GCSE Maths Exams
At Skipton Tutors our GCSE Maths tutors in Skipton, are dedicated to helping our Maths students succeed in the new GCSE. As the first GCSE Maths exam approaches next week we thought that it would be good to review the recent changes made to the GCSE Maths curriculum and look at what question types are likely to come up in the exam as a result of these changes.
Functions: As functions is a new topic that was previously seen in the A Level Maths syllabus, we believe that it is likely to come up in this year's exam. As shown in the specimen papers these questions often have multiple parts to them including inverse functions which is considered to be a level 8 topic.
Venn Diagrams: The same logic as functions applies here. Like functions, Venn diagrams introduce notation that will not be familiar to students who haven't practised them in depth.
Iterative Methods: Iterations are another old A Level topic that are touched upon at GCSE Maths but only in their very simplest form. Again the notation is new and students are advised to practise these question types in depth.
Problem Solving: This has probably been the biggest changed made to the question types that appear on all three of the specimen papers for all exam boards. There are certainly more problem solving questions with more regular use of the proof question types. In addition to this, many of the more traditional GCSE Maths topics such as similar shapes, cumulative frequency curves and probability tree questions are being asked in a much more applied and contextualised way so that students can no longer simply learn a mathematical method and use it they have to understand and apply it to different question types.
At Skipton Tutors our GCSE Maths tutors are very aware of the changes to the GCSE Maths syllabus and have adjusted their tuition approach accordingly. We wish all of our current GCSE Maths students well in the first exam next week and the remaining two papers after the half term.