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The GCSE years
Options, tiers and boards — the decisions that shape GCSE results are usually made a year or two before the exams, and often without much fanfare.
Then pick a subject
Each subject below opens a guide written for parents. Every guide links on to the full topic list, where each published topic has a video, a written summary, a notes PDF and practice questions with answers.
What actually gets decided, and when
The GCSE years look like a single long stretch, but there are two or three moments where a decision quietly narrows what comes later. Knowing where they are is most of the battle.
- Year 9 — options Subject choices are made, often earlier than parents expect. Sciences are the one to watch: separate sciences and combined science lead to different starting points for A Level.
- Year 10 — tier setting Maths is sat at Foundation or Higher tier. Foundation caps the achievable grade, so if a child is borderline this is worth an honest conversation with school rather than a passive one.
- Year 11, autumn — mocks Mock results drive predicted grades and, in some schools, a final tier decision. This is the last comfortable point to change direction.
- Year 11, summer — exams The papers themselves. By this stage, preparation is about exam technique and recall, not new content.
If you are outside England
The material on this site follows the English GCSE. Wales uses WJEC, regulated by Qualifications Wales, which has replaced its two separate maths GCSEs with a single double-award qualification taught from September 2025. Northern Ireland uses CCEA. Scotland does not sit GCSEs at all — National 5 is the equivalent. If your child is on one of those routes, the topics here will overlap but the structure and grading will not match.
Finding your board's papers
Once you know the board, use its own past papers. The content is the same across boards, but question wording and layout are not, and familiarity with the format is worth real marks on the day.
To find out which board your child sits, ask the school, or look at the front page of any past paper they bring home — the board name is printed on it. It matters for buying practice papers, not for what needs learning.
Each subject guide lists the boards that set that subject, with the codes you need to find the right papers. That matters more than it sounds: AQA and OCR each run two different Combined Science courses, so “OCR past papers” is not specific enough on its own.
The one thing worth knowing about maths
Grade boundaries move each year, and a grade 4 and a grade 5 are both commonly described as a "pass" by different people. If a sixth form or college has a specific entry requirement, get the number from them in writing rather than relying on the general phrasing.
Where to start
The free GCSE maths topics are grouped the way the exam boards group them, so they map onto whatever specification your child is sitting.
Maths is not the only subject here. The subjects page lists everything on the site — 11+, GCSE and A Level, across maths, biology, chemistry and physics — broken down into individual topics, so you can go straight to the one your child is stuck on rather than working through a whole course. Every published topic has a video, a written summary, a notes PDF and practice questions with answers.
All of it is free. There is no account to make, no email address to hand over and nothing behind a paywall.
If you want more
The free material is meant to stand on its own. If your child would do better with someone working through it with them, there are small online group sessions for GCSE maths. What the sessions involve, what they cost, and how to get in touch.