How to get a grade A in Edexcel AS level Maths
A grade A means you can handle the whole AS course, including the harder multi-step questions, and choose the right method when the question doesn't tell you. You may still drop marks on the very hardest parts, but you should score well on nearly every question and lose very few marks to slips.
What a grade A asks of you
- Accurate, quick algebra, including surds, the discriminant and unknown constants, with no slips under time pressure.
- Calculus without hesitation: differentiate and integrate powers of \(x\), find tangents and normals, optimise a quantity and find the area between a curve and a line.
- Exponentials, logarithms and trigonometry used together: modelling with \(y = ab^x\) or \(P = Ae^{kt}\), linearising with logs, and solving trig equations that need an identity first.
- Rigorous proof and explanation, and a clean hypothesis-test layout with a conclusion in context.
- Mechanics modelled carefully: variable acceleration with calculus, connected particles and forces given as vectors.
Topics and question types to secure
- Multi-step Pure questions that combine topics: a circle and a tangent, a curve and its area, a model that needs logs.
- Proof by deduction and by exhaustion, and disproof by counter-example, written in full.
- Trig equations such as \(2\sin^2 x + \cos x = 1\) that need \(\sin^2 x + \cos^2 x = 1\), or \(\sin x = 2\cos x\) that need \(\tan x\), with every solution in the interval.
- Unstructured problems where the first job is to decide on a method, and 'show that' parts where every step has to be seen.
- Binomial distribution: define the variable, justify the model, find probabilities and critical regions, and interpret a test in context.
- Kinematics with calculus and constant acceleration, and vectors for position, velocity and force.
An 8-week revision plan
- Every day (about 15 minutes): your Daily 5 and your flashcards.
- Weeks 1 to 3: work through the notes by topic. For each subtopic do the Hard worksheet and set a Custom paper at Medium and Hard on three or four subtopics at a time.
- Weeks 4 to 6: mixed Custom papers, with topics you have not seen for a while. Use Progress to find the weak subtopics and spend your time there.
- Week 7: statistics and mechanics, with the large data set and the modelling assumptions.
- Week 8: timed Mock exams of Paper 1 and Paper 2, marked strictly, then redo every dropped question.
- Keep an error log and review it weekly.
Using Chhetri Academy
- Notes: read the notes and cheatsheet for a subtopic before practising it, and use its worksheet with answers as your first check. The grade-by-grade skill lists show exactly what each grade needs, with a checklist to tick off.
- Custom paper: pick 2 to 4 subtopics, choose Easy or Medium and a short length for topic practice, and mark it with the mark scheme.
- Mock exams: full timed papers shaped like the real Paper 1 (Pure Mathematics) and Paper 2 (Statistics and Mechanics), for the final weeks.
- Daily 5 picks five questions a day from your weakest topics, and Flashcards use spaced repetition for identities, laws, differentiation and integration rules and hypothesis-test wording.
- Progress shows your scores by subtopic, weakest first. Redo the questions you dropped marks on until you get them right.
- Use the Whiteboard to work on screen when you practise online.
- If a topic still won't click after the notes and practice, 1-to-1 tutoring with Chhetri Academy can help, and the first 30-minute trial lesson is free.
Timing strategy in the exam
- Allow about 1.2 minutes per mark, and bank the routine marks early.
- On Paper 2, give each section about 37 minutes.
- If a long question stalls, write what you can for the early parts and come back.
- Keep 5 minutes at the end to check answers against the question.
Traps at grade A
- Careless sign and arithmetic slips in long questions: keep working tidy and check each line.
- Rounding too early, so the final answer drifts out of range.
- Missing solutions in an interval, or giving more than the interval allows.
- Not showing 'show that' steps, or starting from the answer.
- Weak explanations: say what a value means in context, and why a model might be limited.
- Choosing a slow method when a quicker one is signposted by 'hence'.
- Spending too long on one part and leaving marks elsewhere.
Stuck? Get 1-to-1 help.
Chhetri Academy tutors GCSE and A level Maths and Science online, with a free 30-minute trial lesson.