England · Key Stage 4 · Year 10, ages 14 to 15

Year 10 maths tutor online

Year 10 is when GCSE Maths stops being a word teachers use and becomes the course. Most students will sit the exams at the end of Year 11, so nothing in Year 10 is final, yet a great deal is decided: which content is taught at what speed, what the school thinks after the first mocks, and whether a student is pointed towards Foundation or Higher. For anyone in Year 10 during 2026 to 2027 there is one more thing to know: they are the class of 2028, the first year group covered by Ofqual's decision to keep formulae sheets for the rest of this GCSE's life. This page explains how the GCSE content is split, how the weighting moves between tiers, how to read a Year 10 mock, and works three original questions at Year 10 level.

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Live teaching since 2020 · 10,000+ students · Built from the DfE GCSE content, Pearson's tier weightings and Ofqual's 2028 decision

In short

Year 10 maths in England is the first year of the two-year GCSE Mathematics course, for students aged 14 to 15, taught from the DfE GCSE subject content at Foundation (grades 1 to 5) or Higher (grades 4 to 9) pace. A student in Year 10 during 2026 to 2027 normally sits GCSE Maths in summer 2028. Modern Age Coders teaches Year 10 maths live online through its GCSE Maths: Foundation and Higher course, as 1-on-1 lessons or in a group of 15 to 20, and treats the Year 10 mocks as a diagnosis. We are not connected with any school, exam board or Ofqual.

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Three courses for a Year 10 student

The first is the main GCSE course. The second is for a student whose algebra is holding up everything else; the third is for a top-set student with room for more.

GCSE Maths course thumbnail

Y10 / 01

GCSE Maths: Foundation and Higher

The two-year GCSE taught from its first year, at the pace the student's tier needs.

Open the syllabus →
Algebra Foundations course thumbnail

Y10 / 02

Algebra Foundations

Algebra carries the largest share of Higher marks, so a weak base here is worth fixing early.

Open the syllabus →
Statistics & Probability course thumbnail

Y10 / 03

Statistics and probability

For a strong student also taking GCSE Statistics, or one who wants the probability strand deepened.

Open the syllabus →

The first GCSE year

What changes in maths when a student starts Year 10?

The content stops being Key Stage 3 and becomes the GCSE, and from now on it comes in two speeds. The DfE marks those speeds by typeface.

Year 10 is the start of Key Stage 4. The gov.uk national curriculum guide describes it in four words, "Some children take GCSEs", because a few schools enter some students early, but for most students Year 10 is the first of two years leading to the exams in Year 11. The Key Stage 4 programme of study, dated July 2014, sets the default pace: "The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programme of study at broadly the same pace."

The DfE's GCSE subject content is printed in three kinds of type, and those three styles are the clearest way to understand what Year 10 is teaching and to whom.

How the DfE GCSE subject content separates the tiers (quoted from the DfE document; the right-hand column is our plain-English reading)
Type in the DfE contentWho is assessed on it (DfE wording)What it means in a Year 10 classroom
Standard type"All students will develop confidence and competence with the content identified by standard type"Taught to everyone, usually first in Year 10
Underlined type"All students will be assessed on the content identified by the standard and the underlined type"On both tiers; the harder end of Foundation
Bold type"Only the more highly attaining students will be assessed on the content identified by bold type."Higher tier only, often started in Year 10 by top sets

Pearson's 1MA1 specification applies the same rule in its own words: Foundation students "will not be assessed on content identified by bold type", and Higher students are assessed on all three. The practical consequence for Year 10 is that a class can look as if it is "doing the same topic" while two students in it are being prepared for very different questions. Two students learning quadratics, for example, may be heading for factorising alone on Foundation, or for the quadratic formula and completing the square on Higher.

The class of 2028

Using the gov.uk year table, a student aged 14 to 15 in Year 10 during 2026 to 2027 reaches Year 11 in 2027 to 2028 and normally sits GCSE Maths in summer 2028. That arithmetic is ours.

Ofqual decided in 2026 that, for exams "taken from 2028 onwards", boards must keep providing formulae sheets "for the remaining lifetime of the current specifications".

What the sheet does not do

Ofqual requires each sheet to be published "by 1 September the year before each exam series", so the 2028 sheet is due by 1 September 2027, at the start of Year 11.

Boards must also "not set questions that can be answered solely by transferring information from the formulae or equations sheets." A sheet on the desk helps only a student who can tell which of its lines a question is asking for.

Sources: DfE, GCSE mathematics: subject content and assessment objectives; DfE, Mathematics programmes of study: key stage 4; Ofqual, decisions on formulae sheets from 2028. All read on 31 October 2026.

Tier weightings

How is GCSE Maths weighted at Foundation and at Higher?

Very differently. Pearson publishes topic weightings for each tier of 1MA1, and they show the centre of gravity moving from number to algebra as the tier rises.

Pearson Edexcel GCSE Mathematics 1MA1: topic area weightings by tier, from the specification (Issue 2, June 2015)
Topic areaFoundation tierHigher tier
Number22 to 28%12 to 18%
Algebra17 to 23%27 to 33%
Ratio, proportion and rates of change22 to 28%17 to 23%
Geometry and measures12 to 18%17 to 23%
Statistics and probability12 to 18%12 to 18%

Two rows explain most Year 10 tier conversations. On Foundation, number is weighted at 22 to 28% and algebra at 17 to 23%. On Higher, those almost swap: number falls to 12 to 18% and algebra rises to 27 to 33%, the largest single share on either tier. A Year 10 student who is strong at arithmetic but uneasy with algebra will therefore feel much more comfortable on Foundation papers than on Higher ones, whatever their overall percentage in a test. The other boards in England do not all publish weightings in this form, but they teach the same DfE content.

The three assessment objectives and their weights, from the DfE GCSE subject content
Assessment objectiveWhat it asksHigherFoundation
AO1 Use and apply standard techniquesRecall facts, use notation, carry out routine procedures40%50%
AO2 Reason, interpret and communicate mathematicallyChains of reasoning, arguments and proofs, interpreting information30%25%
AO3 Solve problems within mathematics and in other contextsTurn a problem into mathematical steps and interpret the result30%25%

The assessment objectives matter in Year 10 because they explain why a student can know every method and still lose marks. At Higher, routine technique (AO1) is only 40% of the marks; reasoning (AO2) and problem solving (AO3) are 30% each. At Foundation, technique is 50%, so a Foundation student who knows the methods well can bank half the paper, but the other half still rewards explanation and unfamiliar problems. Pearson's specification adds that "Individual papers are not graded": the grade comes from the total across all three papers.

Sources: Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Mathematics 1MA1 specification and the DfE GCSE subject content, both read on 31 October 2026. Our explanation of what the weightings mean for a Year 10 student is ours.

Year 10 mocks

How much do Year 10 maths mocks matter?

They do not count towards the GCSE at all. They matter because schools use them to set groups and to start the tier conversation, and because they are the first full-length evidence of where marks go.

Mocks are a school practice, not a board requirement, so their timing and format vary. Most English schools run some form of end-of-Year-10 exam, often using past GCSE papers or papers built from them. The result is not a GCSE grade, even when it is reported as one, because a grade depends on grade boundaries set for a real series and on the whole course having been taught. A Year 10 student sitting a full past paper has usually covered only part of the content.

What a mock can do, very well, is show where marks are lost. We use a method we call the mock autopsy, built around the three assessment objectives in the DfE table above.

  1. Collect the marked paper. Ask the school for the script, or at least the question-by-question marks. A single percentage is almost useless.
  2. Remove the untaught questions. Cross out any question on content the class has not reached yet. What remains is a fair test of Year 10 so far.
  3. Sort every lost mark by objective. AO1 if the method was not known or went wrong; AO2 if the answer lacked a reason, a conclusion or a clear chain; AO3 if the student could not see how to start an unfamiliar problem.
  4. Count the three piles. The biggest pile decides the next term. A large AO1 pile is a content gap; a large AO2 pile is a writing habit; a large AO3 pile is a problem-solving skill.
  5. Pick three topics and one habit. Never more. Three content topics from the AO1 pile, and one habit from the other two.
  6. Retest in six weeks. A short paper on the same three topics and the same habit, marked the same way.

What the piles usually say

A Foundation-leaning student's autopsy is often dominated by AO1: fractions, percentages, ratio. That is good news, because AO1 gaps respond fastest to teaching.

A Higher-leaning student's autopsy is often dominated by AO2 and AO3, which take longer: writing a full argument, or spotting that a geometry question is really an algebra question.

November is not an option yet

A Year 10 student cannot fix a poor mock by sitting GCSE Maths in November. Pearson's specification says "November entries will only be available to students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August", as Ofqual's rules require.

For almost every Year 10 student, the only GCSE series ahead is the summer of Year 11.

Worked examples

Three Year 10 questions of ours, solved in full

These are original questions at the level most Year 10 classes reach. Each one is labelled with the assessment objective it leans on, so the mock autopsy has something to practise on.

Example 1, compound decrease (AO1)

Question (ours). A laptop loses 18% of its value each year. It is worth 950 units now. What is it worth after 3 years, to the nearest unit?

Think first. Losing 18% leaves 82%, so each year multiplies the value by 0.82. Three years means three multiplications, not 3 × 18% = 54% off.

Working. 950 × 0.82³ = 950 × 0.551368 = 523.7996, so about 524 units.

Check. The simple-interest mistake gives 950 × 0.46 = 437, which is too low: each year's 18% is taken from a smaller amount, so less is lost. The DfE lists this formula among those that "should be derived or informally understood".

Example 2, simultaneous equations in context (AO3)

Question (ours). Four pens and three rulers cost 27 tokens. Two pens and five rulers cost 24 tokens. Find the cost of one pen.

Set up. Let p be a pen and r a ruler: 4p + 3r = 27 and 2p + 5r = 24. Writing the two equations is the AO3 step; many students stop before it.

Working. Double the second: 4p + 10r = 48. Subtract the first: 7r = 21, so r = 3. Then 2p + 15 = 24, so p = 4.5.

Check in both. 4(4.5) + 3(3) = 18 + 9 = 27, and 2(4.5) + 5(3) = 9 + 15 = 24. A pen costs 4.5 tokens.

Example 3, a Venn diagram argument (AO2)

Question (ours). In a year group, 60% of students study French, 45% study Spanish and 20% study both. Sam says the probability that a student studies French or Spanish is 1.05. Explain why Sam is wrong and find the correct value.

Reason. A probability cannot exceed 1, so 1.05 is impossible. Sam has added 60% and 45%, counting the 20% who study both twice.

Working. P(F or S) = P(F) + P(S) − P(F and S) = 0.60 + 0.45 − 0.20 = 0.85.

Conclusion. The probability is 0.85. The explanation, not the number, earns the AO2 marks: it names the double counting.

Why the labels matter

Example 1 is pure technique once the multiplier is seen. Example 2 is mainly about turning words into equations. Example 3 is about saying why something is wrong.

Practising all three kinds in Year 10, not only the first, is the most useful single change a student can make before the Year 11 papers, because AO2 and AO3 are each weighted at 25% or more on both tiers.

Practice set (ours, answers at the end). (1) A population of 12 000 grows by 3% a year; what is it after 4 years, to the nearest whole number? (2) Solve 3x + 2y = 16 and x − y = 2. (3) Expand and simplify (2x + 3)(x − 4). (4) Factorise x² + 7x + 12. (5) In a class, P(plays football) = 0.5, P(plays tennis) = 0.3 and P(both) = 0.1; find P(football or tennis). (6) A trapezium has parallel sides 7 cm and 11 cm and height 4 cm; find its area. Answers: (1) 13 506; (2) x = 4, y = 2; (3) 2x² − 5x − 12; (4) (x + 3)(x + 4); (5) 0.7; (6) 36 cm².

A Year 10 plan

How should a Year 10 student plan the year in maths?

Our outline for Year 10 in 2026 to 2027, written around the way most schools run the year. We have assumed a weekly live lesson plus a couple of brief home sessions between lessons.

  1. September to October: find the floor. A short check of the Key Stage 3 algebra and number that Year 10 builds on. Any shaky line is taught before the first Year 10 topic test.
  2. November to December: algebra early. Because algebra is the heaviest Higher area and a large Foundation one, we put expressions, equations and graphs first.
  3. January to February: the first full paper. One past paper, on content covered so far, run as a practice for the mock autopsy.
  4. March to April: reasoning practice. A weekly AO2 question: explain, prove or criticise a claim, with the reason written out.
  5. May to June: the Year 10 mock. Revise from the autopsy piles, sit the school mock, and collect the marked script.
  6. July: the autopsy and the summer list. Sort the lost marks, choose three topics and one habit, and plan the summer around them.
  7. September 2027: Year 11 begins. The 2028 formulae sheet is due from the boards by 1 September 2027; use it in practice from the first week.

The plan is ours and is a starting shape, not a promise of any grade. A student entering Year 10 well behind needs more weeks on the floor; a top-set student may move to bold-type content by Christmas. The autopsy keeps the plan honest, because it is built from that student's own marks. For more on how the tier decision is made, see our page on Foundation or Higher.

Progression

Four rungs through Year 10

Rungs are checked on real papers, not on how a topic felt in class.

What should be true at each point of Year 10
RungWhenWhat should be true
1. Floor secureOctoberKey Stage 3 equations, fractions and percentages done without errors
2. Algebra movingDecemberExpanding, factorising and solving linear and simple quadratic equations
3. Reasons writtenSpring termAn AO2 answer finished with a clear concluding sentence every week
4. Autopsy doneAfter the summer mockLost marks sorted by objective, with three topics and one habit chosen

Why algebra comes first

Pearson weights algebra at 27 to 33% of Higher. Putting it early gives it two years to settle instead of one.

Our GCSE maths tuition page covers the course as a whole.

Why the autopsy comes last

A summer mock is the first full test of a year's learning. The autopsy turns it into the summer's plan.

Parents receive a short monthly note on progress.

The catalogue

Nine courses around Year 10 maths

Arranged by what Year 10 students usually need: the GCSE, the strands inside it, and what lies beyond it.

I

The GCSE course

Years 10 and 11

UK / Y10A / 01

GCSE Maths

Both tiers, starting from the first Year 10 topic.

Open the syllabus

UK / Y10A / 02

Algebra Foundations

The heaviest Higher area, built from the ground up.

Open the syllabus

UK / Y10A / 03

Lower secondary maths

For a Year 10 who arrived without secure fractions or negatives.

Open the syllabus
II

Strands inside GCSE

Depth on one area

UK / Y10B / 01

Statistics and probability

Venn diagrams, tree diagrams and data handling taken further.

Open the syllabus

UK / Y10B / 02

Maths through coding

Iteration, sequences and growth modelled in short programs.

Open the syllabus

UK / Y10B / 03

Mental maths

Faster arithmetic for the non-calculator paper.

Open the syllabus
III

Beyond the GCSE

For top sets

UK / Y10C / 01

Competition maths

Problem solving well past the specification.

Open the syllabus

UK / Y10C / 02

A level maths

Where a strong Higher route leads after Year 11.

Open the syllabus

UK / Y10C / 03

Python for teens

Useful alongside GCSE Computer Science.

Open the syllabus

How lessons work

Live Year 10 maths, timetabled in UK time

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Our teachers are based in India, and every lesson is set in UK time.

After school

The most common Year 10 slot.

Evenings

Around sport, music and homework.

Weekend mornings

Long enough for a full practice paper.

Tier-aware teaching

Standard, underlined and bold content taught in the order the student's likely tier needs.

Algebra early

The heaviest Higher area started first, so it has two years to settle.

Autopsy after mocks

Every lost mark sorted by assessment objective into a short plan.

A reasoning question weekly

One AO2 question every class, finished with a written conclusion.

First lesson free

A live class before any payment, to see the method and agree a start.

Batch or 1-on-1

A group of 15 to 20 Year 10 students, or lessons for one.

Student work

Work from students in our classes

Pieces made in everyday lessons; none of it is assessed. The full set is in student labs.

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Fees

Fees for Year 10 maths classes

The first class costs nothing. From then on there is one monthly fee, with a group seat priced below 1-on-1 lessons; no contract is signed and no payment is taken before a regular time is set.

Free first class

USD 0

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  • A live Year 10 class
  • A first look at where marks go
  • Booked with a phone number only
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Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

  • 15 to 20 Year 10 students
  • One teacher across the year
  • An AO2 question every week
  • A mock autopsy after each mock
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One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

  • Lessons for one student
  • Planned from that student's own papers
  • Suits a student far behind or far ahead
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Questions about Year 10 maths

What parents ask about Year 10 maths

Is Year 10 the start of GCSE Maths?

Yes, for most students. Year 10 is the first year of Key Stage 4 and of the two-year GCSE course, with the exams at the end of Year 11. Some schools begin GCSE topics in Year 9, but Year 10 is when the full course runs.

When will a Year 10 student sit GCSE Maths?

Normally in the summer of Year 11. A student in Year 10 during 2026 to 2027 will usually sit the papers in summer 2028; the boards have not yet published 2028 dates, so check with the school later in Year 11.

Do Year 10 mocks count towards the GCSE?

No. Mocks are set by the school and do not form part of the GCSE grade, which comes only from the final papers. Schools often use them to set groups and to begin the tier conversation, so they still deserve proper preparation.

What is the difference between Foundation and Higher in Year 10?

Foundation leads to grades 1 to 5 and Higher to grades 4 to 9, and Higher adds the content the DfE prints in bold. Pearson's weightings also differ: number is 22 to 28% of Foundation but algebra is 27 to 33% of Higher.

Will there be a formulae sheet in my child's GCSE Maths exam?

For students sitting GCSE Maths in 2028 or later, yes. Ofqual decided in 2026 that boards must keep providing formulae sheets for the remaining lifetime of the current specifications, published by 1 September the year before each series.

Can a Year 10 student sit GCSE Maths in November?

Almost never. Pearson's specification, following Ofqual's rules, limits November entries to students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August, which rules out nearly all Year 10 students.

What are AO1, AO2 and AO3?

They are the DfE's assessment objectives. AO1 is standard techniques, AO2 is reasoning and communication, and AO3 is problem solving; at Higher they carry 40%, 30% and 30% of the marks, and at Foundation 50%, 25% and 25%.

My child got a low grade in a Year 10 mock. Should we worry?

Look at the script before the grade. A Year 10 mock often includes content not yet taught, and grade labels on mocks are estimates. Sort the lost marks into technique, reasoning and problem solving, then work on the largest group.

When are classes held?

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Every time is given in UK time.

Are you linked to any exam board?

No. Modern Age Coders is independent of AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, Ofqual and every school. We teach to the published GCSE content and do not promise a tier or a grade.

Elsewhere on this site

More for the GCSE years

The tier question, the grades, and the papers ahead in Year 11.

Foundation or Higher

Who decides the tier, and when.

GCSE maths grades

What 4, 5, 7 and 9 actually mean.

Calculator and non-calculator papers

Two kinds of paper, two kinds of practice.

The three English boards

Side by side, where they differ and where they do not.

Key Stage 3 maths

For gaps that go back before Year 10.

The UK hub

Every UK maths and computing page.

Related pages in this guide

Part of the guide: UK maths year by year, Reception to Year 11

Secondary, Year 7 to Year 11

Primary, Reception to Year 6

Scotland

More guides: UK maths exam boards and specification codes · UK selective school maths tests: 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+ · UK university admissions: maths tests and computing applications · UK maths enrichment, competitions and able pupils

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Book a free Year 10 maths class

Send your number and a teacher rings back at a UK time you pick. Bring a recent test or mock if there is one; the class starts sorting its lost marks.

Rather read first? The GCSE Maths course page lists the topics in order, and how we teach shows a lesson from start to finish.

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