Pure 1 Reaction + Predictions for Pure 2: A-Level Maths Exams 2026 [Edexcel]

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Hey guys, it's Mr. Bison and the first Alevel maths paper has been sat today and I guess you're here because you want to know what did I think of this paper.

[00:00:09]Well, my reaction to this is it is a tough paper. I think there were some really tricky questions in there. I think probably the pacing was quite hard. But really sort of my overall thought of this was that like all of the numbers were really messy. A couple of years ago there was loads of show that questions. I think there was barely any show that questions and when there were there was always an unknown with it. So you never even knew if you had got the answer right. Proof question at the end very very tough. Just the numbers were so messy and I know that that would have thrown a lot of people off. So everybody that came out of the exam had a really similar feeling. Normally there's like a sort of a you can tell how people found it and it has not been a very positively received exam so far. And I think this is also reflected in the poll that I do on my channel. In 2025, 15% of people said that it was worse than they expected and 55% said it was better than they expected. Whereas at the moment, with about over 800 votes, 67% compared to 15% say that it was worse and 12% compared to 55% in 2025 say that it was better than they expected. So really, people have not enjoyed this paper, which makes me think a little bit about the grade boundaries. I just don't see how these grade boundaries with that exam paper will be the same as 2025. Of course, we have to wait and see what happens in paper two and in paper three.

[00:01:26]So, what I thought would be useful at this point is to say what topics have not yet been assessed, which therefore have a higher likelihood of appearing in paper 2. And for these topics, I will on Saturday morning between 9:30 and 12:30 be doing a Zoom session, my in between session, um, where I will be focusing on those topics that have not yet been assessed. Um, you can purchase the recording for this. I think the live places have probably sold out by now for that 3-hour session. Um, and afterwards you get some additional questions that I will go through with an extra video.

[00:01:55]I'll be writing some of my own questions, trying to use some questions from the international A level.

[00:02:00]Basically, questions that should feel fresh to you. And if you're feeling like you're going to need to lock in for paper two and paper three, I've also reduced the price of my mechanics and stats and my pure aiming for a star sessions from 30 to£15.

[00:02:13]Um, and that's all linked in the description as well. So that could be some stuff that could help you get prepared for these upcoming papers. So the expected topics list that I will be going through on that Saturday session this weekend, which I'm very quickly going to be planning. This is what I think has not yet been assessed that has a higher likelihood. Of course, things that have already been assessed could potentially come up, but I'm just going to read through these and I'll keep it updated in the description of the video in case any of these things change. But I don't think there's been anything on indices, quadratics, particularly with modeling, circles, the factor theorem, binomial expansion. There has been nothing on vectors, differentiation from first principles, optimization problems with differentiation, exponential modeling or nonlinear modeling. There's been nothing on log equations, partial fractions, arithmetic series, sigma notation or the recurrence series.

[00:03:07]Nothing on small angle approximations.

[00:03:09]There was parametric but not parametric differentiation and or integration which has still not been assessed. Nothing on implicit differentiation, differentiation modeling, points of inflection, increasing and decreasing functions, the trapezium rule, integration by substitution. I don't see how they're going to leave that out. So I would be definitely preparing for that connected rates of change and maybe another differential equation that is linked to connected rates of change and I would still expect there to be some more proof as well. There could be but less likely things like regions, linear graphs, the sign and cosine rule and I say these are less likely because they tend to come up more in as papers rather than in the full Alevel papers but they still could be there as well. So, [snorts] just to reiterate, I've got these events that are happening over the next um well, I've got this weekend the in between session, which is the £15 session. All of the other ones are 50% off, and I try to use questions that are not from the specification so that you see some fresh kinds of questions. At £15, 50% off for all of those, I think it's a bit of a no-brainer for revision.

[00:04:10]And if you have had a tough paper today and you need to try and claw back some extra marks, that is something that you can do immediately and get going with some revision. But, of course, you've also got all of my free resources on the channel as well. [snorts] Now, if you're feeling bad because maybe the paper didn't go so well, please know that a lot of people have found this a tough paper, feel bad this evening. Get yourself, I don't know, like take a break, watch something on TV, listen to your favorite music, but then the next day, I want you to just wake up and be in a much better, fresher frame of mind so that you can start pushing on to the next exams that you've got. And I know I use this analogy a lot, but if you play sports or you do performing performing or music, if something goes wrong when you're doing any of those things, you pick yourself up and you think, I'm going to do much better in the next half of this match or I forgot my line. I'm going to make sure that the rest of this performance goes really well. And that's what I want you to be thinking about.

[00:04:58]So, wishing you the best of luck. That was a tough paper. I think really like the messy numbers, no show that questions, hard questions. But let's hope we can do our best in the next exams that we've got coming up. Maybe I will see you in my in between session on Saturday. Um or maybe I'll just see you in a video or a live stream sometime soon. Best of luck, guys.