Past Papers Strategy
Past papers are your best teacher in S6. Use them deliberately, not just to "feel busy".
Sources
- Official paper sets from HKEAA (P1 + P2 with marking schemes).
- Sample papers for the new (2025+) curriculum — extremely valuable since 2026 introduces Python-only Module D and PHP in 2B.
- School mock papers — usually based on past official questions.
Suggested rotation
| Phase | Frequency | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| S5 Term 2 | Once a month | 1 Paper 1 |
| S5 Term 3 | Every 3 weeks | 1 Paper 1 + 1 Paper 2 (your two electives) |
| S6 Term 1 | Weekly | 1 full paper, timed |
| S6 Term 2 | Twice a week | Targeted past paper sections + marking |
How to attempt a past paper properly
- Sit it timed. No pauses, no phone.
- Use only the materials you'll have on the day (calculator, the reference sheet inside the paper).
- Mark yourself with the official mark scheme.
- Tag every wrong answer by module + sub-topic.
- Re-do missed questions one week later.
Common patterns across years
- Number-base conversion in Paper 1 MC (almost every year).
- Pseudocode trace in Paper 1 Section B (every year).
- SQL multi-table JOIN in Paper 2A (every year).
- HTTP / DNS in Paper 1 (most years).
- PHP + database in Paper 2B (from 2026 onwards).
How to analyse a paper after marking
Use a table like:
| Q# | Topic | Score | Why I lost marks | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MC binary | 0/1 | Misread the "NOT" | Slow down on negated MC |
| 4(b) | SQL JOIN | 2/4 | Wrong table for ON | Practise 3-table joins |
| 6(c) | Pseudocode | 3/5 | Missed END FOR | Use HKEAA syntax |
After 5 past papers, this table is your personal syllabus of weaknesses.
Where students lose easy marks
- Not reading mark allocation → too short, too long.
- Skipping the easier parts of a structured question because the first part was hard.
- Forgetting units (KB vs MB, seconds vs milliseconds).
- Not labelling diagrams.
- Misreading "two" as "many" in lists ("State two reasons" — write two, not three).
Replay past-paper SQL questions live
For Paper 2A and SBA, recreate the past-paper schemas in SQL Books as templates. Each year's question gets its own sandbox. You can return to a previous template, change one clause, see how the output differs — the kind of deep play that pure paper revision cannot deliver.
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