With four weeks to go before your GCSE Maths exam, you have enough time to make a real difference — if you use it well. This plan is built around the topics that come up most often and the exam technique that turns marks into grades.
Week 1 — Number and Algebra
Start with the topics that carry the most marks. Number and algebra appear on every GCSE Maths paper and include some of the highest-tariff questions.
- Fractions, decimals and percentages — including percentage change and reverse percentages
- Ratio and proportion — sharing in a ratio, best-buy problems, direct and inverse proportion
- Algebra basics — expanding brackets, factorising, solving equations and inequalities
- Quadratics — factorising, the quadratic formula, completing the square (Higher tier)
- Sequences — nth term for arithmetic and geometric sequences
How to revise: Work through one topic per day. Do five to ten exam-style questions, mark them with the mark scheme, and write down every mark you dropped and why. This is more effective than re-reading notes.
Week 2 — Geometry and Measures
Geometry questions are often where students leave the most marks on the table — not because they do not know the content, but because they rush. Slow down, show your working, and state your formula before you use it.
- Area, perimeter and volume — including composite shapes and frustums (Higher)
- Circle theorems — all eight theorems with full proofs (Higher)
- Trigonometry — SOHCAHTOA, sine rule, cosine rule, area of a triangle
- Pythagoras — 2D and 3D problems
- Transformations — reflection, rotation, translation, enlargement
- Vectors (Higher tier)
How to revise: Draw diagrams for every geometry question — even when the exam paper already has one. Labelling your own diagram forces you to process the information rather than scan it.
Week 3 — Statistics, Probability and Graphs
These topics appear on every paper and reward students who know the vocabulary precisely. One misread word on a probability question can cost you the whole mark.
- Averages and spread — mean, median, mode, range, interquartile range
- Statistical diagrams — frequency polygons, histograms, cumulative frequency, box plots
- Probability — tree diagrams, Venn diagrams, conditional probability (Higher)
- Straight-line graphs — gradient, y-intercept, equation of a line, parallel and perpendicular lines
- Curved graphs — quadratic, cubic, reciprocal, exponential
- Graph transformations — f(x+a), f(x)+a, af(x), f(ax) (Higher)
Week 4 — Past Papers and Exam Technique
The final week is not for learning new content. It is for consolidating what you know and practising under real exam conditions.
- Complete at least three full past papers, timed, with no notes
- Mark each paper immediately and categorise every error: careless mistake, gap in knowledge, or misread question
- Go back and redo every question you got wrong — not just read the solution
- On the night before, do not start a new topic. Review your error log instead
The habits that make the difference
Students who improve most in the final four weeks share three habits: they write working for every question (even mental calculations), they check their answers by substituting back in, and they read the question again before writing the final line. Examiners can only mark what is on the page.
If you are working with an Ariston tutor in these final weeks, bring your marked past papers to every session. Your tutor can see exactly where the marks are going and target those areas precisely — far more valuable than working through new content at this stage.