"Cambridge Checkpoint past papers" is searched with a grade attached (grade 5, grade 6, grade 8, grade 9) and usually with "pdf", by parents who have been told the test is in April and want something to practise on tonight. The honest answer has three parts: the real papers are with your school, a lot of what is online is from a retired version of the test, and how a paper is used matters far more than how many are done. This page covers all three and ends with a free 20-question Stage 9 maths practice set with answers. What the test is, when it is sat and how the 0 to 50 score works is in Cambridge Checkpoint explained.
Download the Stage 9 maths practice set (PDF) (20 questions in the style of the Lower Secondary Checkpoint, answers with working, A4, free).
Where the genuine papers are
Your child's school. Cambridge provides Checkpoint past papers and mark schemes to registered schools through its secure support site for teachers. They are not published for the public. In practice every Cambridge school has the last several series for every subject, and most teachers will send two or three home if a parent asks in January rather than in the week before the test. Ask for the mark scheme too; a paper without one is half a resource.
Cambridge's own website. Specimen papers with mark schemes are published for each Checkpoint subject. They are written to the current framework and are the only fully reliable guide to the current format, question style and mark allocation.
Everywhere else. Many websites host Checkpoint PDFs. Some are recent papers that have been passed on; many are from before 2023. They can still be useful, as long as you know which you are looking at.
How to tell a current paper from a retired one
Cambridge revised the Primary and Lower Secondary curriculum frameworks, and the first Checkpoint tests on the revised frameworks were sat in 2023. The subject codes changed at the same time, which makes the cover of the paper the quickest check:
| Checkpoint | Subject | Current code | Retired code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Secondary (Stage 9) | English | 0861 | 1111 |
| Lower Secondary (Stage 9) | Mathematics | 0862 | 1112 |
| Lower Secondary (Stage 9) | Science | 0893 | 1113 |
| Primary (Stage 6) | English | 0058 | 0844 |
| Primary (Stage 6) | Mathematics | 0096 | 0845 |
| Primary (Stage 6) | Science | 0097 | 0846 |
If the code on the cover is in the right-hand column, the paper is from the retired version. Three things differ: some topics moved between stages, the science papers put more weight on thinking and working scientifically, and results are now a score from 0 to 50 with a performance band (unclassified, basic, aspiring, good, high, outstanding) instead of the old 0.0 to 6.0. Any website that tells you "a 4.0 is a good score" is describing the old test.
Retired papers are still good practice for the skills that did not move: fractions, algebra, angle reasoning, reading a science table. Use them by topic. Do not use them to judge how your child will score.
Which stage is which grade
| What you are searching for | Which test it almost always is | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint past papers grade 5 or grade 6 | Primary Checkpoint, end of Stage 6 | 10 to 11 |
| Checkpoint past papers year 6 | Primary Checkpoint, end of Stage 6 | 10 to 11 |
| Checkpoint past papers grade 8 | Lower Secondary Checkpoint, end of Stage 9 (schools that call the year Grade 8) | 13 to 14 |
| Checkpoint past papers grade 9 or year 9 | Lower Secondary Checkpoint, end of Stage 9 | 13 to 14 |
There are only two Checkpoint tests. There is no Checkpoint at Stage 7 or 8; the tests schools set in those years are Cambridge Progression Tests, marked by the school. If your child is in Stage 7 or 8 and you want practice material, Stage 9 past papers used topic by topic are the right thing, because the lower secondary content builds towards them.
How to use a paper so that it moves the score
- First paper: untimed, open book. The aim is to meet the format: maths has a paper without a calculator and a paper with one; science questions give data and ask for a conclusion; English has reading and writing. Nothing should be a surprise in the hall.
- Mark it to the mark scheme, not to the answer. Checkpoint mark schemes award method marks. A wrong answer with a correct method often keeps a mark; a correct answer with no working sometimes loses one. Children who have only ever been marked right or wrong do not know this until they see a scheme.
- Sort the lost marks into three piles: did not know the topic; knew it but made a slip; did not understand what the question was asking. The three have different cures (teach it; slow down and check; practise command words such as "explain", "show that", "give a reason"). Most children are surprised by how large the third pile is.
- Rework every lost mark the next day, on a clean page, without looking at the scheme. This is the step that gets skipped and the one that works.
Then the next paper, timed, a fortnight later. If the same pile is the biggest again, that is the thing to spend the fortnight on.
A plan to the test
Checkpoint is offered in two series a year, in April or May and in October; your school chooses one.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 12 to 10 weeks before | One specimen paper per subject, untimed. Sort the lost marks. |
| 10 to 6 weeks before | The weakest two topics per subject, taught properly; retired papers used topic by topic. |
| 6 to 2 weeks before | One timed paper per subject every two weeks from the school's recent papers; mark to the scheme; rework. |
| Last 2 weeks | Nothing new. The error list from the reworks, read twice. Sleep. |
The free practice set
Twenty questions in the style of the Lower Secondary Checkpoint mathematics papers, written by us (they are not Cambridge questions): ten for the non-calculator paper and ten for the calculator paper, across number, algebra, geometry and measure, and statistics and probability, with the marks shown and full working in the answers. Forty minutes, then mark it together.
Download the Stage 9 maths practice set (PDF)
Read the result the way you would read a real paper: which strand lost the most marks, and which of the three piles they belong to.
What Checkpoint is not
It is not a pass-or-fail examination and no university sees it. Schools use it to check their own teaching, to set classes for the following year, and at Stage 9 to guide IGCSE subject choices and tiers. A child who scores in the "good" band has not failed anything. The reason to prepare is that Stage 9 is the base IGCSE is built on, and the gaps a Checkpoint paper shows at 13 are the same gaps that cost grades at 16.
Where to get help
A weekly 1-on-1 online class with a tutor who teaches Cambridge Lower Secondary and IGCSE mathematics and science: stage content a topic ahead of school, past papers under time from January, every paper marked to the Cambridge mark scheme with the lost marks sorted and reworked in the next class. The IGCSE maths page shows where Stage 9 leads; the free 30-minute first class is a real lesson on this week's topic. If the algebra is where the marks are going, start with solving quadratic equations step by step.
Questions parents ask
1Where can I get Cambridge Checkpoint past papers?
2Which Cambridge Checkpoint is Grade 8 or Grade 9?
3Are old Cambridge Checkpoint past papers still useful?
4How many past papers should my child do before Checkpoint?
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Shobha
Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha
Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.