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How to get an A* in Maths on retake?

Hey, I'm an A level student, with a pretty deplorable GCSE portfolio, hence Iin November I retook Maths and found the exams particularly difficult, and so once again came out with a substandard B. I am determined to retake Maths this May/June for what will be the final time, as this is the last paper form the old spec, I seriously need help on how to achieve an A/A* in Maths; to those who have achieved this? How did you revise? How often? What did you focus on and so on? Thank you.
Original post by AnonymousEric
Hey, I'm an A level student, with a pretty deplorable GCSE portfolio, hence Iin November I retook Maths and found the exams particularly difficult, and so once again came out with a substandard B. I am determined to retake Maths this May/June for what will be the final time, as this is the last paper form the old spec, I seriously need help on how to achieve an A/A* in Maths; to those who have achieved this? How did you revise? How often? What did you focus on and so on? Thank you.


There is no secret, practice enough questions. Be it from your textbook, past papers, online... increase the difficulty until you can do unseen questions that are likely to appear in exams with ease.

How much time this takes.. I cannot say.
Original post by AnonymousEric
Hey, I'm an A level student, with a pretty deplorable GCSE portfolio, hence Iin November I retook Maths and found the exams particularly difficult, and so once again came out with a substandard B. I am determined to retake Maths this May/June for what will be the final time, as this is the last paper form the old spec, I seriously need help on how to achieve an A/A* in Maths; to those who have achieved this? How did you revise? How often? What did you focus on and so on? Thank you.


What feedback did you get from your resit? Your teacher should be able to access marks on each question so you can highlight topics you need to go over.
Don't just remember how to do a question, UNDERSTAND how to do it. Therefore, if you are given a question that you haven't seen before, you will be able to THINK and work around it to find the answer.

Sadly, students nowadays just remember (and don't think) and are often thrown by new questions.


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Have a list of topics, highlight ones you are comfortable on, and learn the ones you are not very comfortable on (using textbooks, online sites to practice)

https://corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/ (offers a higher plus section and higher section too, good if you have spare time to practice)
https://corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse1/ (Old A*-G gcse, definitely do these)

- Do these everyday, it has 5 questions and you choose the level (you dont have to do all 5, but do at least some) Also with this site, you are able to choose your level. Numeracy, foundation, higher. If you are aiming for A*/A, then you have to pick higher. It takes a bit of dedication, but after a while your confidence and grades will improve.

After you think you have a good sense of most of the topics, try past papers (under test conditions) and if you get questions wrong (and on the 5 a day thing) instead of just reading the answer, figure out how they got there and understand why they did it and the method (this is because there could be similar problem where the same exact methods do not apply and applying the concepts is much more valuable)

Also revise with times that you are comfortable with and are reasonable.


You have a good 2-3 months and if you are determined you can make the grade. Good luck.

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