GCSE Maths Revision Timetable 2027: Week-by-Week Plan

The short answer

A good GCSE maths revision timetable works backwards from three fixed dates. If you sit AQA or Pearson Edexcel in summer 2027, Paper 1 (non-calculator) is on Friday 14 May, Paper 2 (calculator) on Thursday 27 May and Paper 3 (calculator) on Monday 14 June, all in the morning and all 1 hour 30 minutes long. Foundation and Higher sit on the same days. That gives you roughly seven months from mid October, which is plenty if you split it into phases: fix the basics before Christmas, use your mocks to find gaps, then move to timed past papers from spring onwards.

The rest of this guide turns that into a week-by-week plan you can stick on your wall, plus a few honest tips on what to do when a topic just won't go in.

When the 2027 papers fall

Both big exam boards published their final summer 2027 timetables, and for maths they line up exactly:

Paper	Calculator?	Date	Session	Length
Paper 1	No	Friday 14 May 2027	Morning	1h 30m
Paper 2	Yes	Thursday 27 May 2027	Morning	1h 30m
Paper 3	Yes	Monday 14 June 2027	Morning	1h 30m

These dates come from the AQA timetable for GCSE Mathematics (8300) and the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Summer 2027 Final Timetable for Mathematics (1MA1). The links are in the sources at the bottom of this page.

If your school enters you for OCR (J560), check OCR's own published timetable rather than assuming the same days. And whichever board you sit, your exams officer has the final word on rooms and start times, so ask them if anything looks odd. JCQ also keeps a page of key dates and links to every board's timetable.

Two things jump out from the table. First, the non-calculator paper comes first, so mental methods and written arithmetic need to be sharp by early May, not late May. Second, there's a gap of nearly two weeks between Paper 1 and Paper 2, and another two and a half weeks before Paper 3. Those gaps are revision time, and a good plan uses them on purpose.

Foundation vs Higher and the three papers

You'll sit either Foundation or Higher tier for all three papers. Foundation covers grades 1 to 5 and Higher covers grades 4 to 9. Your teacher usually decides your tier after mocks, so if you're on the borderline, have that conversation early. It changes which topics deserve your time.

All three papers can test any part of the specification. There's no "algebra paper" or "geometry paper", so don't fall into the trap of revising one area per paper. What does change is the calculator rule:

• Paper 1 (non-calculator). Fractions, percentages without a calculator, long multiplication and division, surds and exact values on Higher, estimating. Speed and accuracy with written methods matter most here.
• Papers 2 and 3 (calculator). Same content, but questions can lean on messier numbers, trigonometry, compound interest, standard form and statistics where a calculator helps. Know your own calculator well: fractions button, memory, powers and roots.

A useful habit is to label each past paper question you get wrong with its topic, not its paper. After a few weeks you'll see your real weak spots, and those are what your timetable should chase.

Week-by-week timetable

This plan assumes you start in mid October 2026 with about 30 weeks to go until Paper 1. If you start later, squeeze the early phases rather than cutting the past paper phase. Three or four focused maths sessions a week is enough for most students, around 30 to 45 minutes each, with one longer session at the weekend.

Phase 1: mid October to mid December (about 9 weeks). Rebuild the foundations.

• Make a topic list from your board's specification and rate each topic red, amber or green.
• Spend two sessions a week on red topics, starting with number and algebra, because almost everything else builds on them.
• One session a week is mixed practice: ten short questions from anywhere, no notes.
• On Higher, make sure algebraic fractions, rearranging formulae and quadratics are solid before Christmas.

Phase 2: January to February half term (about 7 weeks). Mocks and gap filling.

• Treat your mock exams as data. Go through every lost mark and add the topic to your red list.
• Keep one non-calculator session a week, even if your mock was a calculator paper.
• Start full topic tests under time pressure, around 30 minutes each.

Phase 3: late February to Easter (about 6 weeks). Exam technique.

• Move from topic practice to full past papers, one a week, under timed conditions.
• Mark them yourself with the official mark scheme straight away, while you still remember your thinking.
• Rewrite any question you lost three or more marks on, a week later, without looking at your old answer.

Phase 4: after Easter to 14 May (about 4 weeks). Paper 1 focus.

• Two full non-calculator papers a week.
• Short daily drills on arithmetic, fractions and estimation, five to ten minutes.
• Sleep and routine start to matter more than extra hours now.

Phase 5: 15 May to 27 May. Paper 2 window.

• Switch to calculator papers. Do at least three full ones in this window.
• Keep revising other subjects too, but give maths a short session most days.

Phase 6: 28 May to 14 June. Paper 3 window.

• Go back to your red list one last time. Anything still red gets a focused session.
• Finish with two or three full calculator papers, then ease off in the last two days.

If you want help building something like this from your own topic list, our guide to exam prep with Astra AI shows how a study plan can be set up around a fixed exam date.

How to use official past papers and mark schemes

Past papers are the best revision resource you have, because they're written by the same people who write your real exam. AQA and Pearson both publish past papers and mark schemes on their websites, and your teacher may have more recent ones through the school.

Some ground rules that make them far more useful:

1. Sit them properly. Timer on, phone in another room, the right equipment. A paper done in bits with breaks tells you very little.
2. Mark with the official mark scheme. Look at where method marks are given. You can often pick up marks for a correct method even when your final answer is wrong, so always show your working.
3. Read the examiner reports. These explain where students commonly lost marks. They're a quick way to spot traps such as forgetting units or rounding too early.
4. Keep a mistakes log. Write the question, the topic, what went wrong and the correct method. Read it back before each new paper.
5. Don't burn through them too early. Save at least four or five full sets for the final weeks, so you still have fresh papers when it counts.

Spread your papers across Foundation or Higher as appropriate. If you're on the Higher borderline at grade 4 or 5, the first half of Higher papers is often the most useful practice.

When you get stuck

Everyone hits topics that won't click. The trick is not to lose a whole week to one of them.

Your teacher is still your best first stop. Bring a specific question, not "I don't get vectors". Most teachers are glad to help a student who has clearly tried.

Friends and revision groups work well for explaining things to each other. If you can teach a method to someone else, you really know it.

An AI tutor helps in the moments when you're on your own at 9pm with a question you can't crack. Astra AI, which we build, tutors step by step, asks you questions back and checks your understanding. The answer is the last thing you get, not the first. You can start free, no card required. Astra AI Plus unlocks unlimited tutoring, mock exams and podcasts. For most students it can replace a private tutor, though not for every student. If you're comparing options, our guide to the best AI tutor covers what to look for, and there's a separate round-up of the best AI math tutor tools.

When time is very short, don't panic and don't cram new topics the night before a paper. Our piece on studying the night before an exam explains what actually helps in the last 24 hours.

One last thing: your revision timetable is a guide, not a contract. If you're ill for a week or a topic takes longer than planned, move things around and keep going. Consistency over seven months beats a perfect plan you abandon in November. You can find more ideas on our exam prep page.