How to achieve highly in maths

HOW TO GET GRADE A OR ABOVE IN MATHS GCSE STEPWISE GUIDE

Unlike a lot of other GCSEs the amount of memorising facts involved in maths in pretty small (yay!). Instead, maths is all about the DOING, rather than the factual recall.
If you are in the final few months of revising before your maths GCSE exam, the best way to start is to get hold of a recent past exam paper and do this in exam conditions, i.e. timed, without looking a textbooks or revision guides. When you are finished, mark the paper carefully using the markscheme.

Have a look at your final mark, and look back through the paper. Are there questions you really struggled with? If so, go back to the textbook and try simpler questions on the topic at the start of the relevant chapter, gradually building up to the level needed for the exam. Ask your teacher/tutor if you need help.

When you feel more confident, try the questions you got wrong on the exam paper again.
Try another past paper/practise exam paper (step 3), and go through the steps above again. Make sure to do it under exam conditions.

Once you have done a few past papers (3 or 4 each of calculator/non-calculator type), you will notice there are about 6 types of question that come up over and over. You need to be really confident with all of these standard questions, which will guarantee you a good grade.

As you tackle past papers and in the exam itself, make sure to check your work carefully if you have time left at the end. If you have lots of time left, use this to the questions you found hardest again from scratch to make sure you get the same answer.

 

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Additional resources:

Maths Degree
The Additional Further Maths A-level
SAT Subject Tests: Improve Your Level 2 Maths in 5 minutes

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