Feb 12 2022

Examinations – Mathematics Summer 2022

For November 2022 – See Examinations – Mathematics November 2022

The resources below use the advance information for Summer 2022, see Examinations November 2022 for resources using the Advance November information as well as general revision resources.

See also GCSE Mathematics Paper 3

See also – Mathematics Revision including many short questions which can make ideal revision. And note from Mr Neill, a brilliant resource, all Edexcel, AQA and OCR GCSE maths questions by topic with answers from June 2017 to Nov 2020 (9-1), available all on pdf, PowerPoint or Promethean.

Mr Neill

A-Level Resources

For AQA A Level Dr Tom Bennison is adding revision resources to this page. As you can see from Tom’s post he is planning to provide a set of “practice” papers for AQA A-Level Maths and AQA A-Level Further Maths, a paper for OCR FSMQ and then some “Exam warmup” grids for use before the exams.

Naiker Maths

From Naiker Maths an A level Predicted paper 1 based on advance info from Edexcel.

The first paper you will see has 12 questions, and a mark scheme is also provided.

ExamQ – Mr Watts

On ExamQ from Mr Watts you can quickly search for Edexcel Maths GCSE and A-Level exam questions. You can choose from GCSE Higher, AS or A level, you can also select by exam series, paper, area and topic. Selecting Summer 2022 Advanced Information displays a menu of questions by paper based on the Advance Information.

The interface is very clear indeed, easily display the questions or mark schemes.

From Pearson/Edexcel, comes a very valuable resource, under Summer 2022, Support, A Level Mathematics Topic Tests, is a new set of topic tests (no login required) for Pure Mathematics (10 tests), Mechanics (5 tests) and Statistics (5 tests) are provided. These are very comprehensive, not only do we have the questions and mark schemes but further notes. Looking at an example, the first test of the Pure Mathematics tests is on Proof, 5 varied questions cover the knowledge, skills and understanding relevant to Pearson’s qualification. The tests are designed to be used with the advance information for the subject as well as general marking guidance for the qualification.

See also Mathematics Worked Examples – A Level.

Also available in a similar format from Pearson Edexcel are A Level Further Mathematics Topic Tests. Tests are available in both Word and pdf format for Papers 1 and 2 (9 tests), and Papers 3A (7 tests), 3B (8 tests), 3C (5 tests), and 3D )5 tests.

Pearson Edexcel Further Maths Topic Tests

The first test in the Paper 1 and 2 pack for example is on Proof, 7 questions provide comprehensive coverage of Proof.

Core Maths

For Core Maths, note the very helpful section, Pre-release materials in Getting Started with Core Maths from Catherine Van Saarloos.

Whilst not written for the advance information, the following resources may be useful if you are searching by topic for A level Maths and Further Maths:

Advance Information for summer 2022 exams is now available.

Formula Sheets

OCR Formula Sheet Test

From OCR, higher and foundation formula sheet tests.

The Exams Office publishes regular updates, available to all. This is a really useful resource and includes all their updates including from JCQ, DfE and all the examination boards. As well as AQA, OCR and Pearson you will find for example City and Guilds and International Examinations.

Whilst we have this advance information, it should perhaps be regarded with some caution; we cannot assume too much about what will not be on the examination. It is still important to teach the complete specification, many students will be going on to study A level, but the many revision resources appearing based on the advance information for Mathematics will provide a useful focus for revision. I will keep this post updated as new resources are created.

AQA / Teachit Maths

To start, from TeachitMaths an AQA Maths partnership resource: GCSE mathematics-small things make a big difference; many really useful and important reminders for students.

Corbett Maths

See GCSE 2022 on Corbett Maths, John Corbett has released lots of high-quality support material for Edexcel, AQA, OCR, and CCEA for both Foundation and Higher. You will find papers, revision checklists (hyperlinked to videos), also YouTube playlists, content is still being added. The papers are in the style of John Corbett’s “A Bit of Everything” papers – a resource I have always liked.

Maths Genie

On Maths Genie, you will find videos, exam questions and solutions for AQA, Edexcel and OCR.

Dr Frost Maths

On Dr Frost Maths, we have the skills involved in Edexcel’s Foundation GCSE papers 2022, as per the official guidance, thank you to @VinculumL of New College Durham. You can find Edexcel papers including the higher papers and IGCSE on the Edexcel courses page on Dr Frost Maths; scroll to the last courses on the page to see the IGCSE courses.

AQA courses including Foundation, Higher and Level 2 Further Maths are here, thanks to @StreetlyAcademy.

OCR courses including 2022 GCSE Papers 1-6, which students can work through to practise by topic from @rachaelhandley2 of @ThomasEstley school can be found here.

ExamQ – Mr Watts

On ExamQ from Mr Watts you can quickly search for Edexcel Maths GCSE Higher and A-Level exam questions. You can select by exam series, paper, area and topic. Selecting Summer 2022 Advanced Information displays a menu of questions by paper based on the Advance Information. The interface is very clear indeed, easily display the questions or mark schemes.

White Rose Maths – Practice Papers (AQA, Edexcel) & Pre-exam workshops (AQA, Edexcel. OCR)

From White Rose Maths (scroll down), Foundation and Higher papers and mark schemes based on the AQA and Edexcel advance information are available. Also available are pre-exam workshops for Edexcel, AQA and OCR; the workshops are slideshows with answers included – ideal for final revision.

PixiMaths – Edexcel Higher 2 & 3

From PixiMaths, Best Guess Papers and Mark Schemes for Edexcel Papers 2 and 3.

From Mr Hart (@hartmaths) GCSE Edexcel Mixed Revision.

From Wayne Chadburn, I do like his little bit of Maths each day calendars, see these for March, April and May. Do check all three calendars as these have been written to focus on each of the three papers and the topic lists announced by Edexcel. Whilst written with Edexcel in mind these are great revision resources whichever board you use. Full solutions are provided.

Wayne Chadburn
Sparx Maths

From Sparx Maths, 2022 GCSE and IGCSE Advance Information – Sparx Topics and Key Questions. This is a brilliant resource, a whole collection of carefully selected questions. Great to see questions for IGCSE.

BBC Bitesize

On BBC Bitesize, you will find links to resources for AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas and OCR. Scroll down to M for the Mathematics links.

Craig Barton – Diagnostic Questions

Craig Barton has provided links for quizzes on Diagnostics Questions mapped to Edexcel’s and AQA’s Higher and Foundation advance information.

Mathsbox Skills Checks

On Mathsbox, we have some really useful skills checks – one or two-page documents with answer sheets aligned to the AQA, Edexcel and OCR advance information.

1st Class Maths

From 1st Class Maths, papers using the AQA advance information AQA Paper 1F, Paper 2F, Paper 1H, Paper 2H, QR codes link to video solutions on the 1st Class Maths YouTube channel.

See also AQA Further Maths Level 2. for Paper 1 and video solutions.

1stclassmaths – AQA Level 2 Further Maths

AHS Maths
AHS Maths

Returning to Corbett Maths, AHS Maths has linked Corbett videos (and for those who have them – Hegarty Maths and the revision guide from Just Maths) to the Edexcel advanced information for GCSE Foundation and Higher.

Look for the Corbett video number here. Remember that with Corbett Maths, not only do we have the videos but worked examples by topic too.

Corbett Maths – practice questions, Negatives
Just Maths – Take 5

From Just Maths, “Take 5”, a maximum of 5 questions aligned with the advance information from the Edexcel Foundation papers in ascending difficulty, primarily from older papers. You will find the Just Maths Take 5 post pinned to the top of the Just Maths blog. Note that the post will be updated including the addition of the Higher tier.

Maths White Board – worksheet generator, Matt Woodfine

On Maths White Board, Matt Woodfine has created worksheets based on the advanced information from AQA, Edexcel and OCR; each time you create a worksheet, you get new questions, answers are included.

Maths White Board – Maths Starters based on advance information

See also on Maths White Board:

On Third Space Learning you can find papers for AQA, Edexcel and OCR.

Third Space Learning

Richard Morley, @MrMorleyMaths has created playlists of videos for each Pearson Edexcel Maths GCSE paper, based on the advanced information. Every video has a link to a notes jotter.

mr morley maths – notes jotter

Ben Gordon – Mixed Six tasks

Ben Gordon is creating “Mixed Six” tasks for each of the key skills and cross over topics from the Edexcel advanced information. He has provided a link to the presentation for the Mixed Up Sixes; the slides are sorted into papers 1, 2 and 3 with a blank template for those still to come.

Gareth Evans has made some Edexcel Crossover Revision Grids for each of the 3 GCSE papers based on this year’s advance information. There are 5 sets of each.

Gareth Evans – Crossover Revision Grids (Edexcel)

From MathsTeacherHub questions based on the Edexcel advanced information for Higher paper 1 and Foundation Paper 1.

From The GCSE Maths Tutor, Edexcel practice booklets and videos, (AQA to follow soon) all free. Also higher and Foundation Revision Checklists – all exam boards, links are provided for Videos – all exam boards.

Bharti Karadia – potential crossover topics – Edexcel

From Bharti Karadia, this clear document (note the tabs at the bottom) helps to identify potential crossover topics for Edexcel GCSE 2022.

From Brooke Hunter, for AQA, Level 2 Further Maths, a student-friendly version of the advanced information linked to DrFrostMaths key skill numbers throughout.

Feb 6 2022

AQA Examination Analysers

I have long been a fan of AQA’s examination analysers. On All About Maths, these are available for Key Stage 3, GCSE, Core Maths, AS and A-level Maths, and for some legacy qualifications. You can see AQA’s description here on GCSE mock analysers.

For access to All About Maths which is for teachers who offer, or are considering offering AQA maths qualifications, see How to get access to AQA All About Maths.

And now, such a welcome addition – thank you AQA…

The analysers all include an answer worth full marks and useful comments from examiners, as well as the question and the mark scheme. The Excel versions give the national mean mark for each question or part of the question. It’s great that these are now available as PowerPoint presentations, one for each paper, for the GCSE and A-level November 21 papers. The slides for these papers have for each question, the question, the mark scheme, examiner comments and an answer worth full marks. For longer questions, more than one slide may be used where necessary to show the information clearly.

Looking at a paper, which is freely available on the AQA website, from the Nov 2020 series, GCSE higher paper 3, question 28 is

From the analyser, we learn that the national mean mark was low.
Here’s the answer worth full marks – these are so useful for students.

AQA Nov 20, GCSE paper 3H

…and of course, we have to illustrate this on Desmos, I like to use the note item in Desmos to add explanations.

Jan 30 2022

Algebraic Notation

Algebraic notation – National Curriculum

From the KS3 National Curriculum we see the above on algebraic notation, see also pages 56-66 of the Teaching mathematics at key stage 3 guidance. The guidance covers the entire KS3 curriculum and includes common difficulties and misconceptions, examples for use in lessons, and suggested questioning and other strategies for teachers to use.

KS3 Guidance example

The following slideshow includes several resources you can use with students for practice in writing algebraic notation.

Included you can see Jonathan Hall’s Worded Expressions, as always with MathsBot resources we have lots of choices – for example, hide either the sentences or expressions. With the ability to generate new expressions we have an endless supply; also from Jonathan Hall, see his Forming Expressions, these resources are ideal for self-study as well as for use in class.

  • Mathsbot
  • Standards Unit – A1
  • Smile activity
  • Jo Morgan
  • Don Steward
  • Mathsbot
  • Andy Lutwyche
  • Maths4Everyone
  • Transum Mathematics
  • Corbett Maths

From Don Steward, we have translating English to algebra, expressions, see also translating English to algebra, relationships. Also included here is an activity, A1 from the Standards Unit on Interpreting algebraic expressions. This includes 4 card sets to match, ideal for looking at multiple representations, students match algebraic expressions, explanations in words, tables of numbers and areas of shapes. One of the goals of the activity is to help learners to translate between words, symbols, tables, and area representations of algebraic shapes. The Standards Unit resources can all be accessed without a login from the very clear to navigate University of Nottingham site linked to in the Standards Unit post.

One of Chris McGrane’s Starting Points MathsCurriculum Booklets – Algebra 1 from Phase 3 features some great activities for writing algebraic statements, featured on the slides you can see a Smile activity, and Jo Morgan’s lovely Introduction to Writing Algebraically – this is such a good idea, as Jo says in the resource description if they know how to do it with numbers, then they just do the same thing with the algebra.

Further excellent resources on this skill are available on Maths4Everyone.

On Transum, Writing Expressions is an exercise with a difference, listen to the audio then type in the expression.

From Corbett Maths
Algebra: expressions – forming     Video 16    Practice Questions    Textbook Exercise

16.     Algebra: expressions – forming     Practice Questions answers       Textbook answers

From Andy Lutwyche – Algebraic Expressions Spiders

Here’s an interesting query type on WolframAlpha – simple word problems. See more examples of Word Problems (and All Examples by Topic).

WolframAlpha – simple word problems

From my post on Bar Modelling see The Mathenæum from Ken Wessen which includes Modelling Word Problems.

The Mathenæum – Ken Wessen
Jan 23 2022

A Level Starters

From Jonny Griffiths a new publication – Digitisers. (Also free from ATM.)

Digitisers – Jonny Griffiths

What a great puzzle! Jonny Griffiths is aiming these puzzles (which always have a unique solution) at late GCSE/early A level Maths students. As Jonny says, this type of puzzle seems to engage students fast, making a great starter that revises important theory quickly; the aim of a Digitiser puzzle is to both practice and teach (or reteach) a piece of mathematics,

The image shows a simple sample task, you can find the solution on his website. The Digitisers pdf file is free. Clear instructions explaining the puzzles and notation used are given, we then have all the tasks by topic to help you pick your task – brilliant! Each task has a difficulty rating from 1 to 3 stars. Full solutions are provided.

This is a wonderful resource – puzzles like this go down well with students, but to have them all clearly by topic is perfect – thank you Jonny, for yet another amazing resource!

Digitisers – Jonny Griffiths – tasks by topic

Choose Completing the Square for example and we have:

Jonny Griffiths – Digitisers

Staying with starters for A level, for linear A Level courses Retrieval Practice is essential. From crashMaths, these AS Maths Key Skills Check worksheets are very valuable for Year 13 in the second year of their A Level course. The Skills Checks are all on Pure Mathematics and make ideal lesson starters.

crashMaths Skills Check

When working through solutions, take every opportunity to illustrate with technology. 

Andy Lutwyche – Erica’s Errors series

Andy Lutwyche’s collection of Erica’s Errors where students must identify errors in solutions can be an ideal starter for either retrieval practice for an earlier topic or to consolidate learning for a current topic.

Stoke Maths

Stoke Maths MEP Starters are very attractively presented high-quality resources. Looking at the Spot the Mistake PowerPoints for example, as you can see in the image below there are a great collection of questions that include full answers. It’s great to see Mechanics and Statistics collections. The revision question starters provide very useful question sets.

From Ben Bently, comes a collection of low stakes quizzes using questions from Diagnostic questions.

On Transum try Advanced Starters, some of which I think could be useful for students aiming at the highest GCSE grades as well as for Advanced Level students. The problem, Find the Radius, illustrated in the tweet is very neat!

Transum Mathematics

Looking at the Main Transum Starters page I see at the foot of the page we have various categories of starters including the Advanced Starters. I see many starters here I like, looking at Coordinate Distance, I can never resist a Desmos page to illustrate a problem! This starter could be also be used to review some coordinate geometry – find the midpoint? Find the equation of the line?

Quad Midpoints
Jethwa Maths – 10 minute starters

On Jethwa Maths you will find starters for Mathematics and Further Mathematics A Level.

From OCR (MEI) their Foundations of Advanced Mathematics level 2 qualification covers arithmetic, algebra, graphs, trigonometry and statistics. Assessment is by a two-hour examination that consists of 40 multiple-choice questions. As OCR suggest these questions could be used for diagnostic tests.

Choose Past Papers, mark schemes and reports. Papers and mark schemes from June 2007 are freely available.

OCR Foundations of Advanced Mathematics
OCR Foundations of Advanced Mathematics

We could of course illustrate the solution well with the use of a little use of technology!


A source of multiple choice A Level questions, particularly for Pure Mathematics is Diagnostic Questions; see for example this quiz I created on  Logarithms and Exponentials.

DrFrost UKMT Algebra
Dr Frost Maths

The UKMT Maths Challenge questions are excellent for students of all ages. This post includes a selection of links and resources to access the Maths Challenges.


For superb resources for the Oxford Admissions test multiple choice questions see these Underground Mathematics Review Questions where you will find not only the questions but suggestions and complete solutions.


A trip down memory lane! (Edexcel’s Emporium has some papers from this era.)
University of London June 1986 Mathematics 1

At the start of my teaching career I really liked the first paper of the Mathematics A level from the University of London School Examinations Board – thirty multiple choice questions to complete in one hour, 15 minutes.

Multiple Choice Example

For questions 1 to 20, candidates had to select one answer from 5 and for questions 21-30 the instructions were as follows.
June 86 Mathematics 1

University of London June 1986 Mathematics 1

The pdf file here has the paper, followed by the exam board answers followed by notes from the 1986 version of me! These days I would illustrate with Desmos and/or WolframAlpha for example as well where appropriate.
Colleen Young answers

Note the comment from Graham Cummings below, there are further papers available in the Edexcel’s Emporium:

The Emporium has some 17 multiple-choice question papers from the period 1988-1992 – by no means a complete set, but they range across the Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics syllabuses. You can find them in the “Pre-C2000” cabinet within GCE AS/A Level.

Signing up to Mathematics Emporium is highly recommended, note that it is a free website intended for the use of teachers of mathematics in secondary schools, regardless of what board you use. Register for an account and ensure you supply a correct centre e-mail address in your name for verification, your centre name and centre number.

Edexcel Emporium