Your 16-Day Revision Schedule

Divide the 16 days into four blocks of four days each. Each block has one primary focus and one secondary focus.

Days 1–4: Algebra Foundation (Primary)

Tackle simultaneous equations and quadratics first. These appear in almost every Paper 2. Spend two days on simultaneous equations (linear and one non-linear), two days on quadratics (factorising, completing the square, the formula). Do past paper questions from the last three years for each sub-topic. Aim for 15–20 questions per sub-topic. Note which mistake patterns repeat.

Secondary: Algebraic fractions and rearranging. One evening each. These are quicker wins.

Days 5–8: Ratio, Proportion, and Rates (Primary)

Spend one day on ratio and scaling (map scale questions, recipe problems). One day on direct and inverse proportion. One day on rates of change and compound growth (depreciation, repeated percentage change). One day on speed, distance, time and combined rate problems. For each day, work through 8–12 questions from past papers, paying attention to the setup of the calculation, not just the arithmetic.

Secondary: Surds and indices. Spend one evening. These often appear as part of algebra or proportion questions; they’re quick review if you’re solid on them.

Days 9–12: Geometry and Trigonometry (Primary)

One day on circle theorems and circle properties (angles, arc length, sector area). One day on trigonometry (sine rule, cosine rule, area of a triangle). One day on transformations and vectors. One day on 2D and 3D shape problems. Work through 8–10 questions per day. These are procedural; repetition builds confidence.

Secondary: Probability and statistics. One evening on tree diagrams and conditional probability. One evening on frequency tables and cumulative frequency.

Days 13–16: Integration and Past Papers (Primary)

Days 13 and 14: Take one full past paper (Paper 2) under timed conditions each day. 90 minutes, calculator allowed, no breaks. Mark it. Identify which questions you lost marks on and why: calculation error, method error, or didn’t attempt. Spend the evening going through those specific questions.

Days 15 and 16: Tackle topics you stumbled on. Spend the morning on targeted questions (3–5 questions per topic). Spend the afternoon on another full past paper or the hardest questions from the papers you’ve already done. On Day 16 evening, review the formula sheet, key facts, and any last-minute blind spots.

The Four-Point System to Capture Every Mark

1. Develop a Question-Decoding Habit

Before you do any maths, read the question twice. First time: understand the scenario (what is the situation?). Second time: underline or circle the exact thing you are asked to find.

On Foundation papers, a surprising number of marks are lost because the student solved the right problem in the wrong way. For example:

• Question: “What is 15% of £80?” Student calculates 80 ÷ 15 instead of 80 × 0.15.
• Question: “How many more students chose pizza than chose salad?” Student adds the two numbers instead of subtracting.

This decoding step takes ten seconds and prevents careless reversals.

2. Always Show Working, Even for “Easy” Questions

Foundation papers award method marks. If you write “2 × 6 = 12” and the answer is wrong because you misread the question, you get zero. But if you write “Price = £8 × 6 cans = £48”, the examiner sees your method and may award partial credit even if the final figure is incorrect.

On Foundation tier, this is crucial because many students do know how to do the maths; they just trip on presentation. Writing it down forces you to slow down and think clearly.

3. Circle or Highlight the Final Answer—and Check Units

Before you move to the next question, look at your final answer and ask: “Is this in the right units? Have I rounded to the right degree? Does this answer make sense in the context of the question?”

If the question asks for a length in centimetres and you have calculated millimetres, convert it. If it asks for “the nearest whole number” and you have left your answer as a decimal, round it. These are one-mark gains that cost no extra thinking—only a five-second check.

4. Practice Under Timed Conditions—Then Review Your Mistakes

Do not just practice Foundation papers; practice them as if you were in the exam. Use a timer, sit at a desk, and avoid distractions. Then, mark your paper ruthlessly and categorise your errors:

• Did you misread the question?
• Did you forget to show working?
• Did you forget units or rounding?
• Did you actually not know how to do the maths?

Most Foundation students find that 70–80% of their errors fall into the first three categories. Once you know that, you can focus your revision on discipline, not on relearning content.

Three Embedding Techniques That Work

1. The Possessive Anchor

Join the quotation to your own noun phrase using a possessive or descriptive structure:

“The protagonist’s desperate claim that ‘I have nothing left’ reveals…”

The quotation becomes part of the grammatical object. No pause. No separate sentence.

2. The Colon Lead-In

Use a short introductory clause, then a colon, then embed the quotation inside a continuation of your sentence:

“The author’s sense of place is undeniable: ‘the rain fell ceaselessly on the moorland’ captures isolation through meteorological repetition.”

Here, the clause after the colon completes your analytical thought, not the quotation’s thought.

3. The Mid-Sentence Splice (with Caution)

Embed the quotation in the middle of your sentence, with natural connectives:

“The narrator, who admits he is ‘uncertain and afraid,’ nonetheless moves forward, suggesting resilience despite anxiety.”

This only works if the quotation sits naturally in your grammar. If it feels forced, use technique 1 or 2 instead.

What NOT to Do

• Do not introduce a quotation with a period and create a new sentence.
• Do not use “and” or “because” to join your clause to the quotation—it signals loose connection.
• Do not quote a full sentence when a phrase will do. “He walked alone” is weaker than “alone.”
• Do not quote and then repeat the same idea in your own words directly after—that is circular, not analytical.

The Four-Step Safeguard

Here’s a bulletproof method that eliminates all three mistakes:

1. Pause and choose. Look at both coefficients. Which variable will you eliminate? Can you eliminate it with small multipliers (×1, ×2, ×3)? Choose that one. Write down what you’re going to multiply by before you do it.
2. Multiply both equations visibly. Write out the full multiplied versions side by side. Check: are the target coefficients now equal? Only then proceed.
3. Eliminate and solve. Add or subtract to remove the chosen variable. Solve for the remaining variable. Circle your answer.
4. Substitute into an original equation and check both sides. Write the equation number you’re using (“into equation 1”). Substitute. Solve. Then—and this is the key—plug both values back into the other original equation to verify they work there too. If they don’t, you’ve caught an error before you lose marks.

Step 4 is where most students cut corners. They find an answer and move on. But substituting into the second equation takes 15 seconds and catches nearly every mistake before it reaches the answer line.

How to Fix It: Three Concrete Changes

1. Use a Labelled, Step-by-Step Layout Every Time

Write out your equations and label them (1) and (2). When you multiply, write a new equation with (1)×3, for example. Never skip steps or try to combine lines in your head.

Example:

(1) 2x + 3y = 13
(2) x + y = 5
(1) × 1: 2x + 3y = 13
(2) × 2: 2x + 2y = 10
(1) − (2): y = 3

Writing it out makes it nearly impossible to lose track of which row is which.

2. Always Verify by Substituting Back

After you find x and y, write a separate “check” section. Plug both values into both original equations. If they don’t work, you’ve found your error before you submit the answer.

In an exam, this takes 30 seconds and can save 2–3 marks.

3. Choose Your Method Based on the Equation, Not Habit

Look at the pair before you start. If one variable already has a coefficient of 1 or −1, use substitution—it’s faster. If all coefficients are bigger numbers, elimination is usually cleaner. Don’t defaultto the method you practised most; pick the one that minimises arithmetic.

The Four-Step Safeguard

Here’s a bulletproof method that eliminates all three mistakes:

1. Pause and choose. Look at both coefficients. Which variable will you eliminate? Can you eliminate it with small multipliers (×1, ×2, ×3)? Choose that one. Write down what you’re going to multiply by before you do it.
2. Multiply both equations visibly. Write out the full multiplied versions side by side. Check: are the target coefficients now equal? Only then proceed.
3. Eliminate and solve. Add or subtract to remove the chosen variable. Solve for the remaining variable. Circle your answer.
4. Substitute into an original equation and check both sides. Write the equation number you’re using (“into equation 1”). Substitute. Solve. Then—and this is the key—plug both values back into the other original equation to verify they work there too. If they don’t, you’ve caught an error before you lose marks.

Step 4 is where most students cut corners. They find an answer and move on. But substituting into the second equation takes 15 seconds and catches nearly every mistake before it reaches the answer line.

The Fix: Three Steps to Answer Inference Questions Correctly

Step 1: Identify what you’re being asked to infer about.

Read the question carefully. It will usually ask something like: “What can you infer about the character’s feelings?” or “What does the passage suggest about the setting?” Circle the target — the thing you need to infer about, not what the writer is doing.

Step 2: Find the textual clues and state what they show.

Pull out the specific details from the passage. For the station example: hunched shoulders, avoiding eye contact, moving quickly. Now say what these details reveal about the person — not what the writer intended, but what the picture tells you.

Hunched shoulders and avoiding eye contact infer shame, anxiety, or wanting to be unnoticed. The quick movement infers either urgency or a desire to escape. Combined, the clues suggest the man feels anxious or unwelcome in this space.

Step 3: Write your answer starting with the inference itself, then support it.

Instead of: “The writer is trying to show the man is in a hurry.”

Write: “The man feels anxious or unwelcome. His hunched shoulders and averted gaze suggest he wants to avoid attention, and his quick pace suggests he wants to leave the space. This implies he is uncomfortable or stressed.”

Notice the difference: you’ve made an inference about the character, backed it up with textual detail, and explained how that detail supports your inference. You haven’t mentioned the writer at all — and that’s correct.

The Four-Part Final Push Protocol

1. Identify Your Question-Type Gaps (This Week)

Pull your last three mock papers. For every question you dropped marks on, classify it by type, not topic. Did you lose marks because you miscalculated, misread the question, or didn’t know the method at all?

Create a simple list: “Multi-step algebra—lost 3 marks,” “Graph interpretation—lost 2 marks,” “Angle-chasing—lost 4 marks.” Target the question types where you lost the most marks.

2. Drill High-Yield Question Types (Weeks 2–4)

For each high-gap question type, find five to eight past paper examples. Don’t do them once. Do them again and again until the method becomes automatic.

Use past papers from your exam board (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, etc.). Don’t mix—exam boards have subtle style differences. You want your brain trained on the exact format you’ll see.

Time yourself on every attempt. If you’re still slow at week 4, slowness will cost you marks in the exam.

3. Build Your Error Journal (Weeks 2–6)

Every wrong answer goes into a written journal: the question number, what you did, what went wrong, the correct method, and why you made that error (careless, misread, didn’t know the method, forgot a step).

Review this journal every three days. Errors repeat. You’ll spot your patterns—e.g., “I always forget to square both sides when solving” or “I misread ‘perimeter’ as ‘area’.”

Patterns are fixable. Vague revision isn’t.

4. Past Paper Timed Conditions (Weeks 5–6)

Do full papers under exam conditions. Silent room, no notes, timer running, no calculator (if you’re practising Paper 1). Mark them immediately.

One full paper per week in your final two weeks is enough—quality over quantity. Analyse every dropped mark. If you’re still making errors on question types you’ve drilled, the issue isn’t knowledge; it’s exam nerves or careless reading. That requires mental rehearsal, not more practice.

The Four-Step Proof Framework

Use this structure for any proof question. It will not guarantee a perfect answer, but it will capture all the marks available for method and logic.

Step 1: State What You Are Proving

Write one sentence that names the statement clearly. For example: “We prove that $n(n+1)(n+5)$ is always divisible by 6 for any positive integer n.”

Step 2: Declare Your Assumptions

For induction: “Assume the statement holds for n = k.” Write the full statement using k instead of n.

For algebraic proof: “Let n be any integer” or “Let x be a real number such that…”

For proof by contradiction: “Assume the opposite: that [statement] is false.”

Step 3: Show the Logic Chain

This is where most of your algebra goes. But pause after each key step and ask: “Why does the next line follow?” If the answer is not obvious, write a brief comment.

Example: Instead of:

• $n^3 + 2n = n(n^2 + 2)$
• $= $ (next step)

Write:

• $n^3 + 2n = n(n^2 + 2)$ (factor out n)
• Since one of three consecutive integers is always divisible by 3, we can write…
• $= $ (next step)

The comment tells the examiner you know why the step works.

Step 4: Conclude Formally

Do not just stop. Write: “Therefore, [original statement] is true (or proven).” If using induction, add: “By the principle of mathematical induction, the statement holds for all positive integers n.”

Breaking the Plateau: Targeted Fixes for Each Pattern

Fix for Pattern 1: Swap Reading for Retrieval

Replace textbook reading with closed-book practice.

• After learning a new topic, wait 30 minutes and try problems without notes or the explanation in front of you.
• Use a friend or tutor to explain it back to them—saying it aloud forces retrieval.
• Write down the key steps from memory before checking if you were right.

This retrains your brain to retrieve knowledge under pressure, which is exactly what an exam demands.

Fix for Pattern 2: Vary the Context, Not Just the Numbers

Once you can solve ten similar problems, stop doing more of the same. Instead:

• Practise the skill in a different subject context (e.g. factorising inside geometry, not just algebra).
• Solve problems where the skill is one step among many, not the main focus.
• Mix topics in a single practice session so your brain must decide which technique to use, rather than knowing by the section heading.

This builds the underlying principle rather than surface-pattern matching.

Fix for Pattern 3: Slow Down to Speed Up

Before executing steps, ask: “What am I trying to do and why?”

• Articulate the goal: “I’m solving for x because the question asks for the value of x.”
• Identify the principle: “I’m using the inverse operation because equations balance.”
• Plan before you calculate: “First I’ll get x terms on one side, then isolate x.”

Yes, this takes longer initially. But it anchors your understanding so that when you speed up later, you’re fast and accurate, not fast and brittle.