Contents
There are several different GCSE maths qualifications available, and they each assess students in slightly different ways. This can make finding information about the exams, specific to each exam board, tricky for students and parents to find.
In this article, you'll learn how many GCSE maths papers there are for each exam board, and the key differences between them. The information presented here refers to GCSE qualifications, rather than IGCSE (international) qualifications.
GCSE maths exam boards
The most popular exam boards for GCSE maths in the UK are:
AQA
Edexcel (Pearson)
OCR
WJEC (primarily in Wales)
CCEA (primarily in Northern Ireland)
In Scotland, National 5 (N5) qualifications are sat instead of GCSEs. These are administered by the exam board SQA and are regarded as equivalent to GCSEs.
AQA GCSE maths papers
Number of papers
AQA GCSE maths students sit 3 papers in total.
Format and Structure
The format and structure is the same for both higher and foundation students. Each paper is worth the same number of marks and has the same weighting. There are 2 calculator papers and 1 non-calculator paper.
Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Paper 3 |
Non-calculator | Calculator | Calculator |
90 minutes, 80 marks | 90 minutes, 80 marks | 90 minutes, 80 marks |
Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification |
Explore our resources for AQA GCSE maths, including past papers.
Edexcel (Pearson) GCSE maths papers
Number of papers
Edexcel (Pearson) GCSE maths students sit 3 papers in total.
Format and Structure
The format and structure is the same for both higher and foundation students. Each paper is worth the same number of marks and has the same weighting. There are 2 calculator papers and 1 non-calculator paper.
Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Paper 3 |
Non-calculator | Calculator | Calculator |
90 minutes, 80 marks | 90 minutes, 80 marks | 90 minutes, 80 marks |
Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification |
Explore our resources for Edexcel Higher GCSE maths and Edexcel Foundation GCSE maths.
OCR GCSE maths papers
Number of papers
OCR GCSE maths students sit 3 papers in total.
Format and Structure
The format and structure is the same for both higher and foundation students, but the papers have slightly different names. Each paper is worth the same number of marks and has the same weighting. There are 2 calculator papers and 1 non-calculator paper.
Foundation tier | ||
Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Paper 3 |
Calculator | Non-calculator | Calculator |
90 minutes, 100 marks | 90 minutes, 100 marks | 90 minutes, 100 marks |
Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification |
Higher tier | ||
Paper 4 | Paper 5 | Paper 6 |
Calculator | Non-calculator | Calculator |
90 minutes, 100 marks | 90 minutes, 100 marks | 90 minutes, 100 marks |
Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification |
Explore our resources for OCR GCSE maths, including past papers.
WJEC GCSE maths papers
Number of papers
WJEC GCSE maths students sit 2 papers in total.
Format and Structure
There are three tiers of entry for WJEC GCSE maths. Foundation exams are a shorter length than the intermediate and higher tier exams. Each paper is worth the same number of marks and has the same weighting (within each tier). There is 1 calculator paper and 1 non-calculator paper.
Foundation tier | |
Unit 1 | Unit 2 |
Non-calculator | Calculator |
90 minutes, 65 marks | 90 minutes, 65 marks |
Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification |
Intermediate tier and higher tier | |
Unit 1 | Unit 2 |
Non-calculator | Calculator |
105 minutes, 80 marks | 105 minutes, 80 marks |
Assesses any content from across the specification | Assesses any content from across the specification |
Explore our resources for WJEC GCSE maths, including past papers.
CCEA GCSE Maths Papers
Number of Papers
CCEA students sit 3 exam papers in total, but these are categorised as two “units”.
Format and Structure
Students sit 2 units (M1 to M8), comprising 3 exam papers in total. There are 4 different possibilities for the units and exams CCEA students may sit.
Unlike many of the other GCSE maths qualifications, the content of each unit is different (although they do overlap), so check the CCEA GCSE maths specification to see the differences. Students sit 2 calculator papers, and 1 non-calculator paper.
Foundation option 1 | |||
M1 | 45% weighting | Calculator | 105 minutes |
M5 | 55% weighting | Paper 1: non-calculator Paper 2: calculator | 60 minutes 60 minutes |
Foundation option 2 | |||
M2 | 45% weighting | Calculator | 105 minutes |
M6 | 55% weighting | Paper 1: non-calculator Paper 2: calculator | 60 minutes 60 minutes |
Higher option 1 | |||
M3 | 45% weighting | Calculator | 120 minutes |
M7 | 55% weighting | Paper 1: non-calculator Paper 2: calculator | 75 minutes 75 minutes |
Higher option 2 | |||
M4 | 45% weighting | Calculator | 120 minutes |
M8 | 55% weighting | Paper 1: non-calculator Paper 2: calculator | 75 minutes 75 minutes |
SQA N5 Maths Papers
Number of Papers
SQA National 5 students will sit 2 papers.
Format and Structure
Each of the papers that students sit can assess content from any part of the specification. There is 1 calculator paper and 1 non-calculator paper.
Paper 1 | Non-calculator | 60 minutes, 40 marks |
Paper 2 | Calculator | 90 minutes, 50 marks |
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Resources made by experts
Here at Save My Exams, we have a team of highly experienced ex-teachers that create the resources for GCSE Maths. Most of our content creators have experience of exam marking, which means that they are able to share the best exam tips with you in our revision notes for Higher and Foundation.
Wide range of resources
You can be confident that Save My Exams has everything you need to ace your GCSE Maths exams. We have exam questions, which are grouped into topics and split into levels of difficulty for both the Higher and Foundation tiers. If you like quick, interactive revision sessions, then be sure to check out our flashcards. And, when you’re ready to tackle full exam papers, we have a wide range of past papers available.
Explore GCSE Maths Revision Resources
References
Edexcel course page and specification
AQA course page and specification
OCR course page and specification
WJEC course page and specification
CCEA course page and specification
SQA course page and specification
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