GCSE mock exams: when they are, whether they count and how to revise

Each card is today's short timed mock for that GCSE: 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks, marked as soon as you finish.

When are GCSE mocks?

Your school sets the dates, not the exam boards, so check your school calendar. Most schools hold Year 11 mocks (Year 12 in Northern Ireland) in the autumn and winter terms, between November and January, and some add a second round in February or March. Many also run Year 10 mocks in the summer term.

Mocks come early on purpose. Your school uses the results to make decisions with deadlines in the spring. These are the JCQ key dates for the 2027 exams.

How many mocks are there in Year 11?

There is no national rule. Ofqual's guidance asks schools in England to make sure students sit mock exams in exam conditions before the real exams, and says one set of mocks should be enough for that purpose. So expect at least one full set in Year 11. Some schools run a second round in the spring, so ask your teachers what is planned.

Exam conditions mean what they sound like. Ofqual says a mock should be supervised and timed like the real exam, with no notes and no sight of the questions beforehand. If you get extra time or another access arrangement in the summer, you should get it in your mocks too.

Do GCSE mocks count?

No. Your GCSE grades come from the exams you sit in May and June, plus coursework (non-exam assessment) in the subjects that have it. Ofqual says mock evidence would only be used to decide grades in the unlikely event that the summer exams could not go ahead, and that schools should tell you before a mock, where possible, if it could be used that way.

Mocks still matter, because of what your school does with them:

• Your tier. In maths, the sciences and other tiered subjects, mock results often help decide whether you sit Foundation or Higher. Entries close on 21 February 2027.
• Access arrangements. Mocks are where extra time, a reader or a word processor gets tried out before the summer.
• Your revision plan. The most useful thing a mock gives you is a list of the topics that cost you marks.

Are mocks harder than GCSE exams?

The paper usually isn't harder, but the timing is. Many schools use a recent real paper. Pearson, which runs Edexcel, keeps its newest papers for teachers only, so that there is at least one paper that can be used as a mock, and releases most papers to everyone once they are nine months old. Your mock may well be last summer's exam.

Mocks feel harder for three reasons:

• You haven't finished the course. A January mock can include topics you will only revise properly in the spring, or haven't been taught yet.
• You have had less time to revise, often with several subjects squeezed into one week.
• The grade boundaries are borrowed. Your teacher grades the mock using an earlier year's boundaries. Ofqual advises using boundaries from 2019 or earlier, or from 2023 onwards, because grading in 2020, 2021 and 2022 was unusually generous.

So a mock grade is a snapshot of where you are in winter, not a prediction. Ofqual is clear that a grade given for a mock is not your final grade.

Mock results and final grades: read the marks, not the grade

A grade is a band of marks, and a few marks move you between bands. Take Edexcel GCSE Maths Higher, where the three papers add up to 240. These are the June 2026 boundaries.

Say your mock total is 140. That is a grade 6, but a 7 starts at 146, so 6 more marks across three papers, just 2 a paper, would change the grade. Those marks usually come from mistakes you already know how to fix: a dropped negative sign, a missing unit, a rushed last step. Boundaries move every year, so treat any grade worked out this way as a rough guide.

When you get your mock back, sort every lost mark into one of three piles. Each pile needs a different fix.

• Didn't know it: relearn the topic, then try a fresh question on it a few days later.
• Knew it but slipped: write the slip on a list and read the list before every practice paper.
• Ran out of time: practise short timed papers until you finish with a few minutes to spare.

How to revise for GCSE mocks

1. Ask which topics are in. Many teachers tell you. If yours don't, assume anything taught so far.
2. Test yourself instead of rereading. Cover your notes, write down what you remember, then check.
3. Practise with the 2027 sheets. GCSE Maths comes with a formulae sheet, and GCSE Physics and Combined Science with an equation sheet. AQA confirms the 2027 sheets are the same ones used in 2026. Know where everything is on them before the mock.
4. Do timed papers. A full paper takes 1 hour 30 minutes or more, so mix full papers at weekends with short timed ones on weekday evenings.
5. Keep your routine in mock week. Sleep, eat and travel as you will in June. The mock is a rehearsal for the routine as well as the paper.

Use a daily paper as a short timed mock

A new paper appears every day in each GCSE we cover: Maths Foundation and Higher, Combined Science Foundation and Higher, Biology, Chemistry and Physics at both tiers, and Computer Science.

1. Clear the desk: a pen, a calculator if the paper allows one, and the formulae or equation sheet for maths and physics.
2. Start the timer and don't pause it.
3. Mark the paper, then read the mark scheme for every part where you dropped marks.
4. Put each lost mark in one of the three piles above, and sit tomorrow's paper the same way.

Free GCSE mock papers by subject

Each subject has its own page on its daily mock paper, how it compares with the real exam and how to sit it:

• GCSE Maths mock papers, Higher and Foundation
• GCSE Biology mock paper
• GCSE Chemistry mock paper
• GCSE Physics mock paper
• GCSE Combined Science mock paper
• GCSE Computer Science mock paper

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