OCR-MEI A-Level Maths — Past Papers, Practice Papers & Resources

Every current syllabus paper and mark scheme from 2018, the full Madas practice-paper archive, and the pre-2017 papers — collected and kept up to date by Kevin Holdstock, who has privately tutored A-Level maths for 14 years.

Working towards this exam and want one-to-one help? See how weekly tuition works →

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Thursday 20 August · GCSE results

Starting A-Level maths in September?

This is the single biggest jump in the school system, and the students who handle it best are the ones who work correctly from week one — not the ones who catch up later. If your son or daughter is starting Year 12 in September, now is the right moment to put a good structure in place, rather than waiting to see how the first term or year goes.

Ask about a September place
One-to-one tuition

What weekly tuition actually looks like

Kevin Holdstock, A-Level maths tutor

I'm Kevin. I've taught maths one to one for 14 years — the first seven travelling house to house, and every year since 2019 entirely online. I've taught the current OCR-MEI syllabus since it was first examined, and the resources on this page are the ones I use with my own students.

Lessons are usually one hour a week, always one to one, online and £120 an hour.

The step most students don't see coming

GCSE maths rewards revision. By the time students sit the exam, they've encountered a lot of the syllabus three or four times, witha little more depth each year, giving them repeated opportunities to consolidate it and address any gaps. A-Level doesn't work like that: it's taught once, the course moves quickly, and it expects independent practice from the first week.

Most students don't find this out in September with some only realising in the summer exams at the end of Year 12 — which then means a summer of catching up, before Year 13 has even started. Maths does punish gaps more than any other subject too: missing a few building blocks early can soon lead to a student feeling out of their depth and struggling to understand the rest of the syllabus as it progresses. You can't paper over it later, you do have to go back and rebuild, and that costs more time and is definitely more stress, than staying on top of it from the start would.

How the tuition works

Starting in Year 12 — the full course

We work through my study plan together from day one. As you finish each topic at school I will set you a mixed exercise for that topic — a proper overview that shows us both what's solid and what isn't. Session time then goes where it's needed: polishing the loose ends, or teaching from scratch anything that didn't land in class. Your understanding stays topped up the whole way through, rather than being audited for the first time in a mock. Most of my students take this route and stay for the full two years.

Joining late in Year 12 or at the start in Year 13 — filling gaps and polishing

If Year 12 left holes, we will find yours specifically and work on those, rather than a generic recap of the whole year. At the same time we will polish the things you do know up to a very high standard and endeavour to stay on top of Year 13 as it's taught, so you're closing the gap and keeping pace instead of choosing between them. I have very limited spaces available for this and would recommend 2 hours a week of tuition for students in this situation.

Testimonials

"Kevin has been a responsible and fun teacher who knows the content inside out. He is also a great explainer who teaches by breaking down the underlying principles behind each theory. By following Kevin's revision method, I was able to create a much more effective revision schedule, which was definitely one of the most important things that helped me achieve A*s in both Maths and Further Maths at A-level."

Coco (Student)

Grade 9 Edexcel IGCSE · A OCR FSMQ, home schooled · A* OCR-MEI A-Level Maths & Further Maths

"We feel incredibly fortunate to have found Kevin five years ago for our eldest daughter. She consistently said he was the best maths teacher she had ever encountered. So, three years ago, we asked Kevin to also take on tutoring our younger daughter. Last week, our younger daughter received her fantastic A-level results: A* in both Mathematics and Further Mathematics! She is overjoyed, particularly with the Further Maths grade, as she always considered it her most challenging subject."

Grace (Mum)

Grade 9 Edexcel IGCSE · A* OCR-MEI A-Level Maths & Further Maths

Free study plan

My recommended work plan

This is the plan I use with my own students. Follow it properly and you’ll progress from secure knowledge of each topic to the deeper understanding and problem-solving ability needed to tackle A-Level questions at the very highest level.

1

Textbook exercises, topic by topic

Use the exercises from the OCR-MEI textbooks as you finish each topic at school or college — if you're aiming for A*, you should use the orange and red questions from the textbooks to see if you have achieved that level on that topic and to uncover gaps.

2

Madas papers, section by section

After completing each of the four sections of the course — AS Pure, A2 Pure, Statistics and Mechanics — work through the relevant Madas papers in order. They become progressively harder, moving from familiar techniques to demanding questions that connect ideas and present the maths in less familiar ways. For a strong student, this is the stage that can turn solid knowledge into comfortable A*‑level understanding.

3

Past papers, under exam conditions

Closer to your exam, move from the Madas papers to the OCR-MEI past papers below. Timed, with the formulae book, marked honestly against the mark scheme — oldest years first, most recent saved for last.

4

Ready for what you haven’t seen before

By exam day, most questions will feel familiar. When the paper presents familiar maths in a new way, you’ll also have practised how to recognise what is being tested, find a route into the problem and keep going rather than being stopped by it.

Where tuition makes the difference

I’ve put the complete plan here so that any student can follow it independently. But when a question—or even its worked solution—leaves you stuck, the difficulty is often identifying exactly what you’re missing. In tuition, I can trace that difficulty back to the precise idea or connection you need, teach it in context and get you moving again—without hours spent searching through textbooks for a gap you cannot yet name. Get help following the plan →

Grade boundaries

OCR-MEI A-Level Maths grade boundaries

Overall qualification boundaries, out of 275 across all three papers, with the percentage in brackets. The A* is awarded on your total — you don't need an A* on each paper, so a strong performance on one can carry a weaker one.

SeriesA*ABCDE
2026 — overall /275223 (81%)187 (68%)155 (56%)123 (45%)92 (33%)61 (22%)
Paper 1 /10084 (84%)71 (71%)58 (58%)45 (45%)32 (32%)20 (20%)
Paper 2 /10081 (81%)68 (68%)56 (56%)45 (45%)35 (35%)23 (23%)
Paper 3 /7558 (77%)48 (64%)41 (55%)33 (44%)25 (33%)18 (24%)
2025 — overall /275226 (82%)190 (69%)159 (58%)128 (47%)97 (35%)66 (24%)
Paper 1 /10089 (89%)73 (73%)60 (60%)48 (48%)35 (35%)22 (22%)
Paper 2 /10076 (76%)65 (65%)55 (55%)44 (44%)34 (34%)23 (23%)
Paper 3 /7561 (81%)52 (69%)44 (59%)36 (48%)28 (37%)21 (28%)
2024 — overall /275231 (84%)190 (69%)156 (57%)122 (44%)89 (32%)56 (20%)
Paper 1 /10090 (90%)76 (76%)62 (62%)48 (48%)35 (35%)22 (22%)
Paper 2 /10082 (82%)69 (69%)57 (57%)45 (45%)33 (33%)21 (21%)
Paper 3 /7559 (79%)45 (60%)37 (49%)29 (39%)21 (28%)13 (17%)
2023 — overall /275224 (81%)186 (68%)151 (55%)117 (43%)83 (30%)49 (18%)
Paper 1 /10087 (87%)73 (73%)60 (60%)46 (46%)32 (32%)19 (19%)
Paper 2 /10080 (80%)66 (66%)53 (53%)41 (41%)29 (29%)17 (17%)
Paper 3 /7557 (76%)47 (63%)38 (51%)30 (40%)22 (29%)13 (17%)
2022 — overall /275212 (77%)172 (63%)138 (50%)104 (38%)71 (26%)38 (14%)
Paper 1 /10071 (71%)58 (58%)47 (47%)36 (36%)25 (25%)14 (14%)
Paper 2 /10078 (78%)64 (64%)51 (51%)38 (38%)26 (26%)14 (14%)
Paper 3 /7563 (84%)50 (67%)40 (53%)30 (40%)20 (27%)10 (13%)
Autumn 2021 — overall /275192 (70%)154 (56%)126 (46%)98 (36%)70 (25%)42 (15%)
Paper 1 /10073 (73%)58 (58%)48 (48%)37 (37%)26 (26%)15 (15%)
Paper 2 /10061 (61%)50 (50%)41 (41%)33 (33%)24 (24%)15 (15%)
Paper 3 /7558 (77%)46 (61%)37 (49%)28 (37%)20 (27%)12 (16%)
Autumn 2020 — overall /275193 (70%)159 (58%)128 (47%)97 (35%)67 (24%)37 (13%)
Paper 1 /10075 (75%)62 (62%)50 (50%)38 (38%)27 (27%)14 (14%)
Paper 2 /10066 (66%)54 (54%)44 (44%)34 (34%)24 (24%)15 (15%)
Paper 3 /7552 (69%)43 (57%)34 (45%)25 (33%)16 (21%)8 (11%)
2019 — overall /275217 (79%)178 (65%)146 (53%)114 (41%)83 (30%)52 (19%)
Paper 1 /10084 (84%)70 (70%)59 (59%)47 (47%)35 (35%)23 (23%)
Paper 2 /10073 (73%)59 (59%)48 (48%)37 (37%)27 (27%)17 (17%)
Paper 3 /7560 (80%)49 (65%)39 (52%)30 (40%)21 (28%)12 (16%)
2018 — overall /275218 (79%)197 (72%)176 (64%)155 (56%)135 (49%)115 (42%)
Paper 1 /10081 (81%)74 (74%)67 (67%)59 (59%)52 (52%)45 (45%)
Paper 2 /10075 (75%)68 (68%)61 (61%)54 (54%)47 (47%)40 (40%)
Paper 3 /7562 (83%)55 (73%)48 (64%)42 (56%)36 (48%)30 (40%)

Paper 1 is Pure Mathematics and Mechanics, Paper 2 is Pure Mathematics and Statistics, Paper 3 is Pure Mathematics and Comprehension. The Autumn 2020 and Autumn 2021 series were additional sittings held during the pandemic.

No summer exams ran in 2020 or 2021. The 2022 series was graded under transitional post-pandemic arrangements with deliberately more generous boundaries. Boundaries as published by OCR.

↓ Jump to the past papers

Using these when you mark your own past papers

Raw scores for individual papers can mislead you, because some papers are more demanding than others. In 2025, for example, OCR’s notional A* boundary was 89% on Paper 1 but only 76% on Paper 2. A student scoring 80% on Paper 1 and 76% on Paper 2 might assume that Paper 1 was their stronger performance. In fact, the Paper 2 mark reached its notional A* boundary, while the higher Paper 1 mark fell short. Use the individual paper boundaries in the table to put each mark into context. These boundaries are only a guide though: your final grade is always determined by your total mark across all three papers.

OCR-MEI Current Syllabus (first taught 2017)

Papers run oldest to newest on purpose — work through the earlier years first and save the most recent papers for timed practice close to your exam.

Marking a paper? The grade boundaries for every year are further up this page — worth checking what your score actually meant that year before you judge it. Back to grade boundaries ↑

November 2021 A Level

Paper 1: Pure & MechanicsQuestion PaperMark SchemeExaminers ReportAnswer Booklet
Paper 2: Pure & StatisticsQuestion PaperMark SchemeExaminers ReportAnswer Booklet
Paper 3: Pure & ComprehensionQuestion Paper

Comprehension Insert
Mark SchemeExaminers ReportAnswer Booklet


November 2021 AS Level

 

Paper 1: Pure & MechanicsQuestion PaperMark SchemeExaminers Report
not available
Answer Booklet
Paper 2: Pure & StatisticsQuestion PaperMark SchemeExaminers Report
not available
Answer Booklet

The 2026 papers are still locked on the website so that schools can use them for mock exams. If your school has not used these for mocks, then you should ask your school teacher for access to these papers.

A Level Sample Paper & Mark Scheme combinedPure & Mechanics Pure & StatisticsPure & Comprehension 
AS Level Sample Paper & Mark Scheme combinedPure & Mechanics Pure & Statistics 

Struggling to understand past paper questions and mark schemes?

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Madas Maths Papers

The Madas Maths papers increase in difficulty from A to Z and each have well written model solutions for you to check your anwers and learn and revise from when you get stuck. I’d suggest you start working through as many of these as papers as you can, as soon as you finish each section of the course (Year 1 pure, year 2 pure, statistics, mechanics), before moving on to your OCR-MEI past papers closer to your exam.

The Madas Maths papers are excellent exam preparation, and will consolidate all the basic concepts and standard exam questions, help you recognise the different ways the same question can be asked, but also, there are many questions designed to develop your problem solving skills and gain the deeper understanding of the syllabus required to get to A* level. If you’re able to work through most of the Madas Maths papers you’ll find the OCR-MEI papers well within your capabilities.

Madas papers uncovering gaps in your understanding?

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OCR-MEI Pre-2017 Syllabus Papers:

These are the past papers from the OCR-MEI Pre-2017 Syllabus. This syllabus comprised of 6 modules. The C1 and C2 papers were the core AS level Pure modules, C3 and C4 were the core A2 Level Pure modules, S1 and S2 were the Statistics modules, and M1 and M2 were the Mechanics modules. The Pre-2017 Syllabus content doesnt exactly match up to the current syllabus content with some topics no longer tested and new topics have been added.

These papers can be a useful resource if you want OCR-MEI exam questions from a particular topic, but want to save the limited number of current syllabus past papers until closer to your exam. They are also a great resource if you want extra practice at the comprehension paper.  (You’ll find the old syllabus comprehension papers under the C4 tab.)

However, if you’ve done the Madas Maths papers suggested above and are looking for more papers to practice, then I’d suggest you go to the AQA, OCR and Edexcel A-Level resources sections, and do their current syllabus past papers, rather than these OCR-MEI Pre-2017 syllabus papers, as the current A-Level Maths syllabus is almost identical across all exam boards, and a much better match to the current OCR-MEI syllabus.

One hour a week. One to one. Tailored to your specific needs.

Weekly online lessons with structured work in between — the right exercises after each topic, the right practice papers at the right time, and someone making sure the gaps get found while they're still small.

£120 per hour

14 years teaching A-Level maths · Now booking one-to-one places for September

Or email kevin@khmaths.com