As with Key Stage 3, students are expected to progress through the curriculum when they are ready. This means that there is no formal end to Key Stage 3 or beginning to Key Stage 4.
GCSE Mathematics has a Foundation tier (grades 1 – 5) and a Higher tier (grades 4 – 9). The course is assessed through three terminal papers at the end of Year 11. Content from any part of the specification may be assessed in any paper.
Typically, students in Year 10 will be working through the topics listed below.
| Topic | Key Content |
| Dimensions | - Area of rectilinear shapes
- Areas of circles and sectors
- Properties of 3D shapes
- Volume and surface area
- Prisms and Pyramids
- Cones and spheres
|
| Units | - Metric and Imperial units
- Conversion between units of area and volume
- Compound units, e.g. Speed, Pressure and Density
- Upper and lower bounds
|
| Congruence and Similarity | - Congruence
- Congruent triangles
- Similarity
- Similar solids
|
| Pythagoras Theorem and Trigonometry | - Pythagoras theorem in 2 and 3 dimensions
- Trigonometry for right-triangles in 2 and 3 dimensions
- Exact values of trigonometric functions
|
| Representing and Analysing Data | - Averages
- Frequency tables
- Charts and graphs, including bar charts, pictograms, pie charts, scatter diagrams, frequency polygons
- Histograms
- Cumulative Frequency and box plots
|
| Quadratics | - Expressions, equations, identities, formulae
- Expanding the product of two and three binomials
- Factorisation
- Solving quadratic equations
- The quadratic formula
- Completing the square
- Roots and turning points
|
| Real Life Graphs | - Rates of change
- Proportionality
- Speed, distance, time graphs
- Velocity time graphs
- Comparing distributions
|
| Simultaneous Equations | - Solving linear equations
- Solving simultaneous equations:
- using a graphical method
- by elimination
- by substitution - Solving simultaneous equations where one function is linear and the other quadratic
|
| Inequalities | - Inequality notation
- Solving linear inequalities
- Solving quadratic inequalities
|
| Direct and Inverse Proportion | - The unitary method
- Direct proportion
- Inverse proportion
- Graphs of proportionality
|
| Bounds | - Rounding using decimal places and significant figures
- Upper and lower bounds
- Error intervals
|
| Powers and Roots | - Squares, cubes, powers and roots
- Laws of Indices
- Negative and fractional indices
|
| Sine and Cosine Rule | - Trigonometry in right-angled triangles
- The Sine Rule
- The Cosine Rule
|
Year 10 Knowledge
