{"id":1511,"date":"2013-12-02T22:17:40","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T22:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2024-10-12T14:24:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T14:24:26","slug":"analysis-of-the-first-50-marks-on-gcse-higher-maths-papers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/analysis-of-the-first-50-marks-on-gcse-higher-maths-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis of the first 50 marks on GCSE higher maths papers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Towards the end of last school year (2012-13), the great members of the KSA maths department did an analysis of the topics coming up in the first 50 marks in GCSE maths higher papers. We looked through a stack of Edexcel and AQA papers from the last few years. Here are our results (interpret them with caution!)<\/p>\n

Non-calculator<\/h1>\n

\"Noncalc\"<\/a>
\nTrends<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Increase in the proportion of algebra questions<\/li>\n
  2. Decrease in the proportion of number questions<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Breakdown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Topic<\/strong><\/b><\/td>\nSub-topic<\/strong><\/b><\/td>\nFrequency<\/strong><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Number<\/span><\/td>\nFour operations with fractions<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Percentages<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Estimation<\/span><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Standard form<\/span><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Sharing into a ratio<\/span><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Algebra<\/span><\/td>\nSolving equations<\/span><\/td>\n8<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Forming equations<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Expanding brackets<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Factorising<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Substitution<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Geometry<\/span><\/td>\nTransformations<\/span><\/p>\n
      \n
    • Reflections<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Rotations<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Enlargement<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Translations<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
    		8<\/span>3<\/span>
    \n 2<\/span>
    \n 2<\/span>
    \n 1<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Angle rules \u2013 mainly parallel lines<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Interior\/exterior angles<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Area (Parallelogram\/compound)<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Circles (Area\/circumference)<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Statistics<\/span><\/td>\nProbability (Theoretical and experimental)<\/span><\/td>\n5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Scatter diagrams<\/span><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Calculator Paper<\/h1>\n

    \"Calc\"<\/a>
    \nTrends<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Increase in proportion of geometry questions<\/li>\n
    2. Decreases in the proportion of algebra and statistics questions<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Breakdown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      Topic<\/strong><\/b><\/td>\nSub-topic<\/strong><\/b><\/td>\nFrequency<\/strong><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Number<\/span><\/td>\nPercentages (Amount. Increase\/decrease, reverse)<\/span><\/td>\n7<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Money problems<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Ratio<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Types of number<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Algebra<\/span><\/td>\nSolving equations<\/span><\/td>\n9<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Forming expressions<\/span><\/td>\n5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Expanding brackets<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Substitution<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Inequalities<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Geometry<\/span><\/td>\nArea (triangles)<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Angles (Triangles, at a point)<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Bearings<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Circles<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Statistics<\/span><\/td>\nProbability<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Averages<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Questionnaires<\/span><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Towards the end of last school year (2012-13), the great members of the KSA maths department did an analysis of the topics coming up in the first 50 marks in GCSE maths higher papers. We looked through a stack of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pedagogy","category-teachinglearning-ideas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1523,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions\/1523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrreddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}