Past papers

Getting the most from a paper

Sit the paper in one go and time yourself, with only your calculator and the formula booklet (opens in a new tab) beside you.

Then mark it against the mark scheme, line by line, the way an examiner would. The guide below explains the marks and the abbreviations, and Pearson publishes the grade boundaries (opens in a new tab) for each sitting.

Last, read the examiner report for every question where you dropped marks. It goes question by question and says where candidates lost marks and why. That is where the traps are.

Mark yourself like an examiner

Edexcel mark schemes open with the same short set of marking rules. Once you know them, the scheme is much easier to read.

The marks

M1

A method mark. Earned for the correct approach, even if the numbers after it go wrong.

dM1

A dependent method mark. Only available if the M1 before it was earned. ddM1 needs both method marks before it.

A1

An accuracy mark. The answer must be right, and it depends on the method marks before it.

B1

A mark for a correct statement or value on its own, independent of everything else.

A1*

The answer was given in the question, so nothing can be assumed and the conclusion has to be written down.

The abbreviations

ft

Follow through. If you carried an earlier slip forward and used it correctly, this mark can still be earned.

cao

Correct answer only. The mark needs the correct answer itself, not one that follows from an earlier slip.

cso

Correct solution only. There must be no errors anywhere in that part of the question.

awrt

Answers which round to. Your answer earns the mark if it rounds to the value in the scheme.

oe

Or equivalent. Any correct form of the answer that suits the question is accepted.

isw

Ignore subsequent working. Where a scheme says this, working after a correct answer is not marked. Where it says do not isw, it is.

Five rules from the front of the scheme

• Crossed-out work is still marked, unless you have written something to replace it.
• If you leave more than one attempt and cross none out, the examiner marks the most complete one, which is not always the best one.
• On the Pure papers, quote a formula before you use it. A correct formula with an attempt to use it earns the method mark even with small slips in the numbers. Without the formula written down, one mistake can cost that mark.
• On the Pure papers, when an exact answer is asked for, a rounded decimal will normally lose marks.
• In Mechanics, answers that use g = 9.8 should be given to 2 or 3 significant figures, and using 9.81 is penalised once per question.

Taken from the marking instructions printed at the front of Edexcel’s A-level Maths mark schemes.

Where Beat the Traps comes in

Beat the Traps turns what these reports say into practice. It takes the mistakes that cost students the most marks, topic by topic, so that you meet each one, and its fix, before the exam.

If your school uses it, sign in. If it does not yet, show your teacher the page for schools.

✓Spot the trap, keep the mark.