Panic strikes Cambridge as online past papers disappear

Thousands of students heading into exam term have now discovered that they are no longer able to access past papers online. 

Students revising for their upcoming exams in all subjects have been inconvenienced by the take down of the website Past Exam Paper resource – a JISC-funded resource.

After receiving an email from King’s Colleges Assistant Librarian, Gareth Burgess, it has now become apparent that the situation not only affects History of Art students, but all students.

JISC, the Government organisation, which supports higher education programmes was run by CARET (the University’s Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technlogies) but has now been discontinued. Apparently it was only a temporary pilot scheme.

Digital Services Curatorial Coordinator in the Department of Architecture, Emma Sherlock said in an email regarding the past papers resource: “may be in the process of being transferred to UIS [University Information Services], though this has not been confirmed”.

Currently, there is no alternative access to the papers online. Students can visit their faculty and departmental libraries who hold print copies of past papers.

Fresher Historian at St. Johns, Jack Heath, said: “How is there a system for past papers? Surely it’s just uploading a PDF onto the website”.

Gareth also advises that a few faculty and department websites may offer electronic versions, but not all of them.

Though this comes as terrible news to most students, some are trying to make light of the situation.

Land Ec Fresher, Brock Boyd-Taylor said: “Thankfully Land Ecs work so hard during the year we don’t need past papers”.

For £9,000 a year – you’d expect more.