When do state schools usually start GCSE mock exams?

[dylexicdementor11]

When do state schools usually have children sit mock exams for GCSEs ? DCs private school starts mock exams in year nine and I wondered if this also happens in the state sector. Thanks!

DS grammar finish KS3 maths and science in year 8 so start Ks4 aka GCSE curriculum and in year 9 for those subjects only. They all do triple science as default and more than half the year does further or ad maths GCSE so it makes sense.

Year 7 and Year 8 is “informal” end of year exams in classrooms in all subjects. Year 9 onwards is end of year exams in the actual exam hall to get used to that and for maths and sciences and English language already includes GCSE style questions in the topics covered. Year 10 onwards is full mock exams in all subjects based on content taught to date at the end of the year in exam hall. Year 11 was two lots of full mock exams before actual GCSEs, but they are talking about changing it to 1 lot in Jan only. There is so much content to cover, doing two many mocks actually can detract from teaching and learning I think.

How can they sit GCSE mocks when they will only have covered a small fraction of the curriculum? Do you mean GCSE style mocks rather than entire past papers?

Ours sat some of their GCSEs at the the of year 10(English lit, Welsh lit, 1/2 of the sciences and 1/2 of maths), so had mocks for those just after Christmas, but even then it was acknowledged that they hadn’t completed the curriculum.

End of unit testing more regularly is far more useful in my opinion and helps to highlight any parts that haven’t been fully understood

DC’s school only start gcse courses on June of Y9.
Mocks at end Y10; before Christmas Y11 and Easter Y11.

Yes this was my query too. In fact the op says specifically that their DC sat actual GCSE past papers on content they had not been taught. Surely that makes no sense?

I agree with @Octavia64 that linear subjects such as maths can for sure be examined I. KS3 - would also add MFL; more than possible to set an exam
in year 9 in the style of a GCSE. What it can’t be tho is an actual GCSE paper if none of the content (specific topics such as festivals or technology) has not been covered. Can you clarify @dylexicdementor11 ?

Absolutely @clary

Surely testing kids on content that they’re not yet covered is a sure fire way of knocking their confidence and losing motivation.

I’m interested to hear @dylexicdementor11‘s reply.

With regards to picking options in year 8, I honestly don’t feel that in state comprehensives they will have spent enough time doing subjects like food tech, music, DT etc to make a considered choice by term 2 in year 8. Year 9 is fine. Core subjects can crack on with the GCSE curriculum as soon as they can as everyone will be sitting those subjects.

Hello, thanks for responses and for the queries.

DC did set past GCSE papers although I assume that the children did not sit the entire exam.
if I’m not mistaken, the children were only given exam questions that they could potentially answer given the learning that they have had.

But yes, I agree with the posters that have said to that this approach does not make sense– hence my original post. 😊

So more they were given a paper made up of GCSE questions on topics they had studied?

Sorry, I should also clarify that at DC private school the children take all of the subjects that are later offered as option modules during GCSE years in year 9.
So they have been exposed to a wide variety of subjects by the end of year 9. Much longer school days enable this.

I believe they were given sections of previous GCSE exams.

It sounds like they’re potentially wasting GCSE past paper questions that could be much more useful to the kids when they’re closer to taking their exams and are sitting real mocks - full papers in exam conditions.

The teachers should be composing their own questions to test knowledge and understanding in year 9.

Lots of family and friends in teaching.
Options start in February of Year 9.
GCSE course content teaching starts in September of Year 10 when schools open.
Year 10 have Mock Exams for units they have covered in June.
Year 11 have two set of mock exams: first set in November and second set in March.

Yeah this absolutely isn’t done in maths.

writing exam questions is a dark art. It’s horrendously easy to write a question absolutely nobody can answer because the kids just don’t have the knowledge.

eg anyone can set basic arithmetic questions like
34+25

but then you get into word problems.

we used to use old questions from GCSEs picked by topic and then we had a question about developing camera film that the year sevens didn’t understand because they’d never seen a non digital camera.

there was also a massive furore over a maths GCSEs question that asked about theatre seats - some kids hadn’t been to the theatre and had no idea how the seats were numbered or that they came in separate blocks

i used to do teacher training for maths teachers and it was always funny to pull out maths problems from another country and get them to try to solve them

eg

two cycle rickshaws are going to Gondar. How many wheels do they have?

this looks like a maths question but it is only partially. It’s also relying on you knowing what a cycle rickshaw is and how many wheels it has.

maths questions that are used at gcse go through a testing process where they are tested out in groups of people for any misunderstanding or cultural knowledge that they need.

if that cultural knowledge isn’t specifically on the syllabus as an example of that maths in context it gets binned.

for example you can no longer assume kids know about stamps. You can test them on coins and notes because it’s on the syllabus and they are expected to know there isn’t a three pound note. You can test them on volumes and sizes and measurements because they are on the syllabus but you can’t use anything with imperial units because it isn’t and a gallon (other measurements are available) is a different size in many countries.

Ours pick a bigger set of options for year 9, and then drop 2 more from year 10/11. So year 9 is basically a sandbox year, in which they are trying out subjects.
they have end of year exams from year 7 on, but not gcse mocks until year 10.

Ah OK if it’s GCSE style questions on what they have studied (so if they start GCSE in year 9 and study A Christmas Carol, then a question on that in the style of the final GCSE) then that makes more sense.

I was confused @dylexicdementor11 bc you said “DC school has all the children sit mock GCSE exams end of year 9 … But the proper GCSE curriculum does start till year 10”, which indicated (assuming you meant “does not start” ) that the exams were GCSE past papers with content they YP had not learned. You also mentioned a concern (which I share!) about children being tested on content they had not been taught, which supported this view.

I guess (reasonably enough tbh!) you are not aware in detail of what was included in your DC’s mock exams. Let’s hope they were able to answer the questions.

For sure exams and tests are a useful tool throughout a YP’s school career. I would not call a year 9 exam a GCSE mock tho as I’m not sure it’s super helpful to start with that terminology so early. There will be time enough in year 10 and 11 to call them GCSE mocks (and indeed present something more akin to an actual GCSE exam).

I also agree that it is wasteful to use up GCSE questions in year 9 haha. In my subject (MFL) the spec is new for exams this year (ie May and June 2026) so the only past papers are a couple of sample sets and the papers from 2026. Best to keep your powder dry if you teach MFL.

Loving that maths exam question intel @Octavia64!

It depends on how you define "mocks", which could mean anything between practising doing an exam in formal conditions and doing a complete GCSE dummy run.

Formal exam conditions, but on work covered so that year - some schools do that from year 7. In year 7/8 it's more likely to be in a classroom, just because of space considerations.

Questions taken from GCSE papers but on things they've covered - quite subject dependent. For instance, upper maths sets in KS3 will cover most of foundation tier GCSE, but in history they'd be studying a completely different period. There's something to be said for starting to get used to the style of questions before KS4, so schools may use genuine GCSE questions if they can, or write some questions in a similar style.

A full set of past GCSE papers as a formal mock is not likely until year 11 (and probably not until after Christmas), as they won't have covered the full syllabus, but year 10s might well sit one paper, or papers adapted to take out things they haven't yet covered.

Our school did mocks as how the actual exams would be, for them to have a realistic experience on what to expect in the real exams.
They were in the hall/alternative exam rooms that would be used on the day.
They were given instructions as they would do on the day.

The papers were made up of past paper questions on topics they had covered. For sciences that was most of the module.
Maths was done in a similar way.
English, the module had been completed and they had moved onto the next one, so would have bern past paper questions.
The mocks were Feb, the actual exams were May/June.

Year 10

I think this is school dependent.

My dc chose GCSE options in Y8 and started them in Y9. It is a grammar school and they started the GCSE courses in most subjects during Y9. At the end of Y9 they had their first time writing exams under full GCSE JCQ conditions. They were given GCSE questions for the GCSE content they had already covered. From Y7 they have written their assessments/exams in the same place (hall or allocated rooms) but under more relaxed conditions (shorter papers, no need for exam number or signing papers. Those with access arrangements more relaxed, rather than following JCQ to the letter)

In another school in the same area. The children only write exams under GCSE conditions and with GCSE questions/question papers at the end of Y10.

Children at DC school tend to be more relaxed about writing exams as it has always been the same since Y7, while quite a lot of children at the other school have a hard time adjusting initially.

Thanks so much. Based on the responses to the thread so far the approach schools take does seem the vary quite a bit.
I wonder if there is a tendency for grammar schools, selective private schools and state schools with mostly middle class catchments to start mock exams and teaching the GCSE curriculum earlier. Thanks everyone!

”i wonder if there is a tendency for grammar schools, selective private schools and state schools with mostly middle class catchments to start mock exams and teaching the GCSE curriculum earlier.”
@dylexicdementor11 - it is ability based for Maths and English. If you have an entire intake that is exceeding at end of KS2 in SATs then obviously they cover KS3 faster and ready for KS4 sooner. And maths and English you can move beyond. Same with having a cohort all doing triple science or majority doing triple science. Less so in other subjects but again languages DS grammar encourages those with passion to start competitive spelling bees from year 7. In lower ability schools they will have to teach to the majority too and it’s never good to rush ahead if the foundations aren’t secure in both Maths and English.