How to find exam papers

Exam papers policy

Under the University of Adelaide Examination question papers policy University of Adelaide Departments must deposit a copy of all exam papers in the Library for archival purposes. The Library's Digital Resources Management Centre digitises the exam papers and puts them on the Library's server.

How to find past exam papers

You can find the exam papers that the Library has digitised by searching the Library Catalogue.

As an example, let's look for past exam papers for the course French 1A, which has Course code FREN 1002.

Using Basic Search on the Library Catalogue, here's what you do:

• Change the Search by: box to Title
• Select Exam Papers in the Limit: box
• In the Search for: box, type in the Course name, FREN 1002

Now click the Search button.

The Catalogue will show you a list of French exam papers. Click on the French 1A link.

The exam paper is in .pdf format and will open in Adobe Acrobat.

Browsing for exam papers

If you want to browse for exam papers in a subject area, select Keywords (use and,or,not,"") in the Search by: box, then type in the subject name in the Search for: box.

You will see a list of exam papers in your chosen topic. Click on the one you want to look at.

Then select the year.

The exam paper is in .pdf format and will open in Adobe Acrobat.

Can't find your exam paper?

The main reasons why an exam paper may not be available are:

• Your lecturer has not sent the exam paper to the Library for digitising
• There may not have been exam papers for your subject in previous years

If you can't find the exam paper you want on the Library Catalogue you should ask your lecturer or tutor for advice.

Authentication

To get access to digitised exam papers on the Library server you need to authenticate yourself as a member of the University of Adelaide community. The Username is your student or staff number preceded by a lower case letter 'a'; the Password is your university password.

Remote access to exam papers

There is a separate page with information on remote access to electronic resources, which includes access to past exam papers.

Model answers

We are often asked if there are model answers to the exam papers. The general answer is 'no', but a few Departments do provide answer sets to previous examinations in their subjects. If you can't locate an answers page for your subject on the Library Catalogue, ask your lecturer or tutor for help.

How to find exam papers issued before Semester 2, 2002

There are several places to look for University of Adelaide examination papers that were issued before Semester 2, 2002. Unfortunately, there is no easy and quick way to know where the paper you are looking for is located.

The first place to look is on the Library Catalogue as described in the How to find exam papers section on this page.

If that doesn't produce results, here are the other options:

Department websites

Several University Departments provide copies of exam papers on their websites. If it isn't obvious where they are located, ask your lecturer or tutor where to find them.

MyUni

Some exam papers, as well as other course work materials, can be found on the University's MyUni website.

Library Resource guides

Some of the Library's Resource Guides for subjects pages have links to exam papers prior to 2002.
For example, click on the French resources link and then click French Studies exam papers to see what exam papers are available in that subject prior to Semester 2, 2002.

Bound volumes of exam papers

Bound volumes of past exam papers up to Semester 1, 1999 are shelved in the Barr Smith Library Main collection at call number 378.06 A22e on Level 1 South.

The papers are bound by year and semester, and then in alphabetical order by the name of the University Department that set the examination. Not all exam papers are included in these official sets: the cover sheets for the Departments are annotated to tell you what papers are available.
Say you want to find the exam paper for Molecular and Cell Biology I from Semester 2, 1998. First look for the 1998 Semester 2 bound volumes. The exam paper is set by the Genetics Department and so you will need to find the volume that contains letter G.
Look in the alphabetic sequence for the Genetics Department cover sheet.
Following the cover sheet you will find the Molecular and Cell Biology I exam paper.

If the exam paper you were expecting to find isn't listed on the cover sheet in the bound volume set, ask at the Departmental Office for that subject to see if they can help.

Bound volumes of exam papers may not be taken out of the Library, but you may use the photocopiers to make a copy of the papers you need.

The Waite Library and the Roseworthy Campus Library hold bound volumes of exam papers for Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences subjects up to 1999.

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Last update: 7 December 2007 by Alan Keig
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