{"id":272,"date":"2026-02-27T16:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/?page_id=272"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:12:14","slug":"cambridge-past-paper-web-scraper","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/cambridge-past-paper-web-scraper\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambridge Past Paper Web Scraper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Download in windows<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

(Mac’s version is too large…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

## Activity type<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal pursuit (eg Art \/ Computing \/ Making \/ Music \/ Drama \/ Sport)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

## Description<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developed an automated web scraping tool that earned me the Stand Up Award, my school’s highest honor. The project was inspired by a friend learning Python and addressed a significant pain point: manually downloading past papers from Cambridge’s official website was inefficient, requiring unstable network connections, VPN access, and tedious manual file organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built a terminal-based Python scraper with extensive customization options. Users can select their curriculum level (IGCSE or A Level), specify subjects, choose years and paper types (Paper 1, Paper 2, etc.), and download exam papers, mark schemes, or audio MP3 files. Implemented multi-threading technology for rapid downloads and created an automatic classification system that organizes files by subject and year into corresponding folders without any manual intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One week after completion, faced a major setback when Cambridge’s website\u2014which rarely updates\u2014underwent a complete redesign, breaking my custom-built scraper entirely. Despite initial frustration, I persisted through the challenge, spending an entire week analyzing the new website structure, rewriting scraping paths and logic, and successfully restoring full functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dedicated extensive effort to this project, regularly working from 4 PM after school until 3 AM for multiple consecutive days. This intensive development process significantly strengthened my problem-solving abilities and resilience. My Computer Science teacher became an enthusiastic user of the tool, validating its practical value for the school community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

## Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Critical thinking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Planning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [ ] Artistic skills<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [ ] Communication<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [ ] Teamwork<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [ ] Leadership<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Problem solving<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Creativity \/ Innovation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Independence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Adaptability \/ Resilience<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [ ] Risk-taking \/ Courage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– [x] Inquisitiveness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

## Date started<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Month: 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year: 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

## Date finished<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Month: 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year: 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

## Referee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Computer Science Teacher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Mac’s version is too large…) ## Activity type Personal pursuit (eg Art \/ Computing \/ Making \/ Music \/ Drama \/ Sport) ## Description Developed an automated web scraping tool that earned me the Stand Up Award, my school’s highest honor. The project was inspired by a friend learning Python and addressed a significant pain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-272","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/272\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicole.wordplayer.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}