Biology › Past papers › OCR Biology A

OCR A-level Biology A H420 past papers

Where to find the official H420 question papers and mark schemes, and what each of the three papers examines, as set out in the specification (Version 4.1, April 2026).

Where to get them

OCR publishes them on OCR’s assessment page for Biology A H020/H420. We checked this against OCR’s own listing on 31 August 2026.

How the qualification is broken down

Code	Paper	Length	Marks	Weighting
H420/01	Biological processes	2 hours 15 minutes	100 marks	37.0%
H420/02	Biological diversity	2 hours 15 minutes	100 marks	37.0%
H420/03	Unified biology	1 hour 30 minutes	70 marks	26.0%
H420/04	Practical Endorsement in biology	no written paper	not marked	reported separately

Read from Cambridge OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in Biology A, H420, Specification, Version 4.1, April 2026, retrieved 21 August 2026.

Published series

June 2025
10 files linked
June 2024
10 files linked
June 2023
11 files linked
June 2022
11 files linked
November 2021
10 files linked
There was no June 2021 series either: the summer exams were cancelled again and grades were awarded without them; this autumn series was for students who chose to sit the papers, so these are the 2021 papers.
November 2020
9 files linked
There was no June 2020 series. The summer exams were cancelled and grades were awarded without them; this autumn series was for students who chose to sit the papers, so these are the 2020 papers.
June 2019
11 files linked
June 2018
14 files linked
June 2017
11 files linked

The rules for the day

Learners are permitted to use a scientific or graphical calculator for components 01, 02 and 03. Cambridge OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in Biology A, H420, Specification, Version 4.1, April 2026, printed page 58, retrieved 21 August 2026 (https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/687834-download-a-level-specification.pdf)

To see which lesson teaches each heading of the specification, use the OCR Biology A specification map.

We checked these links against the exam boards’ websites on 31 August 2026. We do not host or reproduce past papers or mark schemes. If a link has moved, go to the board’s own past papers page.