GCSE Maths · Foundation and Higher · all boards
Turn the maths you know into marks on the paper.
Two students can know the same maths and finish two grades apart. The difference is technique — how they read the question, lay out working, handle rounding, use the calculator, and spend ninety minutes. None of it is taught as a topic. All of it is marked.
The GCSE Maths Exam Technique Workbook teaches it in ten short sections, each with an exercise you mark yourself against a real mark allocation — the way an examiner would.
Where the marks actually go
A three-mark question is usually two method marks and one accuracy mark. Write only the answer and you are betting three marks on one number — and on a “show your working” question, you usually lose the bet. Write the method, and a slip in the last line still keeps two of the three.
That one fact changes how you write. The workbook is built from facts like it: how the scheme rewards a wrong answer with a right method, what “show that” actually asks for, why 0.047 loses the mark that 0.0473 keeps, and what to put on the page when you have no idea — because a blank scores zero every time, and a formula usually does not.
The ten sections
1.What the examiner is paying for
M, A and B marks, follow-through, and why a wrong answer can score 2 out of 3.
2.Reading the question
Every command word, what the answer must look like, and the three-read routine.
3.Laying out working that scores
The same question marked two ways. One step per line, no running equals signs.
4.Accuracy, rounding and units
The significant-figures trap, exact answers, cm² to m², when to round.
5.The calculator
Brackets, negatives, square roots, degrees mode, and the twenty-second check.
6.“Show that” and “Prove”
What a full-mark answer looks like, with the reasons written where the marks are.
7.The big problem questions
Plan, do, check for the 4-, 5- and 6-mark questions.
8.Checking
Four checks — estimate, substitute, reverse, sense — each under thirty seconds.
9.Time, and the day itself
A pacing plan with checkpoints, what to do when stuck, never a blank.
10.The errors by topic
Where the marks go in number, ratio, algebra, geometry, statistics and probability.
Every section except the last has an exercise. The answers at the back show the marks line by line, so you can see exactly which technique cost you — and that list is your revision plan.
This is for you if…
- Your mock score is lower than what you know — you come out thinking it went well, and it did not.
- Feedback says “show your working”, “read the question” or “units”.
- You run out of time, or leave the last questions blank.
- You are a parent who wants a concrete thing to do with a student who says “I know it, I just made silly mistakes”.
This is not for you if…
- You need the maths itself taught — this assumes you can do the topics and teaches how to score on them.
- You want practice papers. Those are sold by topic, or all together in the 4-Week Programme, which includes this workbook.
- You want videos. It is a workbook, on purpose: the exam is on paper.
Questions, answered plainly
- Who is this for?
- Any student sitting a maths exam at 14–16 who loses marks on questions they could do — and the parents and tutors of those students. In the UK that is GCSE, Foundation or Higher, any board; elsewhere it is IGCSE, or US and Canadian grades 9–10. It suits a Year 10 building habits early, a Year 11 with mocks behind them, and an older student resitting. It assumes you can do the maths and teaches how to score on it; it is not a course that teaches the maths itself.
- Is this for Foundation or Higher?
- Both. Technique is marked the same way on both tiers, and the exercises use maths that any GCSE student can do — the maths is never the point.
- Which exam board?
- AQA, Edexcel and OCR all mark the same way. The pacing section gives the checkpoints for each board's paper length.
- I am not in the UK — is this for me?
- GCSE is the exam UK students sit at 16 (roughly US grades 10–11), and the same syllabus is taken as IGCSE in many countries. The technique in this workbook — method marks, showing working, accuracy, checking, pacing — applies to any maths exam marked with a mark scheme, and the maths itself is universal. Only the pacing checkpoints are specific to UK papers.
- What are GCSE and A-Level in US or Canadian terms?
- GCSE Maths is what UK students take at 14–16 — about US grades 9–10 or Canadian grades 9–10: number, Algebra I, Geometry, the start of Algebra II, probability and statistics. A-Level Maths is the two years after that (US grades 11–12 / Ontario grades 11–12): Pre-Calculus and AP Calculus AB, plus statistics and mechanics. Further Maths is beyond that — AP Calculus BC and first-year university topics. If a student is in grade 9 or 10 and wants solid practice with fully worked answers, this GCSE material is the right level.
- Can I pay in dollars or euros?
- Prices are in pounds sterling. Stripe takes cards from anywhere and your bank converts at its own rate — £19 is roughly $25 or €22, depending on the day.
- Is it a course?
- No. It is a workbook: ten short sections, each with an exercise to do with a pen and mark yourself. Most students do one section a day.
- How do I get it?
- It is a 12-page PDF. Pay by card through Stripe and the download link is on the next page and in your email. No account to create.
- Does it include practice papers?
- No — the papers are sold by topic, or all together in the 4-Week Revision Programme, which includes this workbook.
- How is it different from the free guide?
- The guide shows the ten mistakes. The workbook trains the technique that stops them — ten sections with an exercise each, marked against a real mark allocation. Read the guide first; if it tells you something you did not know, the workbook will too.
- Can I print it?
- Yes. It is an A4 PDF, 12 pages, designed to be printed and written on.
- Is it suitable for Year 10, or only Year 11?
- Both. The earlier the habits are built, the more mocks they help with. Year 9 is fine for a strong student.
- Can a parent work through it with their child?
- Yes — the answers show the marks line by line, so a parent can mark it without knowing the maths.
- If I buy the workbook and later want the programme?
- Right after paying, the thank-you page offers the programme for the £30 difference, since the workbook is part of it.
- What if it is not what I expected?
- If the file is wrong, will not open, or is not what is described here, contact us and we will refund it.
The cheapest grade there is
No new maths. Just the marks you are already losing. The workbook is £19.00, and the nine exercises take about a week of twenty-minute sittings.
P.S. Not sure yet? Start with the free guide, 10 GCSE Maths Mistakes Costing Students Marks. If it tells you something you did not know, the workbook will too.