Quick answers: which paper is it in?
- Statistics: Paper 2.
- Probability and counting: Paper 1.
- Differential calculus: Paper 1.
- Financial maths: Paper 1.
- Trigonometry: Paper 2.
- Analytical geometry: Paper 2.
- Euclidean geometry: Paper 2.
Paper 1
- Algebra & Equations (about 25 marks)
- Sequences & Series (about 25 marks)
- Functions & Graphs (about 35 marks)
- Finance, Growth & Decay (about 15 marks)
- Differential Calculus (about 35 marks)
- Probability (about 15 marks)
Paper 2
- Statistics (about 20 marks)
- Analytical Geometry (about 40 marks)
- Trigonometry (about 50 marks)
- Euclidean Geometry and Measurement (about 40 marks)
Mark allocation
Each paper is 3 hours and 150 marks. Trigonometry carries the most marks in Paper 2, about 50. In Paper 1, functions and differential calculus carry about 35 marks each.
How to prepare differently for each paper
Paper 1 rewards accurate, fast algebra: most marks are lost to sign errors and skipped steps, so practise showing every line. Paper 2 rewards reasoning: Euclidean geometry needs a reason for every statement, and trigonometry needs the identities and reduction formulas learnt by heart.
What is on the information sheet
Both papers come with the same information sheet. It gives the quadratic formula, the finance and annuity formulas, the sequence and series formulas, the first-principles definition of the derivative, the analytical geometry formulas, the trigonometric identities and rules, and the probability and statistics formulas. It does not give the exponent laws, the derivative rules, the reduction formulas, special-angle values or the Euclidean geometry theorems.
Skills that cross both papers
- Algebraic manipulation: needed throughout Paper 1, and in Paper 2 for analytical geometry and trigonometric equations.
- Solving quadratics: Paper 1 Question 1, but also circle intersections and trigonometric equations in Paper 2.
- Clear setting out: method marks reward written working in both papers.
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