What's New?
Past Papers let you simulate a real exam using questions based on themes and insights from recent exam sittings.
Use them to benchmark your performance, practise under timed conditions,and build confidence before the real exam.
Browse and Select a Past Paper
You can access past papers from your Exam Dashboard.
Select Past Papers
Choose an exam sitting from the list (e.g. MRCP 2 July 25)
Expand a year to view all available sittings
Select any past paper to open its overview page
Each past paper shows:
Pass mark
Confidence rating (accuracy score based on Pastest data)
Total questions
Time limit
Confidence rating is a new feature we're super excited about. This is our measure of how accurate the past paper is. The more data we were able to collect on recent themes that appeared in the real exam, the higher the confidence rating and the closer you can expect this past paper to be to the real thing!
Start or Continue a Past Paper
On the past paper overview page, you can:
Select New session to start a fresh attempt
Select Resume Session if you already have a session in progress for that past paper
Your past paper opens in exam mode with:
A countdown timer replacing the Qbank session score
The full set of questions for that sitting
Navigation and tools similar to the Qbank
Working through the Past Paper
Past papers work like Qbank sessions, with one key difference: you won’t see the correct answers or explanations until you finish the paper.
During the exam:
Use the navigation bar to move forwards and backwards
Flag or bookmark questions you want to revisit
Leave comments and join discussions if you need clarity or want to contribute to a discussion
You can also open the Textbook link at any time if you want context or additional information. But if you really want to replicate exam conditions, you can just ignore this!
Your remaining time is always visible at the top.
Tip: Work strategically. Bookmark tricky questions and return to them once the main pass is complete.
What Happens When My Time Runs Out
Don't worry, the timer is there to help you practise but we won't end your session if you still want to finish the remaining questions.
If you do want to mimic exam conditions then you can of course end the session manually as soon as your time runs out — it's your choice!
End a Past Paper Manually
If you complete all the questions and want to finish with time remaining:
Select End Session
Confirm that you want to end your session
You’ll be taken straight to the Session Summary
Or if you want to pick it up again later, you can also choose to Save for Later.
Session Summary and Reviewing Answers
Your Session Summary shows:
Your score vs the pass mark
Questions answered, correct, incorrect, and skipped
A table showing all the questions — you can also filter by all, correct, incorrect, skipped and bookmarked.
When you select a question to review in detail, you'll see:
The correct answer
Your selected answer
Full explanation
Peer response percentages → a breakdown of how many candidates selected each option
Links to the related textbook topic
Tips for Using Past Papers Effectively
Treat them like real exams. Clear your schedule, mind the timer, give yourself the benefit uninterrupted, full focus.
Review thoroughly. The learning happens in the review stage.
Note the themes. Our past papers are based on candidate insights from recent sittings — what you see here might just show up on exam day too!
In Summary
Past papers give you:
A realistic exam simulation
Timed, structured practice
Accurate pass marks and confidence scoring
Full review tools once you finish
Integrated comments and textbook access
They’re designed to help you build exam readiness — step by step, so that you're fully ready by the time of your exam day!