How to get a grade B in Edexcel AS level Maths
A grade B means you are secure on the standard methods across the whole AS course and can carry them through multi-step questions on both papers. You don't need the final part of every hard question. You need to collect the routine marks reliably, pick up the first parts of the long questions, and stop losing marks to slips and weak presentation.
What a grade B asks of you
- Fluent, accurate algebra: indices, surds, quadratics, factorising, rearranging, inequalities and simultaneous equations. Almost every question depends on it.
- Standard calculus: differentiate and integrate powers of \(x\), and apply them to tangents, normals, stationary points and areas under curves.
- Standard trigonometry and logarithms: the sine and cosine rules, trig graphs and equations in a given interval, the laws of logarithms and exponential equations solved with logs.
- The Paper 2 routines: binomial probabilities, a correctly laid out hypothesis test, interpreting data, suvat, \(F = ma\) and connected particles.
- Clear working throughout, and a real attempt at every question, including the first parts of the long ones at the end.
Topics to secure first
- Pure foundations, because everything else uses them: quadratics and the discriminant, inequalities, the factor theorem, transformations of graphs, straight lines and circles, and the binomial expansion.
- Calculus, which carries a large share of the marks on Paper 1: differentiation (tangents, normals and stationary points) and integration (including definite integrals and areas).
- Trigonometry and logarithms: the sine and cosine rules, trig graphs, identities and equations, the laws of logarithms and solving exponential equations.
- Statistics: the binomial distribution, binomial hypothesis tests, probability with Venn and tree diagrams, and interpreting data and the large data set.
- Mechanics: modelling, kinematics graphs, suvat, Newton's laws and connected particles.
Question types to practise until they are automatic
- Multi-part Pure questions where part (a) is a 'show that' and part (b) uses the result. Practise carrying on with the printed answer when you can't do part (a).
- Trig equations with a transformed angle, such as \(\sin 2x = 0.5\) or \(\tan(\theta - 20^\circ) = 3\), finding every solution in the interval.
- Area questions that combine an integral with a triangle or a trapezium.
- The full hypothesis-test layout, written the same way every time, with a conclusion in context.
- Force diagrams and \(F = ma\) for connected particles.
- Short proofs: counter-examples and proofs using even and odd numbers.
An 8-week revision plan
- Every day (about 15 minutes): your Daily 5 and your flashcards. Keep the streak going; a little every day beats a long session once a week.
- Weeks 1 and 2: algebra and functions, coordinate geometry and the binomial expansion. For each subtopic, read the notes, do the worksheet and check it with the answers, then set a short Custom paper on those subtopics at Easy and Medium.
- Weeks 3 and 4: trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, in the same way.
- Weeks 5 and 6: differentiation, integration and vectors. End each week with a Medium Custom paper that mixes that week's topics with earlier ones.
- Week 7: statistics, including the large data set, and mechanics.
- Week 8: one timed Mock exam of each paper, marked strictly with the mark scheme, then redo the dropped questions from Progress.
- Tick off each skill on the grade B list in Notes as you secure it, and give any spare sessions to the subtopics Progress shows as weakest.
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 move faster on the routine questions early in the paper.
- If a part runs a couple of minutes over its budget, write down what you have and move on.
- Attempt the first parts of every long question. At grade B these are some of your most accessible marks.
- On Paper 2, give each section about 37 minutes and stick to it.
- Keep the last 5 minutes to check that every part has an answer, in the right form, with units.
Traps at grade B
- Algebra slips: sign errors when expanding brackets, losing a negative when squaring, and mistakes with fractions and indices.
- Forgetting a solution: a quadratic has two roots, a trig equation has solutions in more than one quadrant, and a binomial test has a critical region on one side only.
- Calculator in the wrong angle mode: AS trig is in degrees.
- Answers without units or context, or in the wrong form (not exact, not to the accuracy asked).
- Skipping the hypothesis-test layout: stating only 'reject \(H_0\)' with no conclusion in context.
- Force diagrams missing, or \(F = ma\) written for the pair of particles together instead of each in turn.
- Leaving blanks: a method mark for a correct first step is worth far more than a blank.
Stuck? Get 1-to-1 help.
Chhetri Academy tutors GCSE and A level Maths and Science online, with a free 30-minute trial lesson.