I hope your preparations are not causing you too much anxiety. But if you're surfing now rather than working, maybe you need some encouragement.

I hope you have a pile of past papers to work through. Doing a Maths GCSE exam is like running a race - you need to be fit, and these past papers are the best possible training. Best of all is to have the past papers plus the answers (marking schemes) to use afterwards.

If you use older past papers from the Internet (pre-2008) make sure you check the grade boundaries as they were very different when the exam was available in 3 tiers (Foundation, Intermediate and Higher) rather than the current 2 tiers.

The questions at the beginning of the exam are the easiest ones. Did you know that most people make a mistake with the very first question, because they are feeling nervous?

Work carefully through the paper, doing as many questions as you can. If you can't do something, put a ring round it for later. When you have tried every question, go back and check your work (especially the nervous first question!). Don’t worry too much if it took a long time – your speed will improve as you train.

Now is the time to work on the questions you ringed. You could:

·      Use a revision guide, your notes, or a text book to help you.

·      Look the question up in the mark scheme, sometimes it shows the steps you need to take

·      Work with a friend, and help each other out

·      Ask your class teacher next lesson

·      Work through it with a Maths Tutor

To get the best value from this process, can you work out what was the "missing link" for that question? Was it a fact you didn’t know? Why not make a revision card of that fact and memorise it over the next few days. Or was it the most common problem "I couldn't work out what topic that question was on?" A very good question to ask of your helper can be "How did you know you had to use this method?".

And finally… Don’t get discouraged. If you plan to run a marathon, it doesn’t mean you are already fit enough to run it. GCSE Maths is a tough challenge for most people, and takes lots of careful training. All the work you do before the exam can help, especially in the weeks directly leading up to the exam.

Good Luck!