There is a moment, around the tenth past paper, when something shifts.

The unknown becomes known. The monster under the bed has a name, a mass, and a coefficient of restitution.

So you do the papers. You mark them. You cry. You do them again. And then one day, you look at a question about a proton moving through a magnetic field, and instead of freezing, you smile. Because you have seen that exact proton before. It was on the 2019 paper. And you know exactly where it’s going.

You no longer read the question and feel panic. You read the question and think: Oh, this is the one about the trolley on the inclined plane with the light gate. I’ve done this before. The answer is 0.42 m/s², and they want two sig figs, and I need to mention friction or they’ll deduct a mark.