Today is D-Day for South Africa’s Matric class of 2021 as the exam season kicks off and the government has once again recommended using past papers as a study method.
The official account for the South African Government (@GovernmentZA) has shared a link to the past papers section of the Department of Basic Education website.
When you follow the link to this page students, parents and educators can find the past exams on the right sidebar.
The list is rather exhaustive and contains past papers going all the way back to 2008. This includes not only National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination papers but also supplementary exams, exemplars (answers with marking details) and some papers from the May / June exam seasons.
There are some oddities here, however. The biggest omission here is that not all the past papers have accompanying exemplars to go with them so students practicing can’t be 100 percent sure of their answers. While educators and group studying can help here it’s always nice to have an official source for an answer as a way to sanity check your work.
There are also some resources here for those not yet in Matric, such as Grade 10 and Grade 11 Common Papers. Preparation for Matric usually starts around this time (and sometimes even earlier) so this is a welcome inclusion.
Finally all of this should come with a bit of a warning. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has continually warned about sharing leaked exam papers. While sharing past papers and working as a group with other students is of course allowed, be very wary of anyone claiming to have the latest 2021 exams ahead of time. Punishment for irregularities during the exams comes with harsh repercussions.
Good morning SA! Matric exams start today! We wish all learners well during the exam period. You can use old examination papers to revise for your exams! #2021NSCExams https://t.co/odbK7xXMeH pic.twitter.com/TKKglvPyUH
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) October 27, 2021
