PracticeMaths

Free guide · GCSE Maths · Foundation and Higher

10 GCSE Maths Mistakes Costing Students Marks

Most marks lost in a GCSE maths exam are lost on questions the student could do. This six-page guide shows the ten ways it happens — the working that loses the mark next to the working that keeps it — and the fix for each one.

Inside the guide

  1. 1. Rounding too early
  2. 2. Answering a different question
  3. 3. Ignoring the accuracy or the units
  4. 4. A right answer with no working
  5. 5. Sign errors with negatives
  6. 6. Ratio — dividing by the wrong number
  7. 7. Reverse percentages done forwards
  8. 8. Not checking the answer makes sense
  9. 9. Typing it into the calculator wrong
  10. 10. Running out of time and leaving blanks

Each with a worked example marked two ways, a short Try it, and the answers at the back.

Written by a maths tutor with a BSc in Mathematics, from the mocks of real students. It is the first thing I go through with every new GCSE student, because it is the fastest grade there is: no new maths, just the marks you are already losing.

Rather just practise? Every GCSE topic has a free timed online test.