LAST MINUTE GCSE Maths Tips 2026 | Grade 9 Boost

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Okay, if you're looking for some last minute advice before your GCSE maths paper, you've come to the right place. I achieved a 9 in GCSE maths as well as an A* A-level, and I'm going to tell you the final things that I did before my exam. And as always, share some important resources that I highly recommend you have a look at before your exam. Let's get straight into it.

[00:00:17]So, the first and most important thing that you guys should be doing right now is managing your time correctly. At this point, doing full past papers probably isn't the best use of your time right now because the first 10 to 15 questions in paper one are quite straightforward, and majority of you should be able to pick up those marks anyway. That's why I personally focused a lot more on targeted practice. So, I suggest go through the past papers that you've already done and find the topics where you consistently lose marks and specifically drill those questions. This is where I personally believe the biggest improvement will come from leading up to your exam. To do this, I used Maths Genie and Revise they are very good for topical practice, and I'll leave those links in the description.

[00:00:56]However, if you are feeling that you don't conceptually understand the topic, there's no point in just spamming questions. So, in that case, I would highly recommend you watch a good walk-through video on that topic. For example, leading up to the exams, I struggled with circle theorem questions.

[00:01:10]So, I watched First Class Maths video on that topic, and then I moved into practice questions. So, make sure you are doing targeted practice, but if you are struggling on a topic before jumping into questions, watch a good video on it. Next, paper one is non-calculator, so you need to be confident with everything you're expected to know off by heart for paper one. A big one is exact trig values. Since you don't have a calculator, you are expected to know them for paper one. You need to make sure that you know them off the back of your hand because exam questions can hide them in harder geometry questions.

[00:01:41]The last thing you want is losing time trying to remember those values than actually trying to figure out how to crack the question. Adding on to that, make sure you're confident with all of the formulas that you're expected to know that aren't on the formula sheet.

[00:01:53]I'll leave an image with everything you need to know. I also want to talk about how your strategy should be like for the exam. Like I said before, the first 15 questions are usually quite straightforward, so you need to aim to solve these questions as quickly as possible. Why? So you can allow yourself that extra time in the harder questions towards the end. However, at the same time, you need to be maintaining a high accuracy in these initial questions so that you can afford to lose marks in the tougher ones. Now, once you are on the final three to four questions on the paper, do not start panicking if the question looks complicated. These questions are designed to make you think outside of the box, so instead, take it slow and focus on doing whatever you can to try and at least gain some method marks if you're clueless regarding the question. So, write down any formulas you know, write down any steps you think you should take, but do not leave the question blank. Finally, I want to highlight the importance of reading the command word in the question. For example, if a question says estimate, you are not allowed to do a full-fledged working out. Even if your answer is accurate, you still won't get the marks.

[00:02:59]Instead, for those estimate type questions, you need to focus on making decimal numbers whole, rounding to the nearest five, rounding to the nearest 10, whatever makes the question simpler so that you can approximate an answer.

[00:03:11]Some additional keywords include show that where you have to prove an answer that they've already given you, hence where you need to use an answer that you gave in a previous part, or explain where you need to actually use words and not just numbers. Apart from that, the order in which you solve the paper is completely unique to each person. I personally would look through the entire paper before starting it, but I do know many people don't like this approach because they tend to get distracted about what's ahead. So, my final advice is stick to what has worked for you before, and as always, make sure you get a full night's of sleep. Good luck, guys.