Past Papers · Using past papers
Building a Past-Paper Error Log That Actually Works
Written by Rig, our founder
8 years teaching IGCSE & SPM maths · Updated 16 August 2026
Most students do past papers, mark them, feel briefly bad about the score, and move on. The mistake evaporates and reappears in the next paper. An error log breaks that loop: it captures each lost mark in a form specific enough to act on, and it reveals that your lost marks are not random, they cluster into two or three recurring leaks.
The format
Keep it boring and consistent. One row per lost mark, four columns:
| Paper / Q | Topic | The exact error | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 Q7 | Calculus | Wrote in my head, never on paper | Always write the “set ” line |
| P2 Q4 | Trig | Calculator in degrees for (radians) | Check mode before every trig calc |
| P1 Q9 | Logs | Forgot to reject the negative root | Domain check every log solution |
The discipline is in the third column. “Careless” and “silly mistake” are useless, they describe your feelings, not the error. Name the exact slip: which line, which sign, which forgotten step. Only a specific error has a specific fix.
Why it works: the clustering effect
Fill the log across four or five papers and something clear emerges. The twenty-odd rows are not twenty different problems, they collapse into a handful of repeat offenders. Perhaps half your lost marks are unwritten method lines, or dropped negative roots, or radian/degree mode slips. Those clusters are your revision list, ranked by how many marks they cost. No generic “revise trig” advice can target you as precisely as your own log.
Reading it at the right moment
The log earns its keep in the ninety seconds before you start the next paper. Reread it, and the leak you are about to repeat is sitting in your working memory exactly when it would otherwise strike. This single habit, rereading the log before each paper, does more to stop repeat errors than any amount of extra content revision, because most lost marks in 0606 are execution, not knowledge.
Before the exam, the log becomes a final checklist: the personal traps you know you fall into, condensed to a page. Pair it with the common exam mistakes every 0606 student makes and you have both the general and the personal covered.
Where a tutor speeds it up
A specialist reads your script and names the error faster and more precisely than you can, especially the notation and method-mark leaks students are blind to in their own work. That is the core of what a 1-hour trial class diagnoses. Bring one marked paper and we will start the error log with you. Message us on WhatsApp to book.