How to Revise for GCSE Maths

Revising for GCSE Maths isn’t just about doing as many past papers as possible—it’s about understanding what the exam requires from you and developing a targeted approach. A strong revision strategy ensures you’re covering all the necessary topics, answering questions in a way that meets examiner expectations, and committing key formulas to memory. 

We are here to help you tackle the subject with the right strategies and tips to ensure you're fully prepared.

To help you revise effectively, we’ll break down four essential strategies:

• Understand your specification

• Learn the mark scheme

• Use the examiners’ report 

• Master formulas 

1. Understand your specification

Credits: Pearson Edexcel

Before starting your revision, it’s very important that you familiarise yourself with your exam board’s specification. This document outlines everything you need to know for your Maths final exam—including the key topics, formulae, and skills you’ll be assessed on.

A common mistake many students make is randomly revising without checking which topics actually appear in the exam. The specification helps you prioritise your revision and focus on areas with the highest weighting.

How to use your specification effectively

• Download it: Find your exam board’s GCSE Maths specification (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, etc.) on their website and keep a copy handy.

• Break it down: The document can be long, but you don’t need to read it all at once. Go through it section by section and highlight key areas.

• Check for overlaps: Some topics appear in both Foundation and Higher Tier exams, while others are exclusive to Higher Tier. Make sure you’re revising the right content for your level.

• Identify commonly tested topics: Past papers and examiner reports often reveal that certain topics (e.g., algebra, ratios, trigonometry) appear frequently. Pay extra attention to these areas.

• Use it as a checklist: As you revise each topic, tick it off to track your progress. This keeps your revision structured and prevents you from missing anything important.

2. Learn the Mark Scheme

Many students focus on solving maths problems but overlook one crucial element—how marks are actually awarded. Understanding the mark scheme can make a huge difference in your exam performance, helping you structure answers to maximise points and avoid common pitfalls.

Why the mark scheme is very important

The mark scheme isn’t just for teachers marking your work—it’s a guide to what examiners expect. It breaks down how each question is graded, from method marks for correct working to accuracy marks for the final answer. Many students lose marks not because they don’t know the content, but because they don’t show their working clearly or use the correct notation.

How to use the mark scheme in your revision

• Practice with past papers – After completing a past paper, go through the mark scheme to see exactly how answers are awarded marks. Pay attention to step-by-step working, as many questions give marks even if you don’t reach the final answer.

• Spot recurring patterns – Mark schemes often reward the same types of approaches (e.g., writing answers in exact form, using correct units). By reviewing multiple past papers, you’ll start to recognise what examiners consistently look for.

• Learn the command words – Words like "Show that," "Explain," or "Calculate" indicate different levels of detail required. The mark scheme helps clarify how much working or explanation you need to include.

• Compare different solutions – Sometimes, there’s more than one correct way to answer a question. The mark scheme shows alternative methods that still earn full marks, which can be useful if you prefer a different problem-solving approach.

• Avoid losing easy marks – Many students make small errors—forgetting to round properly, missing a unit, or skipping a step. Checking mark schemes highlights common mistakes so you can avoid them in your own exam.

Bonus tip: Think like an examiner

As you mark your own answers, try to think like an examiner—would you give yourself the marks based on the official scheme? This mindset shift will help you refine your answers and ensure you're meeting the criteria for full marks.

3. Use the Examiners’ Report

Credits: Pearson Edexcel

If you want to improve your Maths exam performance, one of the most underrated revision tools is the Examiners’ Report. These reports, released after each exam series, provide detailed feedback on what students did well and—more importantly—where they went wrong. Learning from these insights can help you avoid common mistakes and refine your exam technique.

Examiners’ reports highlight:

• Common mistakes – Recurring errors that cost students marks, such as rounding incorrectly, misreading questions, or forgetting to show working.

• What high-scoring students do well – Examiners point out strategies that helped students achieve full marks, such as setting out calculations clearly or using the most efficient method.

• Misunderstood topics – If a question was answered poorly by most students, the report explains why and how to approach it correctly in future exams.

• Clarifications on tricky questions – Sometimes, questions are misinterpreted. The report provides insight into what the examiners were looking for.

How to use the examiners’ report in your revision

1. Look at past papers and compare them with reports

Complete a past paper under timed conditions, then check your answers against the mark scheme. Afterwards, read the corresponding examiners’ report to see where students lost marks and whether you made the same mistakes.

2. Make a list of common mistakes

Note down errors that appear frequently in reports. These could be small but costly mistakes, such as forgetting to include units, misapplying formulas, or not showing enough working.

3. Analyse high-level responses

Some reports include examples of top-scoring answers. Study these carefully to see how students structured their solutions and presented their working in a way that impressed examiners.

4. Use reports for harder topics

If you struggle with a particular topic, check how students performed on it in past exams. Examiners often highlight specific misconceptions, helping you understand where people go wrong and how to approach those questions correctly.

Turn feedback into action

It’s not enough to simply read the examiners’ report—you need to apply what you learn. If you see that students lost marks for not explaining their reasoning, start practicing more detailed working-out in your answers. If examiners mention careless arithmetic errors, slow down and double-check calculations.

4. Master Formulas 

In Maths, formulas are your best friend—they provide the foundation for solving problems efficiently and accurately. But simply memorising them isn’t enough. To truly master formulas, you need to understand how and when to apply them, recognise their limitations, and practise using them in different contexts.

How to learn and retain Maths formulas

1. Understand the meaning behind each formula

Rather than just memorising, take the time to break down what each formula represents. For example, in the quadratic formula:

x= −b±(b2−4ac)2a​​

• What does each letter stand for?

• Why is there a ± symbol?

• How does the discriminant (b2−4ac)​​ determine the number of solutions?

When you understand the reasoning behind a formula, it becomes much easier to recall and use correctly in the exam.

2. Create Flashcards

Write the formula on one side of a flashcard and its meaning, derivation, and common applications on the other. For instance:

Go through your flashcards regularly to reinforce your memory.

3. Use mnemonics to remember complex formulas

Mnemonics can make recalling formulas easier. Here are a few examples:

• SOH CAH TOA – To remember trigonometric ratios for right-angled triangles:

Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse

Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse

Tangent = Opposite/Adjacent

• Pythagoras’ Theorem - Aunt Betty's Cat:c (a² + b² = c²) 

• Area of a Circle - Apple Pies Are Too Round: (A = πr²)