GCSE maths past papers: AQA, Edexcel and OCR papers, mark schemes and a plan to May

Key takeaways

• →AQA (8300) and Pearson Edexcel (1MA1) each set three maths papers of 1 hour 30 minutes and 80 marks, and Paper 1 is the only non-calculator paper. OCR (J560) has three papers per tier of 100 marks each, and its non-calculator paper is Paper 2 (Foundation) or Paper 5 (Higher).
• →Get papers and mark schemes from your own board’s website. The newest papers are held back for teachers to use as mocks, so the latest public papers are usually a year or more old.
• →All three boards sit the 2027 maths papers on Friday 14 May, Thursday 27 May and Monday 14 June, in the morning. From 1 November, the first one is just under 28 weeks away.
• →Sit each paper once, to time. Mark it with the official mark scheme, log every lost mark and redo those questions a week later. Careful marking matters more than the number of papers.

1. GCSE maths past papers: which board and which tier?

GCSE maths past papers come from your exam board, and each board writes its own. This guide covers AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR. Ask your school which board you are entered for, and whether you sit the Foundation or the Higher tier.

Use your own board’s papers for most practice. The table shows how the three differ. OCR is the odd one out: its papers have 100 marks and its non-calculator paper is not the first.

AQA says its materials must not be reproduced on third-party websites, in any format. So get full papers and mark schemes from the board’s own website, as the sections below explain.^[19]

2. AQA GCSE Maths (8300) papers and where to find them

AQA GCSE Maths has three papers. Paper 1 is non-calculator, and Papers 2 and 3 allow a calculator. Each lasts 90 minutes, carries 80 marks and counts for one third of the GCSE.^[1]

Students must take all three papers at the same tier and in the same series. AQA says content from any part of the specification may be assessed, so any topic can turn up on any paper.^[1]

Use AQA’s past-paper finder. You choose a subject and a qualification, and it finds past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports by series. Most stay on the website for three years.^[3]

AQA describes the finder as free digital copies of its past papers and mark schemes. It only shows papers for the current specification.^[5]

The newest papers are not there yet. AQA’s availability page lists the summer 2026 papers, mark schemes and reports as going on the public website on 9 July 2027, after the 2027 exams. Teachers can get them earlier through AQA’s secure Centre Services site.^[4]

3. Pearson Edexcel GCSE Maths (1MA1) papers and where to find them

Edexcel also has three papers: Paper 1 with no calculator, then Papers 2 and 3 with a calculator. Each lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, carries 80 marks and counts for 33.33% of the GCSE. All three must be at the same tier and sat in the same series.^[9]

Pearson’s past papers page works in steps. You pick a qualification family, a subject and an exam series, and it lists question papers, mark schemes and examiner reports. Pearson says past papers are free to teachers and students.^[11]

Pearson also holds back its newest papers. Its page says papers with a padlock are for teachers and exams officers only, and recent papers are locked so teachers can use them as mocks. Ask your teacher which recent papers you can use.^[11]

Our Edexcel GCSE Maths papers guide goes through the three Edexcel papers in more detail.

4. OCR GCSE Maths (J560) papers and where to find them

OCR is laid out differently. There are six papers, three for each tier. Foundation students sit Papers 1, 2 and 3, and Higher students sit Papers 4, 5 and 6. Each lasts 1 hour 30 minutes and has 100 marks.^[12]

The non-calculator paper is the middle one: Paper 2 on Foundation and Paper 5 on Higher. Papers 1, 3, 4 and 6 allow a calculator.^[12]

Students take all three papers for their tier in the same series. OCR says any topic area may be assessed on any paper, as relevant at that tier.^[12]

OCR’s past papers page has three drop-down menus: type of qualification, qualification and level. It covers past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports.^[14]

OCR adds papers to Teach Cambridge, its secure site for schools and colleges, to use as mock exams. It says it puts them on the public website around 14 months later. For a June series, that means early August of the following year.^[16]

When we looked, OCR’s J560 assessment page listed papers, mark schemes and examiners’ reports up to the June 2025 series.^[17]

OCR’s policy says papers stay online for five years, though not for all maths and science GCSEs.^[15]

5. When the 2027 maths papers are

AQA’s confirmed timetable has Paper 1 on Friday 14 May 2027, Paper 2 on Thursday 27 May and Paper 3 on Monday 14 June, all in the morning.^[2]

Pearson’s final timetable has the same three dates and morning sessions.^[10]

OCR’s final June 2027 timetable uses the same dates. Its non-calculator papers (J560/02 and J560/05) fall on Thursday 27 May, not on the first day.^[13]

AQA’s timetable names Wednesday 23 June 2027 as a contingency day, a spare day in case papers have to be moved.^[2]

OCR’s timetable names the same day. Stay free until then.^[13]

6. How to use a past paper properly

Sit the paper in one go, to time. Give yourself 90 minutes, use only the equipment the paper allows, and follow its calculator rule. AQA suggests answering past papers as if under exam conditions.^[5]

Show your working. The front of AQA’s June 2023 Paper 1 tells students to show clearly how they work out each answer.^[7]

Mark it with the official mark scheme, not a friend’s answers. AQA says to check past papers against the mark scheme to see what examiners look for and how they give marks.^[5]

Learn the mark types. In AQA’s scheme, M is a method mark, A an accuracy mark, B a mark given independent of method, and ft is follow through. Method marks reward a correct method even if the answer is wrong. Where a question asks for working, a bare answer can score nothing.^[6]

OCR’s maths advisor warns that mark schemes do not provide model answers and are not a replacement for good class notes or a textbook.^[18]

Then read the examiner report. AQA’s June 2025 Paper 1 Higher report has a summary of what students handled well and struggled with, then comments on each of its 25 questions. It names inequalities, inter-quartile range and algebraic proof among the weaker areas.^[8]

OCR’s advisor suggests reading reports from several years, to spot themes that keep coming back.^[18]

Keep a fix list: After each paper, write one line for every lost mark: what went wrong, and what to do next time. Group them by topic, then redo those questions a week later without the mark scheme.

7. How many papers, and a plan from now to May

No board sets a number of papers to do, so this is our suggestion. Around ten full papers, each properly marked and corrected, is plenty for most students.

If you run out of your own board’s papers, other boards’ papers still give topic practice. Layouts and mark totals differ, so do not compare scores.

From 1 November, Paper 1 on Friday 14 May is just under 28 weeks away. Here is a simple plan.

8. Mocks, topic practice and grade boundaries

Boards keep the newest papers behind a teacher login so that schools can use them as mocks. Ask your teacher for your marked mock paper back and treat it like any other paper.^[16]

For topic practice, free sites such as Corbettmaths, Maths Genie and BBC Bitesize are well known. Use your board’s website for full papers. Our GCSE maths topics guide and our how to revise for GCSEs guide can help you plan what to cover.

Boards publish grade boundaries on results day. AQA says it publishes them at 8.00am on results days. They change from year to year, so a past paper score is only a rough guide.^[20]

OCR warns that grades at component level do not automatically add up to the same grade at qualification level. In other words, your score on one paper is not a grade.^[21]

9. How Brainhub can help

Our GCSE students typically improve by 2 grades over 12 weeks of weekly lessons (Brainhub student records, 2021–2026). That figure is our own data, not independent research.

We teach one-to-one, live online across the UK, with online GCSE lessons from £30 an hour. A qualified teacher with a PGCE costs £10 an hour more. Every family starts with a free 45-minute assessment. Bring a marked past paper if you have one, so we can see which topics need the most work first.

1. 1. Which GCSE maths paper has no calculator on each board?

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2. 2. Why can you not find last summer’s maths papers on the exam board’s website?

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3. 3. When are the summer 2027 GCSE maths papers?

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Your next steps

• Check your board and tier with your teacher, then open that board’s past papers page.
• Sit one paper to time, mark it with the official mark scheme and start your fix list.
• Book a free 45-minute assessment to see which topics to work on first.

Subject guides to go with this

Want one-to-one help? See how our online lessons work.