Physics › Past papers › OCR H556
OCR H556 past papers
Three written components and a practical endorsement, and you must complete all four. Components 01 and 02 are 2 hours 15 minutes and 100 marks each, 37 per cent apiece. Component 03 is 1 hour 30 minutes and 70 marks, the remaining 26 per cent, and is synoptic across all six modules. The three written components are taken in the same series at the end of the course, and there is one series a year, in May and June.
Read off OCR’s specification for A Level Physics A (H556), version 3.0, dated March 2026; the check was made on 3 August 2026. The assessment table in that document carries no printed page number, so the attribution is to the named version rather than to a page. If OCR publish a revision it supersedes this page until the page has been re-checked against it, so always check OCR’s own site for the year you are sitting.
Components 01 and 02 open with Section A, 15 marks of multiple-choice questions, then Section B, 85 marks of short-answer questions including structured problems, calculations and practical work, plus extended responses. You answer all questions. OCR is the only one of the four boards that puts multiple choice in a fixed block at the front of a paper.
Modules 1 and 2, practical skills and the foundations of physics, are examined on both 01 and 02. That is why Measurements appears on both component pages. At least 40 per cent of the marks across the written examinations assess mathematics at Level 2 or above in a physics context. Calculators are permitted for components 01 to 03, subject to the current JCQ rules.
The papers
- Paper 1: Modelling physicsH556/01 · 2 hours 15 minutes · 100 marks · 37.0% of the A-level
- Paper 2: Exploring physicsH556/02 · 2 hours 15 minutes · 100 marks · 37.0% of the A-level
- Paper 3: Unified physicsH556/03 · 1 hour 30 minutes · 70 marks · 26.0% of the A-level
- Practical Endorsement in physicsH556/04
Each paper has a page of its own naming what it assesses, how it is marked and which parts of this library it draws on. A candidate is marked out of 270.
Where to get them
OCR publishes its own past papers and mark schemes on the AS and A Level Physics A (H156, H556) assessment page. Take a paper from OCR rather than from a revision site, so that you get the right version with its mark scheme.
The series the board publishes
OCR currently publishes 9 examined series, June 2017 to June 2025. OCR lists H156 and H556 together; only the H556 rows are here. Each series below has its own page listing what is published for it.
Every link below goes to OCR’s own copy on its own servers. InkPhysics hosts no past paper and no mark scheme, and links no mirror of one. Checked against OCR’s own listing on 31 August 2026; papers are added and withdrawn without notice, so if a link has moved, use OCR’s own page instead.
Where the mapping is rough
Five of the library’s units carry AQA option names, and where OCR covers that content it is compulsory rather than optional. Medical physics is module 6, and four Turning points lessons are H556/02 material. If a unit name looks like somebody else’s option, check the specification map before deciding it is not for you.
Some single lessons cross the other way and are left out of the paper pages’ unit lists: Diffraction gratings and two Quantum phenomena lessons reach 01 through module 5’s stellar spectra, Scalars and vectors reaches 02 through module 2, and The field concept reaches 02 through module 6. Listing Waves or Mechanics against 01 or 02 on the strength of one lesson would mislead more than it helps.
The point-by-point view is the OCR A specification map.
Links to AQA, Pearson, OCR and Cambridge International are provided for convenience. InkPhysics is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and none of them is responsible for the content of this site. AQA’s copyright policy does not permit its materials to be reproduced on third-party websites in any format, and we take the same line with the other three: every paper link on this site goes to the board’s own file.