Both GCSE and A-Level Maths provide a formulae sheet, and both expect a set of results to be known from memory. The exact split is published in your board's specification, so the first job is to print the sheet you will be given and mark up everything that is not on it.
Sort before you learn
| Category | Example type | How to handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Given in the exam | Many standard results printed on the sheet | Learn where to find it, not the text |
| Must be known | Results your specification lists as required | Daily blank-page recall |
| Derivable | Results you can rebuild in thirty seconds | Practise the derivation, not the string |
The method that actually works
- Write the list of must-know results on one page. One page only — if it does not fit, you are including given formulas.
- Every day, from blank paper, write out as many as you can in five minutes. No looking first.
- Mark it. Circle the ones you missed or wrote wrongly.
- Only revisit the circled ones during the day, then repeat the full blank test tomorrow.
- Once a week, write them out and immediately use each one in a single question.
Tie each formula to a trigger
A formula you can write but cannot deploy is only half learned. For each one, note in three words when it applies — 'right angle, no hypotenuse', 'rate of change', 'area under curve'. In the exam you retrieve by trigger, not by alphabetical order.
Derive rather than memorise where you can
Several standard results follow from one another in a couple of lines. Learning that route is more robust than learning the string, because a derivation you understand can be rebuilt when your memory is under pressure, and it usually earns method marks along the way.