Model Papers

A model paper is written by a teacher, a publisher or a school to resemble the real examination. It is not set by the Department of Examinations, and no model paper can promise to predict what will be asked.

That makes model papers useful for one thing in particular: volume. There are only so many real past papers, and a student who needs twenty attempts at a task type will run out of them. Model papers fill that gap.

The danger of model papers is calibration. Some are noticeably harder than the real examination and some noticeably easier, so a mark from a model paper is not a reliable measure of where you stand.

• Practise on model papers; measure on real past papers. Keep two or three genuine papers unopened until the last few weeks, and use those to judge your readiness.
• Treat an odd question as an opportunity, not an error. If a model paper asks something in an unfamiliar way, that is useful: the real examination will also phrase something in a way you did not expect.
• Check the syllabus, not the year. A model paper written for an earlier syllabus may test content that has since moved or gone.
• Mark to the real standard. Use the official marking schemes for the closest real paper rather than the model paper's own answers, which are often more generous.