AQA GCSE Maths Paper 1: non-calculator paper guide

AQA GCSE Maths Paper 1 is the non-calculator paper. It is 80 marks and 1 hour 30 minutes long, on Foundation and Higher.

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Paper 1 at a glance

What the marks are spent on

Share of marks by strand, from the specification's published weightings.

How the questions are laid out

Across 10 recent Foundation and 10 Higher sittings, Foundation Paper 1 averaged 29.1 questions (between 25 and 32) and Higher averaged 28.2 (between 27 and 30). On Foundation, 23% of questions are 1 mark, 23% of questions are 2 marks, 26% of questions are 3 marks, 17% of questions are 4 marks. On Higher, 23% of questions are 1 mark, 15% of questions are 2 marks, 28% of questions are 3 marks, 24% of questions are 4 marks. Questions generally get harder through the paper.

How to revise for Paper 1

• Practise fractions, percentages, ratio, surds and written multiplication and division by hand.
• Learn the exact trigonometry values you may be asked for without a calculator.
• Sit a timed paper: 80 marks in 1 hour 30 minutes is about 1.1 minutes a mark.
• Read the command words so you know what "show that" and "explain" ask for.

Topics to practise without a calculator

These Yumio topic pages are marked non-calculator. Any topic can appear on any paper, so use this as a starting point.

Questions students ask

Other papers: AQA GCSE Maths Paper 2 · AQA GCSE Maths Paper 3 · All AQA GCSE Maths papers