The first term of A-Level Maths moves quickly through algebra that GCSE treated as an end point. Students who arrive fluent in that material find the term manageable; students who arrive merely familiar with it spend the term catching up.
The skills the course assumes
- Surds and indices, including negative and fractional powers, handled without hesitation.
- Expanding, factorising and rearranging, including making a variable the subject when it appears twice.
- Solving quadratics by all three methods and using the discriminant.
- Straight-line geometry: gradients, parallel and perpendicular lines, midpoints.
- Simultaneous equations, including one linear and one quadratic.
A two-week plan
- Days 1–3: surds, indices and manipulation, one focused hour a day.
- Days 4–6: quadratics, including completing the square and the discriminant.
- Days 7–9: straight lines and simultaneous equations.
- Days 10–12: mixed sets with no topic labels.
- Days 13–14: any bridging booklet your school has set, done cold.
Twelve to fifteen hours across the summer is enough. It is probably the highest-return preparation available anywhere in the two-year course.