How GCSE Maths is assessed
Check with your school which exam board you are sitting before you plan anything. This guide looks at three specifications: AQA 8300, Pearson Edexcel 1MA1 and OCR J560.
On all three, GCSE Maths is made up of three written papers, taken at the same tier and in the same exam series. There are two tiers, Foundation and Higher, so ask your teacher which one you are entered for. Each paper lasts 1 hour 30 minutes and the three carry equal weight. One paper is non-calculator and the other two allow a calculator. Marks per paper differ by board: the AQA and Edexcel papers are each out of 80, and the OCR papers are each out of 100.
Any topic can appear on any paper, so a topic you only practise with a calculator is a risk. Boards update their materials, so check the specification page for your board before you rely on any detail here.
Common mistakes
- Practising only with a calculator. One paper does not allow one. Keep written methods ready for fractions, percentages and multiplying decimals.
- Reading worked answers instead of attempting questions. A solution can look obvious once you have seen it. Cover it, try the question, then compare.
- Writing only the answer. Setting out each step helps you spot slips and lets someone else follow what you did.
- Rounding too early. Keep the full number on your calculator until the final step, then round once.
- Skipping the second read. Check units, the number of decimal places asked for, and whether the question wants an exact answer, such as one left in terms of π.
- Never checking if an answer is sensible. A negative length or a probability above 1 means something has gone wrong.
- Revising only favourite topics. Comfortable topics feel productive, but the gaps are where practice is most useful.
Shaping a revision session
Keep a session short enough to stay focused on one topic. Start with a question you can attempt without notes, because it shows you straight away what you can and cannot do. Then spend the middle of the session on the part that went wrong: read the method, redo the question, and write a one-line reminder in your own words.
Finish by noting what to do next time. Something specific, such as “do three more simultaneous equations”, is easier to start than “revise algebra”. If a topic still makes no sense after a couple of attempts, that is a good moment to ask your teacher, or a tutor, to go through it with you.
A four-week plan
This plan suits roughly four weeks before your exams, with a few short sessions a week. Shrink or stretch it to fit your own timetable.
Week 1: find the gaps
Do one non-calculator paper and one calculator paper under relaxed conditions. Mark them, then list every question you lost marks on, grouped under number, algebra, ratio, geometry, probability or statistics. That list is your revision menu.
Week 2: number, algebra and ratio
Take your weakest items from those three areas. For each, read your notes, write one worked example from memory, then do a handful of fresh questions. Put each topic into a review planner so it comes back later.
Week 3: geometry, probability and statistics
Repeat the same routine for the other three areas. Add short mixed sets at the end of each session, so you practise choosing a method, not just following the heading above the questions.
Week 4: full papers and tidy-up
Sit two or three complete papers in exam conditions, including a non-calculator one. After each, spend as long on the corrections as on the paper. Use the last few days for formulae, definitions and your own list of repeated slips, not new topics.
One technique for each topic area
Number
Estimate before you calculate. Round each value to one significant figure and find a rough answer. For 4.8 × 19.7, think 5 × 20 = 100. A calculator result of 945.6 is clearly wrong, whereas 94.56 is believable.
Algebra
Check by substituting. After solving an equation, put your answer back into the original. For 3x − 7 = 11, the answer x = 6 gives 18 − 7 = 11, which matches. This habit also exposes sign slips when you rearrange a formula: test it with a simple number.
Ratio, proportion and rates of change
Find “one part”. To share £90 in the ratio 4 : 5, add the parts to get 9, divide to find one part (£10), then multiply: £40 and £50. For percentage change, use a multiplier, so a 20% decrease is × 0.8.
Geometry and measures
Redraw the diagram larger and write every angle or length you find onto it, with the reason beside it, such as “angles in a triangle add to 180°”. Naming the reason stops you skipping steps, and questions that ask you to explain need it. For Pythagoras, label the hypotenuse first.
Probability
Make the outcomes visible. List them, or draw a sample-space table or tree diagram, and check that the probabilities of all outcomes add up to 1. For two independent events, multiply along the branches. For either/or outcomes that cannot happen together, add.
Statistics
Build a table. To find a mean from a frequency table, add a column for frequency × value, total it, then divide by the total frequency. Label each column so the steps stay in order and you can see which total is which.
Where to practise next
Use the past papers finder to reach your board’s own papers and mark schemes. Turn formulae and key definitions into decks with the flashcards tool, and schedule topic reviews with the review planner. Two companion pages may help: a GCSE Maths glossary and a practice quiz.
Part of the GCSE Maths revision set: the glossary of key terms, self-marking quiz and comparison of the three exam boards.