1. Sit it under time, once
Print it, put a clock in front of you, and do not look anything up. A paper worked with notes open tells you nothing about what you can do in the hall.
IGCSE past papers, worked the way that raises a grade
Most students download past papers and then read them. Reading a paper does almost nothing. The marks come from sitting the paper under time, marking it honestly, and then going back to the questions you lost marks on. Here is the method I use with my own students, and the material I give them to do it with.
Four passes over one paper
2. Mark it against the scheme, harshly
Use the official marking scheme and give yourself nothing you did not write down. Method marks need the method on the page. This is the step students skip, and it is the step that finds the marks.
3. Sort the losses into three piles
Did not know it. Knew it but made an error. Ran out of time. The three have completely different fixes, and treating them the same is why revision stalls.
4. Rework only the losses, a week later
Not the whole paper. Just the questions you lost marks on, from a blank page, seven days later. If it comes out clean, it is learned.
Where marks actually go
The losses repeat, year after year
After eight thousand hours of teaching, the same handful of things account for most of the lost marks. None of them are the hard topics.
- Rounding too early, then carrying the error through
- Answering a different question than the command word asked for
- Working in degrees when the question is in radians
- No working shown, so the method marks cannot be given
- Units left off a mensuration answer
- Spending fifteen minutes on a four-mark question
Mock papers with the marking scheme and full solutions
Cambridge past papers are free from the school or the Cambridge site, and you should use them. What is harder to find is a paper you have not already seen, written to the same difficulty spread, with solutions that show the working rather than just the answer.
IGCSE 0580 mock paper
One complete paper set in the style and timing of the real 0580 exam, with the marking scheme and my own worked solutions. Core and Extended.
RM 25 / USD 5.99
IGCSE 0606 mock paper
One complete 0606 paper with the marking scheme and full worked solutions, written to the same difficulty spread as the real paper.
RM 32 / USD 7.99
Notes and mock, one subject
The revision notes and one mock paper for a single subject. Cheaper than buying the two separately.
RM 59 / USD 14.99
Common questions about past papers
How many past papers should we do?
Fewer papers, worked properly, beats more papers read through. Six papers taken under time and reworked is worth more than twenty downloaded.
When should we start on full papers?
Once the topic has been taught, do the questions on that topic. Full papers make sense in the last three months, when there is enough syllabus behind you for a whole paper to be fair.
Do you go through past papers in class?
Yes. There is a past-paper question on the board every session, and in the run-up to a session the class turns to full papers.
Are there free worked papers?
Yes, on the YouTube channel — nearly 300 lessons, including full papers worked start to finish.