GCSE Maths Topics: The Complete List for Parents

GCSE maths topics span six areas, roughly 100 individual topics, and 240 marks across three exam papers. For parents, that raises an obvious question: what exactly is my child being tested on, and where should they focus?

At the tutoring company where I worked, we tracked which topics students asked for help with most. Algebra dominated the list by a wide margin, followed by ratio problems and geometry. That data lined up almost exactly with the official exam weightings, and it told a clear story: some areas of GCSE maths carry far more marks than others, and students who ignore the balance pay for it on results day.

This guide gives you the complete GCSE maths topic list with all GCSE maths topics across the six areas, the exact weightings for Foundation and Higher tier, which topics are Higher-only, and how to turn this information into an effective revision plan.

What Topics Are in GCSE Maths?

Every GCSE maths exam in England follows the same national curriculum, set by the Department for Education and regulated by Ofqual. Whether your child sits AQA, Edexcel, or OCR, the GCSE maths topics are identical. The six areas are:

Content Weighting by Tier

The weightings below are not guidelines. They are prescribed by Ofqual and must be followed by every exam board. They tell you exactly where marks are concentrated.

The highlighted rows tell the story: Number dominates Foundation (25%) while Algebra dominates Higher (30%). A Foundation student should invest heavily in Number and Ratio. A Higher student needs to prioritise Algebra above everything else.

Number (Foundation 25%, Higher 15%)

Number covers the building blocks of maths. Both tiers include: place value and ordering (integers, decimals, negatives), the four operations with decimals and negatives, factors, multiples, primes, HCF, and LCM, prime factorisation, powers and roots (squares, cubes, square roots, cube roots), index laws, standard form, all fraction operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide, convert, simplify, mixed numbers), decimal and fraction conversions, percentages (of amounts, increase, decrease, percentage change), rounding (decimal places and significant figures), estimation, and bounds and error intervals.

At Higher tier, Number adds surds: simplifying root expressions and rationalising denominators. Foundation students will not encounter surds. Number is the largest area at Foundation (25%), so if your child sits Foundation tier, this is where the most marks are.

Algebra (Foundation 20%, Higher 30%)

Algebra is the area that causes the most difficulty and carries the most marks at Higher tier. Both tiers cover: algebraic notation, simplifying expressions (collecting like terms), expanding brackets (single and double), factorising (single bracket and quadratics), substitution into formulae, solving linear equations, solving linear inequalities, rearranging formulae, linear sequences (nth term), coordinates and straight-line graphs (y = mx + c), quadratic graphs, real-life graphs (distance-time, conversion), and simultaneous linear equations.

Higher-Only Algebra Topics

Higher tier adds a substantial block of additional algebra that does not appear on Foundation: expanding triple brackets, algebraic fractions, completing the square, the quadratic formula, simultaneous equations (one linear, one quadratic), composite and inverse functions, iteration, algebraic proof, graph transformations (translations, reflections, stretches), equation of a circle (centred at the origin), gradients of curves and area under graphs, and quadratic, geometric and Fibonacci-type sequences.

Ratio, Proportion and Rates of Change (Foundation 25%, Higher 20%)

Both tiers cover: ratio notation and simplifying, sharing in a ratio, combining ratios, direct proportion, inverse proportion, best buy and value problems, recipe scaling, speed, distance, time, density, mass, volume, unit conversions (metric and between metric and imperial), compound measures, scale drawings and maps, percentage change (simple and compound), and growth and decay.

Higher adds: direct and inverse proportion with algebraic expressions, exponential growth and decay, and pressure = force ÷ area. This area is worth 25% at Foundation, equal to Number, and the questions are often set in real-world contexts that require careful interpretation. Examiner reports consistently note that ratio-in-context problems are where Foundation students lose the most marks.

Geometry and Measures (Foundation 15%, Higher 20%)

Both tiers cover: properties of 2D shapes (angles, symmetry, triangle and quadrilateral types), angle facts (angles on a line, at a point, in triangles and quadrilaterals, parallel lines), interior and exterior angles of polygons, area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, trapeziums, and circles, circumference (C = πd), volume and surface area of cuboids, prisms, and cylinders, Pythagoras' theorem, basic trigonometry (SOHCAHTOA), transformations (reflection, rotation, translation, enlargement), bearings, constructions and loci, plans and elevations, congruence and similarity, and coordinates in all four quadrants.

Higher-Only Geometry Topics

Higher adds some of the most challenging content in the entire GCSE maths syllabus: circle theorems (a set of rules about angles formed inside and around circles), vectors (addition, subtraction, scalar multiples), the sine rule and cosine rule, area of a triangle using ½ab sinC, volume and surface area of spheres, cones, and pyramids, similar shapes with area and volume scale factors, trigonometric graphs, and 3D Pythagoras and trigonometry.

Probability and Statistics (15% on Both Tiers)

Probability covers: the 0-to-1 scale, calculating simple probabilities, expected outcomes, relative frequency and experimental probability, sample space diagrams, probability trees (independent events), Venn diagrams, and mutually exclusive events. Higher adds conditional probability, tree diagrams with dependent events, three-set Venn diagrams, and the addition rule for non-mutually exclusive events: P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) − P(A and B).

Statistics covers: data collection methods (primary, secondary, sampling), frequency tables and two-way tables, averages (mean, median, mode) including from grouped data, range, bar charts, pie charts, pictograms, scatter graphs and correlation, line of best fit, time series, and stem-and-leaf diagrams. Higher adds histograms (with unequal class widths and frequency density), cumulative frequency diagrams, box plots (median, quartiles, interquartile range), and comparing distributions using statistical measures.

Which GCSE Maths Topics Are the Hardest?

Based on examiner reports and teacher surveys, the topics that cause the most difficulty cluster in three areas: algebraic proof (Higher), ratio and proportion in context (both tiers), and circle theorems (Higher). The common thread is multi-step reasoning. These questions do not test one skill in isolation; they chain several concepts into a single problem.

The 6-Mark Extended Problem

The questions students fear most are the 6-mark extended problems at the end of each paper. These draw on multiple topic areas within a single question: a geometry problem requiring algebra, a ratio question involving percentage change, or a probability question needing algebraic manipulation. Each individual step might be manageable, but chaining them together under exam pressure is where students break down.

How Parents Can Use This Topic List

The single most underused document in GCSE revision is the specification itself. It lists every topic that can appear on the exam, nothing more and nothing less. You can download the GCSE maths syllabus 2026 free from your child's exam board website (AQA code 8300, Edexcel code 1MA1, or OCR code J560). Each board publishes the full specification as a PDF.

Print it out, and go through every topic with your child using a traffic-light system: green (confident), amber (needs practice), red (cannot do). This gives you a revision priority list in 30 minutes. The students I worked with who used this approach consistently outperformed those who just “did past papers” with no structure.

Matching Revision Time to Topic Weighting

If your child has roughly 60 hours of maths revision available before the exam (10 weeks at 6 hours per week), here is how to divide that time based on the Ofqual weightings. Adjust based on your child's RAG rating: spend more time on red topics, less on green.

For detailed revision strategies, our how to revise for GCSE maths guide covers spaced repetition, active recall, and timed practice. If your child needs help understanding what each grade actually means for their future, our GCSE grades explained guide maps every grade to its old equivalent. And for a tier-by-tier comparison of what Foundation and Higher actually look like on exam day, see our Foundation vs Higher breakdown.