What are the GCSE science required practicals?

Which required practicals are on my course?

Combined Science students do 7 in biology, 6 in chemistry and 8 in physics. Separate science students do those plus the ones marked "Separate only" below. Each practical has its own guide, with the method, the variables and the questions it turns into.

How are the required practicals examined?

Inside the normal written papers. There is no practical exam and nothing you write up in class is marked towards your grade. Instead, at least 15% of the marks across the papers test practical skills, and the required practicals are the experiments those questions are built around. Your school also confirms to the exam board that you have had the chance to do each one, which is why teachers ask you to keep a record of them.

Because the questions come from experiments you have actually done, they reward memory of the real thing: what you measured, what you kept the same, what went wrong and how you would do it better.

What do exam questions ask about them?

The same handful of question types come back every year, whichever practical they are about:

• Name the independent, dependent or a control variable.
• Describe the method, often as a 6-mark question that wants steps in a sensible order.
• Complete a results table or draw a graph, with sensible scales and a line of best fit.
• Calculate something from the results: a mean, a rate, a percentage change, a gradient.
• Spot an anomalous result and explain what might have caused it.
• Suggest an improvement that makes the results more accurate or more repeatable.
• Identify a hazard and how to reduce the risk.

How do I revise the required practicals?

Treat each one as a short story you can tell from memory: what it investigates, the method in five or six steps, the variables, the one calculation it needs and one improvement. If you can say those out loud without notes, you are ready for most questions on it.

Then practise the 6-mark method question on paper, because that is where students lose the most marks: steps out of order, measurements with no units, or no mention of repeating the experiment. Drawing the apparatus from memory helps too, since a labelled diagram can carry marks. Our printable required practicals tracker gives you a page to tick each one off as you go.

What about Edexcel and OCR?

The skills examined are the same on every board, and many of the experiments are too. Pearson Edexcel calls them core practicals. OCR groups practical work into Practical Activity Groups, and your school chooses experiments that cover each group. If you are not on AQA, use the method and the exam advice in these guides, and check your board's specification for the exact list.