A ready-to-use KS3 Science core practical bundle covering all 39 practicals across Year 7, 8 and 9, with methods, results tables and exam-style questions.

A core practical is a required hands-on investigation - the kind exam boards expect students to have carried out and be able to describe from memory by GCSE.

These practicals are drawn from a bespoke KS3 scheme built around Pearson’s Exploring Science and sequenced for my own setting, so the order may not match yours; each page is labelled with its Exploring Science topic code so it can still be matched to the textbook. From Year 9, the practicals mirror the structure of GCSE core practicals, giving students an early, low-stakes introduction to how practical work is assessed.

Every practical follows the same format: an aim and “what you should know” learning objective, a step-by-step method with labelled diagrams, a results table where relevant, scaffolded questions, and an extension or challenge task for higher attainers.

Year 7 (10 practicals) covers cells, particle theory, energy, acids & alkalis, and forces. Year 8 (13 practicals) covers separating mixtures, light, digestion, atoms and reactions, electricity, genetics and combustion. Year 9 (16 practicals) covers plant investigations, reactivity of metals, density, enzymes and osmosis, rates of reaction, alkali metals and magnetism. Each booklet also includes its own “Equipment and Their Uses” worksheet - three in total.

How I use this resource: I issue each year group’s booklet at the start of the relevant year, building up a consistent three-year set of practical folders that follow the same format from Year 7 through to GCSE - this makes staff cover and transitions between year groups far more straightforward.

Last updated July 2026.

Prefer to buy separately? See the Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 KS3 Science Core Practical Booklets individually:
Year 7:/teaching-resource/resource-13514622
Year 8: /teaching-resource/resource-13514686
Year 9: /teaching-resource/resource-13514692

Credit: Diagrams created using