How to revise for GCSE Maths
Not sure where to begin with your GCSE maths revision? Here are our top tips to help you out!
A little every day is likely to be more effective than cramming in a big last minute session. Try to revise just 20 minutes a day throughout the year so that you don't have any last minute panics.
Learn your times tables. As a GCSE Maths examiner, I see students lose easy marks due to not knowing their times tables or wasting exam time trying to count up through their times tables. There are lots of apps you can download on your phone that teach you your times tables through memory games. Why not try a few out?
Have a plan. In the months leading up to the exam, look at the list of topics in the syllabus and label them red, amber or green. Green means that you are confident in that skill and don't need any more practice. Red means you are very unsure on the topic and amber means somewhere in between. Start by planning to revise the amber topics as this is where you will make the quickest progress when revising independently. If you have a tutor, ask them for more help on the red topics.
Make summary notes. You can make notes in any form you like (bullet points, spider diagrams, or flash cards). The key is to make sure only the most essential facts and formulae are written down (such as the formula for the area and circumference of a circle). Don't sit copying down the textbook word for word, it won't help!
Do as many past papers as possible. Past papers are the way to test your understanding and improve your exam technique. I would suggest doing exam papers open book (with your notes, textbook etc.) to start with and then gradually reduce the amount you look at your summary notes. Make sure to download the mark schemes and mark your papers as accurately as you can. Without marking it will be difficult to know where you need to improve.