If your internet is unreliable, you do not have to wait for a download before you start practising IJMB past questions. Most IJMB centres, school libraries and subject teachers already hold printed copies, and a polite, specific request usually gets you access to them. The work is in knowing who to ask, what to check before you pay for photocopies, and how to keep track of what you still do not have. Try free JUPEB past/practice question.
This page covers only that offline route — the copies your school already keeps for its own students. For the wider picture, including digital sources, see our main guide on how to get IJMB and JUPEB past questions and answers. Nothing here involves leaked papers. You are asking for material the centre already stores for practice.
Ask your IJMB centre about past question copies
Start at the centre office. Ask for the coordinator, the programme officer, or whoever handles examinations, and put your request in one sentence: you want to practise past questions for certain subjects, and you want to know which years the centre holds and how you can get access.
Ask four specific things:
- Which subjects and years the centre holds, and in what form — bound booklets, loose sheets, or files on a computer.
- Whether you can read them in the office, borrow them, or only copy selected pages.
- Whether photocopying is allowed, and whether there is a charge.
- Who else keeps copies, if the office does not have the year you need.
Timing matters. Ask early in the session, not in the week before an examination or during registration when the office is crowded. Carry a notebook and write down the answer, including the name of the person who gave it, so you do not have to ask twice.
A short written note helps. Put your name, your class, the subjects you take, the years you already have, and what you are asking for. Hand it over and leave it with the office if the officer is busy. Staff respond better to a clear note than to a student standing at the counter at the wrong moment.
If the centre says no
Ask what they do allow rather than arguing. Many centres will let you read a copy in the office even when they will not let it leave the building. Ask who taught the subject in earlier years, and whether the library or the departmental office keeps a file. Do not offer to pay for something a staff member is not permitted to release.
Check the school library and departmental files
School and centre libraries often keep a past question file in the reference section, sometimes behind the desk rather than on the open shelf. Ask the librarian directly: do you keep IJMB past questions, which years, and can I see them?
Find out how the file is arranged — by year, by subject, or both — because a subject file that looks complete may skip years. Some libraries allow reading only; others allow photocopying at a machine nearby. Ask before you carry anything to the copier.
If the library has nothing, try the departmental office for each subject. Departments sometimes keep a folder of past papers that is separate from the library collection, especially for subjects with practical papers. The same request applies: be specific, be brief, and write down what you find.
Where copying is not allowed, copy the questions into your notebook by hand. It is slower, but you still end up with a usable paper, and you begin to notice how the questions are worded.
Request old copies from subject teachers
Subject teachers are often the most useful source, because old copies sit in their files long after the year they taught them. Ask after a lesson has ended, not in the middle of one, and be specific about what you want.
Something like this works: you are looking for the IJMB past questions for a named subject from earlier years, you want to practise under timed conditions, and if they can lend you a copy you will reproduce it at your own cost and return the original the same day.
That request lands well because it is clear, it respects the teacher's copy, and it gives a definite return time. Then keep the promise. If you return it late or damaged, the next student who asks will be told no.
A few things to avoid:
- Asking to keep the original.
- Asking during a lesson, a staff meeting or examination week.
- Borrowing a copy the teacher is currently using with another class.
- Asking for "all the past questions" without naming subjects and years — you will usually get nothing.
Ask separately whether the teacher has a marking guide or scheme. A paper without answers still helps, but a paper with a scheme lets you check your work. Finally, ask which colleague taught the subject in earlier years; old copies usually stay with the person who taught that session.
Confirm pages and answers before copying
Before you pay for photocopies, open the paper and check it. A missing page or a mismatched answer sheet costs you more than the copying did.
- Cover and year. The subject and year on the front page match what you asked for.
- Paper. It is the paper your examination uses — theory, practical, or the specific paper number.
- Page count. Numbering runs from the first page to the last with no gap. If there is a contents page, check the listed pages against what is in the bundle.
- Readability. Faded print or handwriting you cannot read will waste your practice time.
- Answers. Are answers included? Typed or handwritten? Do they match the questions in front of you, or were they written for a different year?
- Accuracy. Spot-check two or three answers against your textbook before you trust the rest.
Answer sheets that circulate in schools are not always official, and some are written by students. Treat any set of answers as a claim to check, not as the final word. If the pages you need are missing, ask for a better copy before you copy anything — it is far easier to sort out at the office than after you have paid.
Record which years you still need
Keep one list. A page at the back of your notebook is enough. For each subject, note the years you hold, where each copy came from, whether answers came with it, and which years are still missing.
| Subject | Years I have | Source | Answers included? | Still missing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemistry | ||||
| Biology | ||||
| Physics |
Update the list each time you collect a copy, and check it against what the centre says it holds. If the centre's file stops at a certain year, write that down too, so you stop asking for a paper that may not exist.
Also note the years in which your subject was actually examined — the centre can tell you. Not every subject runs in every session, and a year with no paper is not a gap in your collection.
Share the list with classmates. One person asks the library, another asks a teacher, and you swap copies and compare answers. It is faster than each of you working alone, and it gives you a second copy to check against when pages are unclear.
Work through the three sources in order — centre office, library and departmental files, then subject teachers — and spread the asking over a week rather than one afternoon. Check every copy before you pay to reproduce it, and keep the running list so you always know what is missing. For current rules on the examination, the subjects offered and what your centre holds, confirm with the body that coordinates the IJMB programme and with your school office. Those details change, and the office is the only place that can settle them.