A proper, week-by-week plan - not just "do more past papers." Written by a former Director of Maths, for parents and students who want to know what actually moves a grade.
Every GCSE maths student hears the same advice: do past papers, learn your formulae, practise every day. It's all true, and none of it explains how to actually organise the weeks before the exam. This guide sets out a specific plan - what to revise when, how to revise it, and how to tell the difference between revision that feels productive and revision that actually works.
It's written the way we'd explain it to a family in a free session: practical, specific to GCSE maths, and honest about what tends to go wrong.
Adapt the length to however much time is left - the shape stays the same whether you have 10 weeks or 4.
Sit one full past paper under timed conditions before revising anything. Mark it properly against the mark scheme. This tells you exactly which topics need work, rather than guessing - most students waste the first fortnight revising topics they already know.
Work through weak topics in short, focused blocks - one or two topics per session, not a scattergun mix. For each topic: relearn the method, do 10-15 questions on it alone, then 5-10 exam-style questions that mix it with other topics.
Move to complete, timed past papers - one every few days, alternating calculator and non-calculator. Mark each one, log every dropped mark in a single "mistakes" notebook, and revisit that notebook before the next paper.
No new topics. Revisit the mistakes notebook, redo any past paper questions gotten wrong the first time, and drill the formula sheet until it's automatic. This is about tightening what's already there, not adding more.
One light timed paper per board, early in the week. After that, short daily reviews of 20-30 minutes - key formulae, common traps, nothing new. Protect sleep. A calm, rested student outperforms an exhausted one who crammed until midnight.
Underneath the plan, aim for 3-5 hours of maths a week spread across short sessions rather than one long block. Spacing topics out forces the brain to retrieve information rather than just recognise it - that's what makes it stick under exam pressure.
Re-reading a revision guide or a set of notes feels like work. It isn't, not really - it's recognition, not recall. Your eyes slide over a worked example on solving quadratics and it looks familiar, so the brain files it as "known." Then the same student sits down to an exam question and can't start, because recognising a method and being able to produce it from a blank page are two completely different skills.
Active recall means closing the book and doing something with the information: answering a question from memory, explaining a method out loud, or working through a problem without the worked example in front of you. It's slower and it feels harder - that difficulty is exactly the point. The mental effort of retrieving something is what strengthens the memory of it. This is why past papers, not notes, should be the backbone of GCSE maths revision. Notes and worked examples are useful for relearning a method the first time; after that, the job is practice.
A simple rule that works well in practice: for every 10 minutes spent reading or watching a video on a topic, spend at least 20 minutes answering questions on it without looking anything up first.
Past papers are the single most useful GCSE maths revision resource - and also the most commonly wasted one. Doing a paper and checking the final answers isn't past-paper practice; it's a quiz. The value is in what happens after.
Sit the paper properly: full length, under timed conditions, no notes, no calculator on the non-calculator paper. Then mark it against the official mark scheme, not just the final answer key - mark schemes show exactly how method marks are awarded, which matters hugely in GCSE maths because a wrong final answer with correct working can still pick up most of the marks. Go through every single dropped mark and ask why it was lost: was it the method, a careless slip, running out of time, or not knowing where to start? Each of those has a different fix, and lumping them together as "wasn't revised enough" wastes the diagnostic value of the paper.
Keep a single running "mistakes log" across all papers - topic, what went wrong, and the correct method. Revisit it before every subsequent paper. By exam week that log becomes the most efficient revision resource your child has, because it's built entirely from their own errors rather than generic content.
Not all topics are worth equal revision time. Triage first, then revise.
These sit on both Foundation and Higher papers and appear constantly: fractions, decimals and percentages; ratio and proportion; solving linear equations; angle facts and polygons; averages from a table; standard form; basic probability; and straightforward area, perimeter and volume. If your child is aiming for a 4, 5 or 6, these topics deserve the bulk of revision time - they're frequent, method-based, and reliably answerable once secure.
Algebraic proof, simultaneous equations with a quadratic, circle theorems, vectors, functions and iteration, and multi-step trigonometry (including the sine and cosine rules) tend to appear in the last third of Higher papers. They're lower-frequency but higher-mark, and they reward a student who's already secure on the crossover topics - there's little point drilling circle theorems if ratio problems are still shaky.
Use that first diagnostic paper. If a student is scoring below 60% overall, focus almost entirely on crossover topics - they carry more total marks across a typical paper than the hardest questions do. Once crossover topics are secure, layer in grade 7-9 practice for students pushing for the top grades.
The GCSE maths content specification is set nationally by the Department for Education, so AQA, Edexcel (Pearson) and OCR cover essentially the same mathematics. What differs is the exam itself: question style and phrasing, the layout and content of the formula sheet, and how questions are structured across the three papers (one non-calculator, two calculator, for all three boards, though the balance of topics within each paper can vary).
The practical takeaway: always revise using your child's own exam board's past papers, not a generic mixed bank. AQA questions tend to be direct and clearly signposted; Edexcel and OCR both lean slightly more towards multi-step, wordier problem-solving in places. Check the exact specification and formula sheet for your child's board before the final weeks, because the formulae students are expected to memorise (rather than being given) differ slightly between boards.
You'll find official past papers and mark schemes for all three boards on our free resources page.
Students often treat the calculator papers as "the easy ones" and under-prepare for the non-calculator paper - which usually backfires, since it's worth exactly as many marks. Non-calculator practice should include real fluency with times tables, fraction and percentage arithmetic, and standard method layouts (long division, column methods) done entirely by hand and at speed, so mental effort goes into the maths rather than the arithmetic.
For calculator papers, the risk runs the other way: over-relying on the calculator for things that should be quick mental steps, and losing time fumbling with calculator functions under pressure. Make sure your child knows their specific calculator - fraction, standard form and trigonometry buttons especially - cold, well before exam day. A few minutes lost hunting for a button in the exam is time that can't be recovered.
The final week is for consolidation, not expansion. Trying to learn a brand-new topic days before the exam adds stress without adding reliable marks.
Know exactly what's given on the exam-specific formula sheet and what has to be memorised. Test recall of the memorised list daily until it's instant.
Go back through every error logged across previous past papers. These are the highest-value marks left on the table - each one is a mistake already proven to happen.
Sit one final timed paper for each exam this week, early on, then stop. This keeps exam stamina and pacing fresh without exhausting the student.
Memory consolidates overnight. A rested student who knows 80% of the content solidly will usually outperform an exhausted one who crammed for the last 20%.
Equipment ready the night before - two calculators (batteries checked), pens, a ruler, compasses and a protractor. One less thing to think about on the day.
Three to five hours a week spread across short, regular sessions works better than one long weekend session. Four sessions of 45 minutes beat one three-hour block, because spacing out practice forces the brain to retrieve rather than just recognise information.
Ideally at the start of Year 11, or as soon as mock exams are announced. A realistic, focused plan can still make a real difference in the final 8 to 10 weeks before the exam, and even a 4-week plan can move a borderline grade if it is targeted correctly.
Both, at different stages. Revise a topic in isolation first to fix the method, then move to mixed, timed past papers so your child practises spotting which method a question needs - which is usually the harder skill in the actual exam.
The content specification is almost identical across boards because it's set by the Department for Education, but the style of questions, formula sheet and paper structure differ. Always revise from your child's own exam board's past papers, not a generic mixed set.
Stop learning new topics. Focus on the formula sheet, common mistakes, one final timed past paper per remaining exam board, and rest. A calm, rested student who knows 80% solidly will usually outscore an exhausted student chasing the last 20%.
Our founder shares free, quick maths explainers and exam tips as @the_maths_guy to over 65,000 followers - handy for a five-minute top-up between revision sessions.
Watch on TikTokA generic revision plan is a good start, but nothing beats a specialist who knows exactly where your child is losing marks and exactly what their exam board rewards. Our tutors are qualified teachers and high-performing university tutors, led by a former Director of Maths, and we cover Maths, English and Science from KS2 to A-Level.
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