GCSE Biology mock paper: a free short timed mock at Higher or Foundation

What today's biology mock paper is

Each paper has 8 questions, each on a different topic, worth 25 to 35 marks in total. The suggested time is about 1.1 minutes a mark, close to the real exams' pace, so most papers take 30 to 40 minutes. A calculator is allowed. The questions are original, in the style of the exam boards, not past papers or official papers.

When you finish, the paper is marked on screen straight away, part by part, against its mark scheme. You can also print it with the mark scheme and sit it on paper. Sitting the paper is free; marking and printing come with a Uni-Sine plan.

How it compares with the real GCSE Biology papers

With every board, GCSE Biology is two papers, both at the same tier. Foundation leads to grades 1 to 5 and Higher to grades 4 to 9 (AQA).

Figures from the specifications of AQA, Edexcel and OCR (Gateway and Twenty First Century). A daily paper is about a third of one real paper: it trains your pace without taking a whole morning.

What the biology mock covers

• Higher: cell structure and transport, cell division, enzymes and digestion, the circulatory system, disease and immunity, photosynthesis, respiration, homeostasis and hormones, the nervous system, genetics, evolution and ecology.
• Foundation: cells and microscopy, organs and digestion, the heart and blood, health and disease, photosynthesis, respiration, inheritance and variation, ecosystems and food chains, human impact on the environment, and the nervous system.

Every paper mixes topics from both halves of the course. On AQA, Paper 1 is topics 1 to 4 (cell biology, organisation, infection and response, bioenergetics) and Paper 2 is topics 5 to 7 (homeostasis and response; inheritance, variation and evolution; ecology). Exam dates, grade boundaries and required practicals are in the GCSE Biology guide.

How to sit it as a GCSE biology mock exam

1. Pick your tier. Sit the one you expect to be entered for, and ask your teacher if you aren't sure.
2. Clear the desk: a pen, a pencil, a ruler and a calculator.
3. Start the timer and don't pause it. Answer every part: a blank scores nothing.
4. Read the mark scheme for every part where you dropped marks. Biology mark schemes reward exact terms: denatured, diffusion, active transport.
5. Sort each lost mark into didn't know it, slipped, or ran out of time, and fix the biggest pile first. That list is your biology mock revision plan.

Practise the maths with the Magnification Calculator and the Genetics Cross Lab, and revise with the Cell Biology and Genetics and DNA courses.

Free GCSE biology mock and past papers

For a full-length mock, use the boards' own past papers and mark schemes, free from AQA, Edexcel and OCR. Pearson keeps its newest papers for teachers only, so your school's biology mock may be a paper you can't find online. For when mocks happen and whether they count, see the GCSE mocks guide.

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