Free GCSE Science Past Papers and Mark Schemes
Every Science paper. Right here. GCSE & IGCSE
Biology, Chemistry and Physics past papers with mark schemes, for triple and combined science, across AQA, Edexcel and IGCSE. Free to download, no account needed.
Free Science past papers by exam board
AQA
Separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics, plus Combined Science Trilogy.
Edexcel
Separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics, plus Combined Science.
IGCSE
Edexcel International Biology, Chemistry and Physics, plus Double Award Science.
The same thing for Maths. Every GCSE, IGCSE and KS2 SATs paper, with mark schemes, worked solutions and video walkthroughs.
Sit a science paper at home and send it in. It comes back marked to exam-board standard, with written feedback on every question and a clear list of what to revise next.
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Getting more out of these science papers than a score
Every science paper here is free, across AQA, Edexcel and the international specifications, with mark schemes. Science revision goes wrong in a few specific and very fixable ways, and knowing them changes what you do with the papers below.
Find the specification code first
| Board | Combined Science | Separate sciences |
|---|---|---|
| AQA | 8464 Trilogy | 8461, 8462, 8463 |
| Edexcel | 1SC0 | 1BI0, 1CH0, 1PH0 |
| Edexcel International | Double Award | 4BI1, 4CH1, 4PH1 |
It is printed on the exam timetable. Getting it right decides which required practicals matter, which formula sheet applies, and which paper split your child is revising toward.
Required practicals are examined, and they are the easiest marks to lose
Every science specification names a set of practicals students must carry out, and questions about them appear across the papers. They are predictable, they repeat, and they are routinely under-revised because students remember doing the experiment and assume that is the same as being able to write about it.
What gets examined is not the result. It is the method: which variable was independent, which was controlled, why a particular piece of apparatus was chosen, where the error came from, and how the procedure could be improved. A student who can recite the outcome and not the reasoning scores badly.
A fast drill: for each practical, write four lines. What was measured, what was kept the same, what the main source of error was, and one improvement. Four lines each, and the whole set fits on a few sides of paper.
A surprising share of a science grade is maths
Ofqual sets a minimum weighting for mathematical skills inside every GCSE science: at least ten per cent of the marks in biology, twenty per cent in chemistry and thirty per cent in physics. Those marks are not labelled as maths on the paper. They are inside the questions.
The practical consequence is one we see constantly. A student who is shaky on rearranging formulae, standard form, percentages or reading a gradient loses science marks that have nothing to do with how well they understand science. Physics is worst affected, which is why a student can revise physics content thoroughly and still stall around a grade 4 or 5.
Test it directly. Take any calculation question from a paper below and watch what happens. If the science reasoning is right and the arithmetic or the rearrangement falls over, the fix belongs in maths, not science, and our interactive maths lessons will move it faster than more science revision will.
The six mark questions are marked by level, not by points
Extended response questions are not marked by counting correct statements. The examiner reads the whole answer and places it in a band based on how coherent and complete the scientific reasoning is.
That means a list of true facts in any order lands in the bottom band even when every fact is correct. What lifts it is a linked chain: this happens, which causes this, which is why that. Two well linked steps beat six disconnected ones.
The cheapest improvement available on these questions is planning. Thirty seconds of bullet points before writing produces a structured answer instead of a brain dump, and it is the single most common difference between a band 2 and a band 3 response on the scripts we mark.
Revise by paper, not by subject
The most common planning mistake is revising "biology" as a block. The content is split across two papers, and revising the whole subject before Paper 1 means half the effort is aimed at an exam three weeks away while the nearer one goes underprepared.
Work paper by paper in timetable order. It sounds obvious and almost nobody does it, because revision guides are organised by subject rather than by exam.
Questions parents ask
What is the difference between Combined Science and Triple Science?
Combined Science, sometimes called Double Award or Trilogy, is worth two GCSE grades and is examined across six papers. Triple Science is three separate GCSEs in biology, chemistry and physics, with more content and two papers per subject.
Combined Science grades are reported as a pair, such as 5-5 or 6-5, which catches a lot of parents out on results day. It is not a lesser qualification and it does not block A level science at most schools, though it is worth checking the specific sixth form's entry requirements.
How many papers does my child actually sit?
Combined Science is six papers, two in each science. Triple Science is six papers as well, but two longer ones per subject and covering more content.
Either way, no single paper decides the grade, which is worth telling a student who has just come out of a bad one.
How should we use the mark schemes?
For short answers, mark strictly against the accepted wording. Science mark schemes list acceptable alternatives, and if an answer is not on the list it usually does not score, however reasonable it sounds.
For six mark questions, mark to a band rather than a number, then write one sentence on what would move the answer up a band.
Which topics cost the most marks?
Consistently: anything requiring a calculation in physics, moles and concentration in chemistry, and required practical method questions across all three.
Genetics and the electricity topics also come up repeatedly in the papers we mark, usually because the underlying maths or the diagram reading is the real obstacle rather than the science.