Most lost marks at GCSE are not the topic on the question. They are an earlier gap the question leans on, or a method that was learned once and never practised under time. We find which of those it is, then teach to the specification your child is actually entered for.
Fractions, negatives, ratio and rearranging turn up inside almost every GCSE topic. A student who is shaky on those does not fail at fractions, they fail at trigonometry, and the trigonometry gets the blame.
Method marks are there to be had, but only if the arithmetic holds up long enough to show the method. This is the paper students most often leave to the mock, and the one that most rewards deliberate practice.
Knowing a method and recognising which question is asking for it are different skills, and the second one is what the longer questions test. We practise in the form the exam actually uses, not a tidied-up version.
Both are taught live by a subject tutor on our own platform, both are recorded, and both come with a written note afterwards. They suit different problems.
Best when there is something specific to find and fix. The tutor can spend the entire lesson on the gap that is actually costing marks, and change direction the moment it is clear something else is underneath it. Rates are on the pricing page.
Working through the specification across the school year at a steady pace, from £10 an hour. Best for a student broadly keeping up who needs the content covered properly and a fixed weekly slot. How the class works.
GCSE maths is usually taught as a list of topics. It is not a list: half of it rests on the other half, and the order matters more than the coverage. A tutor works out what is already secure and starts from the first thing that is not.
Fractions, percentages, indices, surds, expanding and factorising, linear and quadratic equations, simultaneous equations, rearranging formulae, sequences and inequalities. Nearly everything else on the paper is built on this, which is why a gap here shows up somewhere unrelated.
Ratio and proportion, similarity and congruence, angle reasoning, area and volume, Pythagoras, trigonometry, circle theorems on Higher, transformations and vectors. These carry the multi-step questions, so reading the question is as much of the skill as the method.
Probability trees, Venn diagrams, averages from tables, cumulative frequency, box plots, histograms and scatter graphs. Students who are behind on algebra frequently pick up grades here first, which is worth knowing when time is short before the exam.
Past papers from your child's own board are worked under timed conditions in the run-up to the exams, because sitting a paper and knowing the content are separate skills and only one of them is practised at school.
There are two ways to find out what is actually going on before you pay for anything, and neither needs a card.
One sitting of questions, no sign-up. You get a score and a topic by topic picture of where your child is strong and where they are not, straight away. Take the free check.
A real lesson with a real tutor, free of charge, written up afterwards like any other. Most families use it to find the gap rather than to be sold to. Book the trial.
GCSE maths is the subject we teach most: 154 lessons delivered and counting, alongside science, English and 11+. For the whole picture across Key Stage 2 to A-Level, see maths tutoring.
Whichever one your child is sitting. We teach to AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC, CIE and Eduqas, and the tutor works from that board's specification and past papers rather than a generic scheme. Tell us the board when you get in touch, and if you are not sure we can usually work it out from the school.
That is the school's decision, but it is worth understanding. Foundation is capped at grade 5 and Higher starts at grade 4, so a student sitting Higher who is not secure on the grade 4 to 5 content can come away with less than they would have on Foundation. A tutor will tell you honestly which tier the current work suggests, and what would need to change to move up.
Yes, and a year is more than most families think. The work is finding which earlier topics are actually causing the trouble and fixing those first, because GCSE questions lean on Key Stage 3 far more than the topic list suggests. That is what the trial lesson is for.
Yes. It is usually where marks quietly go missing, because the arithmetic has to be secure before the method can show. We practise it deliberately rather than leaving it to the mock.
One full hour with a maths tutor, free of charge. You will see how we teach, and you get the write-up afterwards like any other lesson.
