course you'll be making   mistakes when doing these past papers, but I think  that it's important to realize that it's just   because you don't understand some of the content  and the whole reason you're doing these past   papers is so you can find out which bits you don't  understand and then improve for next time. And if   you're doing that then you shouldn't have to worry  whether like doing bad in this one past paper is a   reflection of your actual end of year performance  because of course it's not going to be. As long   as you're learning from that mistake and moving  on and like clarifying any misunderstanding then   that should be good enough. So tip number three.   Try to do the past papers under timed conditions.

Ultimately it's up to you if you want to do  them under timed conditions, but I would highly   recommend it. Even if you run out of time you can  just like switch to a different colour pen and   carry on with the paper. So when you're marking it  you know how far you've gotten in that amount of   time and then you can try and figure out where you  wasted a bit of time. Maybe it was not being too   comfortable on a topic or not being fast enough  at this point or something. Any question you   found really hard and ran out of time on I would  suggest redoing it and figuring it out maybe on a   separate piece of paper. Because if you do manage  to figure it out then it's going to stick in your   head much more than actually looking at the  mark scheme straight away. And it'll make you   faster for a similar question in the future. But  if you don't figure it out then you'll know what   topic to cover and get help on and you can save  that question for later. But ultimately be sure   to make a good attempt at each question before  marking it. Especially for the new specification   papers. Even if it means relearning a topic and  doing the question in a different colour. You   won't be spoiling yourself by looking at the mark  scheme too soon. And it won't stick as much if you   do look at the mark scheme too soon. It's going  to stick much more in your head if you go back,   relearn a topic and then try the question.   And when you're marking that past paper,   you can ignore the question you did attempt, do  this and then mark it. But of course don't spend   too long on each question because there are more  questions you should be doing. You need to know   when to give up. Look at the mark scheme and ask  for help from your teachers or your friends. And   then making a note to come back to that question  in like a week or two's time. Point number four is

about using mark schemes and examiner reports.   From my experience in maths and further maths,   I found that mark schemes aren't so useful.   Because you won't be learning concepts from them   but rather you'd be learning methods. Which you  may not necessarily understand. Whereas they're   more useful for physics and chemistry where you  can understand the concepts. But you just need   practice in actually putting it into the words  the examiners are looking for. So after marking   your paper, any words the mark scheme uses,  which is a bit different to the words you've   used. Add them onto your flashcards or notes. So  you will be learning the words you will be using   in the exam. Maybe even put them in bold just to  emphasize like it's going to be this particular   word that you're going to have to use in the exam.   I know this especially is the case in biology and   most parts of chemistry. Not so much in physics.   I also had an advice slash extra content file for   each subject. Which I would add to after doing a  paper on that subject. So I had an overall advice   section for any common mistakes I used to make  throughout a past paper. So for chemistry this   would have been forgetting to use comparative  words. So saying like stronger or weaker bonds.    I would forget to say the word stronger and  weaker and instead I just write different   bonds. Different bond strengths. And I wouldn't  get the mark as a result because you have to use   a comparative word in that circumstance. So I  would put in my overall advice that make sure   to use comparative words when you can. And then  I split this file for the advice into different   topics. So I used to have advice for drawing lens  diagrams for astrophysics. And I also added any   extra content which I learned from doing past  papers which I didn't know before. And I'd say   ultimately as you build this file up by doing more  and more papers. And adding to it after each paper   whilst the mistakes you make are still fresh  in your mind. The best part about it is before   a mock exam you can read through the mistakes  that you frequently make. I know this can be   a bit daunting or a bad thing because you're  just seeing all these mistakes that you make   in front of you. But it's actually a good thing  because you know what exactly to look out for   and which mistakes you frequently make that you  have to look out for during your mock and your   real exams. And even before doing another past  paper maybe have a quick glance through this   file and make a habit of actually ironing out  those frequently made mistakes when doing these   past papers. And it should hopefully carry on  into a real thing. I found making this file to   be perhaps the most useful thing I did which came  out of doing past papers because most people just   sort of like do a past paper, mark it, put it  over to one side, never really look at it again,   don't like write down their mistakes or any things  they need to work on. And then they just do this   for another paper and they're  not exactly making the most of it. So hopefully   if you also make like an advice file for yourself  because there's going to be a very personal file   because everyone makes different mistakes. Then  it should help you in the long run. So tip number

five, watch past paper videos on YouTube when you  can. So if there's a particular paper which you   weren't too sure on or you made a lot of mistakes  or some questions just went over your head,   even after making an attempt at it and marking  it and whatnot, it still can be quite difficult   to see how the mark scheme got to that answer  because it isn't exactly explaining any working   out or whatnot. So I would suggest typing the  past paper name into YouTube and seeing if the   video comes up. I did this a few times and you  usually have a teacher going through the whole   paper or even going through a few questions. And  I would just watch the section of the video where   they go through that question. And it was really  useful for chemistry and physics because some of   the questions, it was just really hard to know  what the mark scheme was actually saying. But   then watching that video, then looking back at the  mark scheme, you're like, oh, this is how they got   back to got to this answer from this question.   It's useful for seeing how these two mark scheme   and the question relate. There are a few of them  on old specification papers, but I would highly   recommend watching the ones on new specification  papers. So tip number six, make a list of issues

to clarify. So one of the things I started doing  at Cambridge is making a spreadsheet of issues   I wanted to resolve. So when I was like reading a  handout or doing a question and I wasn't too sure   on something, then I would like add it onto the  spreadsheet. And it's a great way to keep track   of like the things that you need to work on and  get better at. So in my spreadsheet, I would have   a few columns. I'd have one for the subject or the  topic and then I'd have like a status. So whether   it's on my to do list, it's doing or I've already  done it. I would have how I was going to resolve   that issue, whether it's using YouTube, looking  at textbooks, asking friends, Googling a bunch,   maybe asking on the student room or asking  your teacher. I'd also have the location or the   reference of the issue. So it could have been like  paper 2007 question three. And I'd have some short   details about what that issue actually is. So what  exactly I'm struggling on with this question or   with this topic or what I'm not understanding.   And I think in this column, the short details,   it's really good to turn the issue into a well  worded question, because often writing a carefully   worded question, which you would ask your teacher  or ask a friend, is helpful because even when   writing the question or asking a question, you  would notice like, oh, this is exactly what I was   not understanding. And you would figure out the  question in moments. And that is something   that happens a few times to me. And I'm sure it's  happened to you. But even if that doesn't happen,   you still have a really good question, which  pinpoints exactly what you're not understanding,   which is going to be useful for the teacher or  whoever else is helping you. Because, I mean,   some people say, like, I don't understand X topic  or this whole question, but actually pinpointing   something exactly what you don't understand will  help you make the most out of your teacher's time   or anyone who's helping you their time.   So that's all the advice I have for making

the most of past papers. Thanks for watching.   If you found this video useful, then leave a   like and subscribe. And if you have any video  suggestions, then leave a comment down below.    And if you want to watch any of my other videos  of like how I got an A star in the A levels I did,   then they should be linked somewhere up above. But  anyway, thanks for watching and see you next time.