GCSE Maths Edexcel Examiner Report June 2023: Summary

In June 2023, there were 72 questions included in the GCSE Maths Higher Edexcel papers. As a teacher, you likely want to read every page of the examiners’ reports, however there is a lot to read through. 

In this article, I will summarise the key takeaways from the GCSE Maths Edexcel Examiner Reports so that you can focus on ensuring your students don’t make similar mistakes in their exams. You can access the papers and examiners’ reports using the links below:

Key takeaways from the GCSE Maths Edexcel Examiner Report

My main takeaways from these sets of papers are that students need:

• to remember not to round their intermediate values on the calculator papers

• to read the questions fully to ensure they are answering exactly what is being asked

• more exposure to algebraic proofs

• more practice using algebra in other topics such as ratio or probability

• to check whether their answers make sense

• to use estimation to check the validity of their answers on the non-calculator paper

Number topics

Common strengths

• Formal methods for division (Paper 1 Q1)

• Subtracting mixed numbers without a calculator (Paper 1 Q2)

• Prime factor decomposition (Paper 2 Q2)

• Converting recurring decimals to a fraction (Paper 3 Q20)

Common areas for improvement

• Some students did not spot when the magnitude of numbers was unreasonable (Paper 1 Q1)

• Premature rounding errors (Paper 2 & Paper 3)

• Finding bounds from a fractional expression (Paper 2 Q19)

• Highest common factors and lowest common multiples (Paper 3 Q5)

Key examiner advice

For non-calculator questions, you could encourage your students to estimate the answers before calculating them. For example, 8.46 ÷ 0.15 could be estimated as 8 ÷ 0.2 which is 40. Then, if your student gets the answer of 0.564, they should be able to spot that it is incorrect.

Some students write down every digit from their calculator, which can take time. At the other extreme, some students round their intermediate working from the calculator, which causes their final answer to lose accuracy. You should show your students some funny cases where rounding prematurely leads to amusing answers. Try to teach your students how to store values in their calculators, or even just how to use the answer button.

It is popular to use factor trees and Venn diagrams to find highest common factors and lowest common multiples. However, you know that examiners are trying to test topics in unfamiliar ways. Therefore, it is important that you make sure that your students know the reason why a Venn diagram can be used for these types of questions. In fact, the higher attaining students were able to answer the question on HCF and LCM without needing a Venn diagram.

Algebra topics

Common strengths

• Proportion using algebra (Paper 1 Q13)

• Difference of two squares (Paper 1 Q24 and Paper 3 Q15)

• Quadratic sequences (Paper 2 Q15)

• Laws of indices (Paper 3 Q1)

• Expanding three brackets (Paper 3 Q12)

Common areas for improvement

• Sign errors with algebraic manipulation (all papers)

• Fractional indices (Paper 1 Q14)

• Composite and inverse functions (Paper 1 Q20)

• Rearranging formulas (Paper 1 Q15, Q17)

• Rationalising surds (Paper 1 Q23)

• Simplifying algebraic fractions involving quadratic expressions (Paper 2 Q14)

• Proof and reasoning (Paper 3 Q13)

• Solving equations with algebraic fractions (Paper 3 Q21)

Key examiner advice

Regularly focusing on the key algebraic methods such as rearranging will help secure these in your students’ minds. You could give them a formula and ask them to rearrange it in as many ways as possible. Or you could give some examples of incorrect rearrangements and ask your students to spot the errors.

Students always find functions a difficult topic, and I am sure you have tried many different strategies to teach them this topic. I have found using functions that they know, such as square root and trig functions, helps them to appreciate the order of composite functions.

There was a simultaneous equations question on Paper 2, even though these normally appear on the non-calculator paper. Most calculators can solve linear simultaneous equations, so the question instructed the students to use algebra. Some students did not read this part of the question. You can help your students by encouraging them to use the number of marks as a guide for how much work to show. This question was worth 4 marks, you can tell your students that this would be a lot for simply using their calculator’s solver function.

The proof question on Paper 3 was rarely attempted. However, it should have been easy for most students to get the first two marks out of the three available. To help your students, you could give them lots of exposure to algebraic expressions for odd, even, consecutive and square numbers. You could set starters or challenge tasks where students have to prove simple facts. The old GCSE Maths coursework tasks are brilliant for ideas for algebraic exploration.

Ratio, proportion and rates of change topics

Common strengths

• Using direct proportion numerically and algebraically (Paper 1 Q13)

• Sharing an amount in a ratio (Paper 2 Q6)

• Compound interest (Paper 2 Q8)

Common areas for improvement

• Reverse percentages (Paper 1 Q7) 

• Equating ratios with algebra (Paper 2 Q18)

• Wordy inverse proportion questions (Paper 3 Q4)

• Forming fractional relationships using equal ratios (Paper 3 Q24)

Key examiner advice

Questions involving reverse percentages tend to be wordy. We know that the wordier a question is, the more students dislike it. Setting up percentage questions as a ratio can really help weaker students, especially on the non-calculator paper. For example, identifying that 20% corresponds to £240 helps students spot how to use multiplicative reasoning to find 100%. 

Questions involving multiple ratios are becoming more common. You can help your students by linking this skill to adding fractions. To add fractions, you will have taught your students to first find a common denominator. You can do the same thing with ratios. It can be a bit trickier as the “common” part of the ratio isn’t always in the same place.

Most students are great at solving proportional problems when the question explicitly states the type of proportion. However, students struggle to identify the type of proportionality when the question is given in context. You can help your students by practising lots of proportion questions in context before introducing the use of algebra. 

Students should be able to spot that if less workers or tools are available, then it will take longer to complete a job. You should let errors come up in discussion and ask the students if the answer makes sense. For example, if two people can complete a job in 10 hours, then it should take four people five hours. However, it is likely that at least one student will suggest that it will take 20 hours. You should embrace these mistakes as discussion points.

Geometry and measures topics

Common strengths

• Angles in polygons (Paper 1 Q10)

• Problem-solving involving Pythagoras’ theorem (Paper 2 Q12)

• Trigonometry with right-angled triangles (Paper 3 Q10)

• Finding a missing length using the cosine rule (Paper 3 Q14)

Common areas for improvement

• Circle theorems (Paper 1 Q21)

• Reasoning with trigonometry in non-right-angled triangles (Paper 1 Q22)

• Choosing between the sine and cosine rules (Paper 2 Q13)

• Enlargements with negative scale factors (Paper 3 Q16)

Key examiner advice

Circle theorems are possibly the hardest topic at GCSE level. The more exposure your students have to these, the better. Using software such as GeoGebra can be a brilliant way to show the circle theorems dynamically. 

Trigonometry is a very challenging topic. Whenever I demoed a question live in the classroom, I always started with a deep breath. The tricky part is that sometimes you can’t get to the answer in one step. For example, in Paper 2 Q13, students had to find one missing angle in order to find the third angle. To help students, you could try using goal-free questions. For example, you could give them a triangle with some lengths and angles labelled and ask them to find as many of the remaining values as they can.

The enlargement question on Paper 3 was a case of all-or-nothing. The best solutions involved drawing the ray lines through the centre of enlargement and the vertices of the shape. I recommend using ray lines to do enlargements or at the very least using them to check the image is correct. I link enlargements to the old cinema set-up; the projector is the centre of enlargement. However, students might not get that analogy anymore. Instead, you could use a small torch and hold an object in front of it to create a shadow. In this demonstration, the torch is the centre, and the shadow is the image. 

Probability topics

Common strengths

• Product rule for counting (Paper 1 Q19)

Common areas for improvement

• Set notation (Paper 1 Q5)

• Wording in probability questions (Paper 1 Q12)

• Finding probabilities for multiple repeated events (Paper 2 Q22)

• Combined probabilities involving algebra (Paper 3 Q24)

Key examiner advice

When tackling probability questions, students would benefit from restating the question using their own words. In the classroom, you can help your students by asking for different ways to word a question so that they can see there are multiple ways to tackle probability questions. For example, a person losing at least one game out of two games means that they lose one or two games. It also means that the person does not win both games.

Sometimes, students are too quick to try to draw a tree diagram when it would be quicker to consider the relevant outcomes. In particular, if there are more than two events or trials, then drawing a tree diagram can take a while. Consider two counters chosen from a bag containing three different coloured counters. In this case there are 9 possible outcomes, although answering a question will usually only require a couple of those options. For example, if your students are asked to find the probability that both counters are the same colour, then they only need to find the probabilities of three outcomes. If needed, you could encourage your students only to draw partial tree diagrams when appropriate.

Statistics topics

Common strengths

• Frequency polygons (Paper 1 Q4)

• Scatter graphs and lines of best fit (Paper 1 Q6)

• Cumulative frequency curves (Paper 2 Q9)

• Comparing box plots (Paper 3 Q11)

Common areas for improvement

• Describing the relationship between two variables (Paper 1 Q6)

• Histograms and frequency density (Paper 2 Q16)

Key examiner advice

Mark schemes can be inconsistent year on year. Some years, describing a relationship by stating the correlation would get the mark, whereas it would not in other years. Therefore, it is safest to train your students to do both. If they are asked to describe a relationship, then they should state the type of correlation as well as describe it in context. You could share a sentence structure with your students such as “as X increases, Y decreases”.

We all know students can struggle with histograms. They have been working with bar charts since primary school, so it is confusing when the frequency no longer lives on an axis. Questions involving histograms with missing scales or bars are becoming more common. To help your students, you should provide them with lots of examples and encourage them to find the scale as the first step.

How to use the GCSE Maths Edexcel Examiner Report in the classroom

Examiner reports can be a very useful tool both for you and your students. You could choose a question from a paper and ask your students to discuss what they think the common mistakes were. Then, you could share the relevant extract from the report and see if it surprises your students.

Improve student outcomes with Save My Exams

Here at Save My Exams, we have concise revision notes to help your students when revising. Most GCSE Maths revision notes contain tutorial videos which show how to apply the skills to exam-style questions. We have flashcards which you can use in the classroom to test your students’ recall of key knowledge. For homework, you could use our differentiated topic questions, then use our student-friendly model answers to have your students peer mark each other’s work.

Check out more of our revision resources here.