Chelmsford County High School for Girls

Subjects

Mathematics - GCSE

Pupils start their GCSE mathematics course at the beginning of Year 9. They all follow the Higher level OCR course and they take three years to cover all of the content of the syllabus.

This year's Year 9 pupils also have the added challenge of taking their KS3 tests in May, but in future years, all pupils will complete KS3 at the end of Year 8. In this way, we free up additional time to gain greater experience on the GCSE topics.

The GCSE course builds on the topics and techniques experienced during KS3:

• Arithmetic: Volumes and surface areas of 3-D figures. Rational & Irrational numbers. Limits of accuracy.
• Algebra: Negative & fractional indices. Factorisation of algebraic expressions. Quadratic equations. Curve graphs. Sequences & Iteration.
• Trigonometry: Trigonometrical graphs. Sine Rule & Cosine Formula. 3-D trigonometrical problems.
• Geometry: Angle properties of a circle. Tangents. Cyclic Quadrilaterals. Vector Geometry. Transformations, Congruency proofs.
• Probability: Conditional probability. Experimental probability (including simulation.)
• Statistics: Collecting, displaying & interpreting data. Histograms. Stem and leaf, Box and Whisker diagrams, cumulative frequency.

Practical & Investigational work is undertaken throughout the course.

Two GCSE Coursework tasks are carried out under teacher supervision and both pieces count 10% towards the final GCSE grade. The first piece is an algebraic investigation and is completed in March of Year 10. The second piece is a statistical investigation and is completed in January of Year 11. For both pieces, the pupils have 2/3 weeks of lesson time, homeworks and additional teacher support in order to complete the work.

Examination Board:

OCR

Derivation of Final Grade:

2 written papers (externally assessed):
Paper 5 (non-calculator) 40%
Paper 6 (calculator) 40%
OCR - Paper 7 (coursework) 20%