When you're revising for your GCSE exams, you want to make the most of your study time.

So, we invited the experts at the AQA exam board to share their tips and advice on preparing for GCSE Maths exams.

The article that follows has been written by an AQA curriculum expert, based on their years of experience in the assessment of their subject.  

You can find more articles in this series, covering a range of subjects at both GCSE and A-level, over on our revision section.

Also on The Student Room, you can find student discussion of 2024 GCSE exams.

• There may be lots of questions on an exam paper testing topics you understand well. It’s important to get lots of practice at these questions and minimise the risk of making silly mistakes and losing unnecessary marks.

• When practising longer problems it may be a good idea to ignore the question for a minute or two and simply work out everything you can from the information presented.
• For example, write down all the angles you can work out on a diagram and then look at the question to see what it’s asking for. Very often you’ll find that you’ve already found the answer, or you may be just one step away from it.

• Two of the three GCSE Maths papers expect you to be able to use a calculator effectively and efficiently.
• Practise using the trig functions and carrying out longer calculations using brackets etc.
• Know how to set the mode of your calculator so you calculate and get answers in the format you expect.

• There’s very little in maths that you can learn from reading. You need to get on and do some questions.
• This might be past papers or groups of questions on a topic you know you need to work on, or material you can find online. Just do lots of maths!
• Go back over papers you’ve already done and have another go. You’ll see yourself improving and build your confidence.

We see lots of examples every year where students have done some accurate work, but haven’t answered the question asked.

• If an answer is asked for in particular units, give your response in those units, otherwise you’ll lose out on marks.
• Similarly, if an answer must be to a number of decimal places or significant figures, make sure you give the answer in the requested format. Again, you’ll lose out on marks if you don’t.

• It’ll make it easier for you to follow your working and make the right choice for the next step in your answer.
• Showing your working shows the examiner you’ve understood the task and explains your thought process.
• Using the appropriate processes to answer the question could still earn you marks, even if you get the final answer wrong.

• You’ll be able to pick up lots of marks for partly answering questions, even if you can’t get to the end.
• Try to do something on every question – both in the exam and when you’re revising.

• Last summer, on the some of the longer questions of the non-calculator paper, students’ answers weren’t always easy for examiners to follow.
• Make sure your working follows a logical progression. If you can’t follow your working, the examiner will also probably struggle, which could cost you marks if your final answer isn’t correct.

• You can still make mistakes on a calculator. It’s easy to make slips, so always think whether the answer you have makes sense.