OCR maths J560 past papers and more: FOUNDATION
Practicing past papers should rank highly on any students list of prioritys. But practice alone, is not enough to ensure improvement and success. It is vital that the student also marks their answers and then seeks help/support to "plug" those gaps in their knowledge and understanding. This support can come from a teacher, friend, family member or a private tutor. Just be aware that seeking help from too many different people, can become a hinderence to the learner. Since, different people may have differerent teaching styles and different ways of solving problems which could potentially become confusing for the learner.
I recommend that students
- Access and download a OCR foundation past paper.
- Mark their answers using the mark scheme.
- Seek help to understand questions you are unable to answer.
- Complete more revision on weak topic areas.
Below you will find all the available
past papers,
mark schemes and importantly the grade boundaries for the OCR GCSE foundation examination. Also included on this page are the course's specification and other useful information, including the
dates of the next examination.
The dates of the OCR GCSE maths examinations 2025 and 2026
| Autumn Retake 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Paper 1 | Wednesday 5th November |
| Paper 2 | Friday 7th November |
| Paper 3 | Monday 10th November |
| Summer exams 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Paper 1 | Thursday 14th May |
| Paper 2 | Wednesday 3rd June |
| Paper 3 | Wednesday 10th June |
Each year, there are two opportunities for a student to sit their maths GCSE. The first is in May/June. The second is the November resit. A student will complete their first attempt of the maths GCSE examinations, when they are leaving school, in the summer term of school Year 11. A grade level of 4 or higher is deemed a pass grade. On completing school education, students transisition to either college or sixth-form education. During their time at sixth form or college, those students with a maths grade of 1, 2 or 3 are expected to resit their maths GCSE until they do achive a pass grade. They will have a maximum of two attempts in Year 12 and then two attempts in Year 13.
OCR FOUNDATION available past papers and mark schemes (5 - 1)
This examination comprises of three test papers called papers 1, 2 and 3.
Paper 1 uses a calculator
Paper 2 is a non-calculator examination
Paper 3 uses a calculator
The scores from each paper are combined to give the students examination total score.
A maximum of 300 marks is possible.
Summer 2021 = no examinations took place.
Instead, the summer 2021 papers were transfered to/used for the November 2021 examinations in Autumn.
Summer 2020 = no examinations took place.
Instead, the summer 2020 papers were transfered to/used for the November 2020 examinations in Autumn.
OCR grade boundaries: Higher (9 - 3)
| Duration | Number marks | |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 4 | 1.5 hours | 100 |
| Paper 5 | 1.5 hours | 100 |
| Paper 6 | 1.5 hours | 100 |
| MAX SCORE | 300 |
The scores from the three papers are added producing the pupils total score. This score will then slot into a grade boundary. A maximum score of 300 is possible.
For example,
using the table below, a student with a combined total score of 150 out of 300 = 50% in the summer of June 2017 was awarded a grade 6.
| OCR foundation | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2017 | 58.0% = 174 | 42.0% = 126 | 31.0% = 93 | 20.0% = 60 | 9.3% = 28 |
| November 2017 | 49.7% = 149 | 39.0% = 117 | 28.3% = 85 | 18.0% = 54 | 7.7% = 23 |
| June 2018 | 62.3% = 187 | 48.7% = 146 | 35.0% = 105 | 21.3% = 64 | 8.0% = 24 |
| November 2018 | 60.0% = 180 | 51.3% = 154 | 37.7% = 113 | 24.0% = 72 | 10.3% = 31 |
| June 2019 | 63.0% = 189 | 48.0% = 144 | 34.7% = 104 | 21.3% = 64 | 8.0% = 24 |
| November 2019 | 58.7% = 176 | 46.3% = 139 | 34.0% = 102 | 21.7% = 65 | 9.3% = 28 |
| Covid = NOV 2020 | 52.6% = 158 | 41.0% = 123 | 29.3% = 88 | 17.7% = 53 | 6.0% = 18 |
| Covid = NOV 2021 | 51.7% = 155 | 40.3% = 121 | 29.0% = 87 | 17.7% = 53 | 6.7% = 20 |
| June 2022 | 56.7% = 170 | 39.7% = 119 | 28.3% = 85 | 17.3% = 52 | 6.3% = 19 |
| November 2022 | 56.0% = 168 | 39.0% = 117 | 28.0% = 64 | 17.0% = 51 | 6.3% = 19 |
| June 2023 | 59.3% = 178 | 43.0% = 129 | 30.1% = 92 | 18.7% = 56 | 6.7% = 20 |
| November 2023 | 55.0% = 165 | 40.0% = 120 | 29.3% = 88 | 17.7% = 53 | 6.7% = 20 |
| June 2024 | 60.0% = 180 | 43.7% = 131 | 31.0% = 93 | 18.3% = 55 | 6.0% = 18 |
| November 2024 | 59.3% = 178 | 40.0% = 129 | 30.1% = 92 | 18.7% = 56 | 6.7% = 20 |
| June 2025 | 60.7% = 182 | 44.7% = 134 | 31.7% = 95 | 18.7% =56 | 5.7% = 17 |
NOTE: percentages are rounded to nearest 1 d.p.
Grade boundaries can change a little from year to year, as you will see in the table above. Although OCR work hard to produce exam papers that are of the same level of difficulty each year, small variations do occur. To compensate for this the exam board adjusts the grade boundaries.
More about OCR series J560
The OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA) exam board aims to “promote educational excellence and high-quality learning”. The questions on this OCR GCSE maths
series J560 are not as wordy.
The purpose of the 100 marks per paper, rather than 80 marks per paper with the AQA and Edexcel exam boards, is to provide more scope for awarding method marks within each question.
