Past Papers

[Jasperino]

Hello all,

I was giving consideration to Past Papers. I understand that the syllabus has not changed greatly over the last few years for CT1. How far back do you reckon that I should go before the material changes? It has been well publicised that practising exam papers under exam conditions is key to passing this exam. What is a confident level to be at in terms of marks in practising exams? I have heard that hitting 80%+ consistently in mocks is a brilliant level to be at and you can be confident of a pass.

So from this my two queries are: 1. How far should one back with the past papers in terms of getting enough practice/not practising irrelevant material?

2. A confident pass rate at exam past papers, 80%+?

I am especially interested to hear what a tutor would say on the above, and anyone who has recently passed.

Thanks.

 

[Darrell Chainey]

1. In terms of relevant practice, you can pretty much go as far back as you like, 102, A1, Subject 2!! But given you've got three years of CT1 now (which I think is the minimum you should attempt) and five years of 102, there's enough there to keep you going. The Q&A Bank and Asignments are all good practice too. Many of these questions are, or are based on, past paper questions anyway.
No easy answer to how many. It obviously depends on how you're getting on. If you find the subject difficult then do as many as you can - although it's good to try questions more than once to check that you're improving.

2. The pass rate is probably around 60% (educated guess, not confirmed) and so if you can get 80% then you should be fine. 70% is probably a good target, as long as it's in 3 hours. You want some cushion against irrational behaiour in the exam room, when the pressures on.

Hope this helps