Practice papers for AS and A Level Maths and AS Level Further Maths

Practice papers for AS and A Level Maths and AS Level Further Maths 11 December 2017

Note that some of the information in this blog is out of date. Please see two newer posts: A Level Maths: what practice material is available? and A Level Further Maths: what practice material is available?

The first set of practice papers will soon be ready for the new Maths and Further Maths qualifications. They will appear on Interchange in December or early January, so now seems a good moment to talk through the production process a little and to set out the full schedule of releases.

Production process

As well as being used for mocks, our practice papers will help you by further exemplifying the content and assessment of the new qualifications. This gives both teachers and students a clearer picture of exactly what the requirements of the new qualifications are.

We put all our practice papers through exactly the same long and detailed processes as the live papers to ensure that they match the style and rigour of the live assessments. Our practice papers will have been written by the same Senior Assessors as the live papers, often at the same time, and with the same level of attention to detail.

Schedule

The current release schedule is given in the table below. We have concentrated on the qualifications available in summer 2018 in the first instance, but the full suite is covered over the next 12 months or so.

Qualification	December 2017 / January 2018	March 2018	September 2018	December 2018
AS Level Maths A – H230	Set 1
A Level Maths A – H240	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
AS Level Further Maths A – H235	Set 1	Set 2
A Level Further Maths A – H245		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
AS Level Maths B (MEI) – H630	Set 1
A Level Maths B (MEI) – H640	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
AS Level Further Maths B (MEI) – H635	Set 1	Set 2
A Level Further Maths B (MEI) – H645		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3

Where can I find them?

As with our GCSE (9-1) practice papers, these will be kept on our secure Interchange site so that you can use them as mock exams or simply as a source of unseen exam questions.

Interchange is a free secure website that any centre registered for exams can access. If you do not have a login, please speak to your Exams Officer. Read our guide to using Interchange.

Will you be publishing grade boundaries?

As with GCSE (9-1) we will not be able to publish grade boundaries for these practice papers. For live papers the grade boundaries are set following assessment, based on a variety of measures including student performance. In the absence of accurate and reliable values for these, we are unable to set grade boundaries for practice papers, as they could only be estimates that could potentially be misleading.

This blog from Ofqual was written to answer queries about predicted grades for GCSE sample materials, but the same argument applies for A Level.

For further information, and to see our accredited maths qualifications visit ocr.org.uk/alevelmaths.

If you are planning to teach our Mathematics or Further Mathematics AS or A Levels, let us know so we can ensure you have everything you need.

Submit your comments below and if you have any questions then you can get in touch with us via email at maths@ocr.org.uk or on Twitter at @OCR_Maths.

About the author

Will Hornby - Subject Advisor - Mathematics

Will joined OCR in April 2014 as a Subject Advisor, having worked for OCR as a consultant on GCSE Maths reform and for many years before that as a senior examiner for A Level Mathematics. Will is the Subject Development Lead for AS and A Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics, with overall responsibility for the development of OCR’s new specifications, and for oversight and quality assurance of the MEI specifications.

Will has worked as a mathematics teacher, then as a private tutor and Open University lecturer. In his spare time, he likes to play the Chinese strategy game Go and entertain his young children.