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Grade 9 June Exams: Papers, Memos and How to Prepare

Find Grade 9 June exam papers and memos in South Africa, learn what the tests cover, how they differ by school and province, and how to use them to prepare.

Published 2026-10-26

Grade 9 June Exams: Papers, Memos and How to Prepare

Grade 9 June Exams: Papers, Memos and How to Prepare

Grade 9 past paper beside its memo

Grade 9 June exams are mid-year tests that cover the work from Terms 1 and 2, and there is no single national paper that every learner writes. Most schools set their own, so the best preparation is to practise on official past papers and memos for the same subject and language, then check your answers against the memo. This guide shows where to find those papers, what the June tests usually cover, why your school’s version may look different from a friend’s, and how to turn a past paper into a study plan.

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TL;DR

Table of Contents

What the Grade 9 June exams actually are

Grade 9 sits at the end of the General Education and Training (GET) band. It is the last grade before learners choose subjects for Grade 10, so the results matter for subject choice conversations with parents and teachers. A learner in Grade 9 is normally 15, because the Department of Basic Education’s age-norm notice sets the statistical age as the grade number plus six.

The name “June exams” is what learners and parents say. The official language has shifted. National Assessment Circular 01 of 2023 refers to the continuation of June controlled tests for Grades 4 to 9, with full-scale end-of-year examinations for Grades 7 to 9. In practice, your school might call the June paper a test, a controlled test, a mid-year exam or simply “June”. The content and the way you prepare are the same.

The same circular says the content of a controlled test must follow the Recovery Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs). In principle, the June test covers Term 1 and Term 2 work, unless a subject’s ATP specifies different terms. The earlier 2017 Guidelines to Strengthen CAPS Implementation describe the same pattern: mid-year assessment on the content covered in the first two terms.

That gives you a simple rule: your revision list is everything your teacher has taught from January until the June break, in every subject you write.

Which subjects are written

A Grade 9 learner studies a fixed set of subjects, and the June assessment can include any of them. Typical papers are:

Not every subject is a written paper in June. The Grade 9 assessment plan published by one school, Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz for 2026, shows how assessment is school-based and can include oral tasks, projects and assignments alongside formal tests and examinations. So your Life Orientation or Creative Arts mark in June may come from a project or practical task, not a sit-down paper. Ask your teacher or check the assessment plan your school gave you at the start of the year.

Length and marks also depend on the subject. For example, the 2017 CAPS guidelines set Grade 9 mid-year EMS at 90 minutes and 150 marks. Your school’s current plan may differ, so treat that as a guide to the scale of the paper, not a promise about yours.

Are the papers the same across schools and provinces?

No. This is the biggest source of confusion for learners who compare notes with friends at other schools.

Schools set most Grade 9 June papers. The national department does not write one June paper for every Grade 9 learner. Teachers or subject heads set the test from the ATP for their subject, which is why two schools in the same town can have different papers on the same topic.

Who sets papers and controls test timing

Provinces control timing and administration. A Western Cape circular for 2025 said schools offering Grades 7 to 9 could not start controlled tests before 9 June 2025. That is one province’s instruction for one year, but it shows that provinces can set the window. Your June timetable comes from your school, within the rules of your provincial department.

National papers exist, but they are separate by subject and language. The DBE’s GEC2023 page lists Grade 9 national test papers by subject, language and paper. You will see English and Afrikaans versions of Mathematics, EMS and Natural Sciences, plus several Home Language and First Additional Language versions. A paper is not simply “Grade 9 Maths”. It is a specific version, and you need the one that matches the language you are taught in.

Older national assessments have a role too. The DBE describes the Annual National Assessments (ANA) as standardised national assessments in languages and mathematics for Grades 7 to 9, with question papers and memoranda supplied by the national department. Old ANA-style papers can still give you practice in how questions are phrased, but check them against what your teacher has covered.

How to check a past paper matches your subject

Before you spend two hours on a paper, spend two minutes checking it.

  1. Grade. The file name or cover page should say Grade 9.
  2. Subject and language. Make sure you have, for instance, English Home Language and not First Additional Language, or the Afrikaans version of a Mathematics paper.
  3. Terms covered. A June-style paper should cover Terms 1 and 2. If the cover says it covers the whole year, it is an end-of-year paper, and some topics will not be taught yet.
  4. Marks and time. Compare total marks and time with what your school gave you. The DBE’s Social Sciences ATP, for example, specifies a controlled test covering Term 1 and Term 2 and sets out its marks and question types, which is the kind of detail you can match against a paper.
  5. Memo. Only use a paper that has a marking memo. Without one you cannot mark yourself honestly.

If a topic in an older paper has not been taught yet, skip that question and come back later. Do not let it dent your confidence.

Where to find Grade 9 June papers and memos

There are three reliable places.

Your own school. Teachers often hand out previous June tests, and your school’s own earlier papers are the closest match to what you will write. Ask for them before anything else.

The Department of Basic Education. The DBE papers page lists papers and memos across several languages, and the GEC2023 page above holds Grade 9 national tests by subject. These are official, but you have to move between several pages to collect what you need.

PapersZA. We built PapersZA to remove that hunt. It is a free, searchable library of official past papers and memos from the DBE, the IEB and provincial departments, for Grades 3 to 12, sorted by subject, grade, year and exam session. You do not need an account, and nothing sits behind a paywall. For Grade 9, you can open papers such as the Afrikaans Home Language question paper from 2012 or the 2013 paper, and use the PapersZA home page to search by subject and grade for others. Our guide to where to find past papers in South Africa explains the wider picture from Grade 1 to tertiary level.

You may notice that some papers are labelled Oct/Nov. That simply means they were written at the end of the year. They still contain Grade 9 content, and the question styles carry over, but they cover the full year, so use them after you have worked through your Term 1 and 2 material.

Where to find Grade 9 June papers and memos — overview diagram

A 10-day plan using past papers

June results are strongest when revision starts well before the first paper. Here is a plan you can adapt. It assumes about 45 to 60 minutes a day on school days and a little more on weekends.

Days 1 to 3: Map the work

List each subject and write down the topics from Term 1 and Term 2. Use your exercise books, class tests and the textbook contents page. Mark each topic green (confident), orange (shaky) or red (lost). Be harsh. Most learners overrate how well they know the work they last did in February.

Days 4 to 7: Attempt, mark, fix

Pick one subject per day. Do a full paper or a section, timed, with no notes. Then mark it with the memo, using a different colour pen so you can see your own errors. For each lost mark, ask one question: did I not know it, did I misread it, or did I run out of time? The answer decides what you do next:

Days 8 to 9: Weak spots only

Go back to your red and orange topics. Redo the questions you lost marks on, from memory first, and then check them against the memo.

Day 10: Light review

Read through your corrected answers and summaries. Sleep properly. A rested learner outperforms a tired one who crammed a fifth paper at midnight.

Subject-specific tips

Mathematics. Show every step. Memos award method marks, so a wrong final answer with correct working still earns marks. Redo whole questions from scratch, not just the final line, and keep an error log of the same mistakes (signs, brackets, units).

Natural Sciences. Learn definitions word for word, because memos tend to expect specific terms. Practise reading graphs and tables, and write answers in full sentences when the question says “explain”.

Social Sciences. In History, practise source-based questions by quoting from the source. In Geography, practise map and data skills as often as theory.

EMS. Focus on the accounting and economic concepts taught in Terms 1 and 2, and learn the layout of any statements you were taught. Our accounting exam format guide shows how senior-level accounting papers are laid out, which is useful once you are choosing subjects for Grade 10.

Languages. For Home Language and First Additional Language, read widely, then practise comprehension, language structures and a short piece of writing in the time you would have. If you write English, our English Paper 2 format guide explains how literature and writing sections are set later in school. Afrikaans learners can look at the Afrikaans Paper 3 format guide for the writing paper.

Life Orientation. Many schools assess it through tasks as well as tests. See our Life Orientation past paper and memo guide for where to find practice material.

Using past papers properly

The DBE’s own guidance on sample papers is useful here. In 2012, the department said sample papers are supplementary tools meant to build learner confidence and should not replace school-based assessment. That is a healthy way to think about them. A past paper is a mirror, not a prediction. It shows you how questions are built and where you are losing marks. It does not tell you what will come up in your teacher’s test.

Two habits make the biggest difference:

Parents can help without teaching the content. Sit with your child, hand over the memo after the attempt, and ask them to explain one wrong answer back to you. Explaining it is revision in itself.

For extra practice on topics you are weak in, the DBE has also developed workbooks for Grades 1 to 9 to support curriculum coverage and monitor progress. Ask your teacher whether your school uses them.

Our perspective

We built PapersZA because the most common thing we hear from learners and parents is not “I don’t want to study”, it is “I can’t find the right paper”. A learner who starts revising at 8pm and spends the first hour clicking through broken links has already lost the evening.

Grade 9 is where we think past papers are most underused. Many families treat past papers as a Grade 12 tool, but by Grade 9 learners are already choosing subjects that will shape the next three years. A learner who gets used to timed papers, memo marking and an error log in Grade 9 walks into Grade 10 with a working method. The same habits carry through to later grades, as we describe in our Grade 11 exam preparation plan.

Our advice is plain: start with your school’s own papers, add official ones for the same subject and language, mark honestly, and keep the error log. Do not chase every paper on the internet. Five papers done properly beat twenty skimmed.

— Nkosi

What if a June result is disappointing?

A weak June mark is information, not a verdict. You still have Terms 3 and 4, and the end-of-year assessment covers more of the year. Look at the paper with your teacher, find the two or three topics that cost the most marks, and fix those first. Ask whether the issue was knowledge, language (understanding the question), or exam technique. Each has a different solution. Learners who need a second chance at later exams may also want to read how supplementary exams in South Africa work, although that route applies to the senior phase rather than Grade 9.

Find Grade 9 papers on PapersZA

If you want to start today, go to PapersZA, choose Grade 9, pick your subject and download the paper and its memo. It is free, there is no sign-up, and you can move between years and exam sessions in a few clicks. Print the paper if you can, because writing on paper is closer to the real test.

FAQ

How old are you in Grade 9 in South Africa?

The DBE’s age-norm notice sets the statistical age as the grade number plus six, which makes Grade 9 age 15. Some learners are older or younger depending on when they started school and whether they repeated a grade.

Do all Grade 9 learners write the same June exam?

No. Schools set most June papers from the subject’s Annual Teaching Plan, and provinces can regulate the timing. National test papers exist by subject and language, but your school decides what you write, so use official papers for practice and your school’s own papers as the closest guide.

What do Grade 9 June exams cover?

In principle they cover Term 1 and Term 2 work, unless a subject’s teaching plan says otherwise. Check your school’s assessment plan to see which subjects are written tests and which are marked through projects or oral tasks.

Where can I find Grade 9 past papers with memos?

The DBE website lists papers and memos, including Grade 9 national tests, and PapersZA collects official DBE, IEB and provincial papers in one free, searchable library. Always check that the subject, language and grade match yours, and use a paper only if it has a memo.

Should I do old end-of-year papers for June?

Yes, but selectively. End-of-year papers cover the whole year, so only attempt the questions on topics you have already been taught, and save the rest for later in the year.

Sources

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