Real AQA exam papers, with the official mark schemes and examiners’ reports – plus our own 💡 hints pages to help you when you’re stuck. The papers themselves are on AQA’s website.
📥 Step 1: Get the papers from AQA
Tap the button for your course:
Then, on AQA’s page:
- Tap Filter.
- Under Resource type, choose Question papers, Mark schemes or Examiner reports.
- Under Exam series, choose the year (e.g. June 2023).
- Tap Apply filters, then open the paper you want. Combined Science students: pick the ones that say Physics.
Can’t find it? Try AQA’s past-paper finder, or ask your teacher. The newest papers (usually last summer’s) are kept on AQA’s secure teacher site for a while, so your teacher may have them before they appear publicly.
Which papers should I do?
- Separate Physics (8463): each paper is 1 hour 45 minutes, 100 marks.
- Combined Science: Trilogy (8464): use the Physics papers – each is 1 hour 15 minutes, 70 marks.
- Foundation or Higher? Ask your teacher which tier you’re entered for.
- Paper 1: Energy, Electricity, Particle model, Atomic structure. Paper 2: Forces, Waves, Magnetism (and Space for Separate).
- Best years to use: June 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. (There were no summer exams in 2020 or 2021. In 2022, students had advance information, so those papers may not cover every topic.)
💡 Step 2: How to get the most from a past paper
- Have the equation sheet and a calculator ready, just like in the real exam.
- Stuck? Open our 💡 Hints page for that paper (below). It tells you which equation to use and what to watch out for – without giving the answer away.
- Use FIFA on every calculation: Formula, Insert the numbers, Fix (rearrange), Answer with a unit.
- Mark it honestly with the mark scheme, in a different colour.
- Read the examiners’ report for the questions you got wrong – it explains what top answers included and the most common mistakes.
- Don’t do the whole paper at once if it’s too much – do one question a day.
💡 Hints for each paper
Open the AQA paper in one tab and our hints in another. New hints pages are being added paper by paper.
June 2023
| Paper | Separate Physics (8463) | Combined Science (8464) |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 Foundation | 💡 Hints | 💡 Hints |
| Paper 1 Higher | 💡 Hints | 💡 Hints |
| Paper 2 Foundation | 💡 Hints | 💡 Hints |
| Paper 2 Higher | 💡 Hints | 💡 Hints |
Hints for June 2024, 2022 and 2019 will follow. All exam papers are © AQA – this site links to AQA’s website and does not host the papers.
