Exam season might feel a million miles away, or perhaps it's creeping up faster than a surprise algebra question! Either way, we know you're already thinking about those all-important GCSEs. Here at Primrose Kitten, we're buzzing to share our predictions for the 2026 GCSE Maths Paper 1 (Non-Calculator).
Before we dive in, a super important reminder: these are predictions! While we pour hours into analysing past papers, examiner reports, and curriculum trends, we haven't actually seen the 2026 exams yet! So, please make sure you're still reviewing your entire GCSE Maths specification. Think of these predictions as a powerful spotlight, not a complete roadmap! 🗺️
We know this journey can be a bit of a rollercoaster, so remember to balance your revision with some well-deserved self-care. Your mental health is just as important as your grades! 🧠💖 Take breaks, get some fresh air, chat with friends, and fuel your brain with good food. A happy, healthy brain is a ready-to-learn brain!
So, grab a cuppa ☕, get comfy, and let's unravel what we think you need to ace that non-calculator paper!
The Non-Calculator Paper: Why It Matters & What It Tests 🤔
Paper 1 is designed to test your core mathematical fluency, problem-solving skills, and understanding of fundamental concepts without the aid of a calculator. It’s all about showing your working, understanding mathematical processes, and being super confident with your mental arithmetic and number manipulation. Think of it as a workout for your pure maths brain! 💪
Primrose Kitten's Predicted Topics for 2026 GCSE Maths Paper 1: Your Revision Guide! 📚✨
Based on our extensive analysis (curious about how we do it? Check out How do we write our Predicted Papers! 🤓), here are the topics we believe are most likely to appear on your 2026 Non-Calculator paper. For each, we've included a brief revision guide to get you started!
1. Operations with Fractions (including Mixed Numbers) ➕➖✖️➗
What it is: Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions.
Key skills: Converting mixed numbers to improper fractions, finding common denominators for addition/subtraction, 'Keep, Change, Flip' for division. Exact answers are a must!
2. Fractions, Decimals, & Percentages (Conversions & % of Amounts) ↔️%
What it is: Confidently switching between fractions, decimals, and percentages. Also, calculating percentages of amounts without a calculator.
Key skills: Knowing common conversions, finding 10%, 5%, 1% as building blocks for percentage calculations.
3. Laws of Indices (Powers) 📈
What it is: Using the rules of powers, especially with negative and fractional indices for Higher Tier.
4. Standard Form (Conversions & Calculations) 🌌
What it is: Writing very large or very small numbers using powers of 10. Expect to multiply and divide numbers in standard form.
Key skills: Converting numbers to and from standard form, performing multiplication and division, remembering to adjust your answer so the first digit is between 1 and 10.
5. HCF, LCM & Product of Primes 🌳
What it is: Finding the Highest Common Factor (HCF) and Lowest Common Multiple (LCM) of two or more numbers, often using prime factor decomposition.
Key skills: Using factor trees to find prime factors, expressing numbers as a product of their primes in index form, using Venn diagrams or lists to find HCF and LCM.
6. Solving Linear Equations ⚖️
What it is: Finding the value of an unknown variable in an equation.
Key skills: Using inverse operations to isolate the variable, solving equations with brackets, dealing with variables on both sides, and forming equations from word problems.
7. Expanding & Factorising (Single & Double Brackets, Simple Quadratics) 🧩
What it is: Multiplying out brackets (expanding) and putting expressions back into brackets (factorising).
8. Ratio & Proportion (Simplifying, Sharing, Best Buy) 🍎:🍊
What it is: Comparing quantities, sharing amounts in a given ratio, and solving problems involving direct proportion.
Key skills: Simplifying ratios (e.g., 15:20 = 3:4), sharing an amount in a ratio (e.g., £60 in ratio 2:3), solving "best buy" problems by finding a common amount or unit value.
9. Angle Rules (Parallel Lines, Polygons) 📐
What it is: Applying rules about angles in shapes and with parallel lines.
Key skills: Angles on a straight line, angles around a point, vertically opposite angles. Understanding alternate, corresponding, and co-interior angles with parallel lines. Knowing the sum of interior/exterior angles of polygons. Remember to state your reasons!
10. Sequences (Finding the nth term for Linear)
What it is: Finding a rule (the 'nth term') for a sequence of numbers that increases or decreases by the same amount each time.
Key skills: Identifying the common difference, using the formula an + b, and substituting values to find specific terms or check if a number is in the sequence.
11. Probability Trees 🌳
What it is: Using diagrams to show the probabilities of different outcomes when there are multiple events.
Key skills: Multiplying probabilities along branches for 'AND' events, adding probabilities for 'OR' events, understanding 'with replacement' and 'without replacement' scenarios. This ties in heavily with fraction operations!
12. Transformations (Reflection, Rotation, Translation) 🔄➡️
What it is: Moving shapes on a coordinate grid.
Key skills: Performing and describing reflections (mirror lines), rotations (centre, angle, direction), and translations (column vectors). Higher Tier will include enlargements with fractional and negative scale factors.
13. Estimation 💭
What it is: Approximating calculations by rounding numbers to one significant figure.
Key skills: Rounding each number in a calculation to 1 significant figure first, then performing the simplified calculation. This is a classic non-calculator topic to test common sense and rounding rules!
14. Substitution (including negative numbers) ➡️🧮
What it is: Replacing letters in a formula or expression with numbers.
Key skills: Carefully substituting given values, especially negative numbers. Paying close attention to BIDMAS/BODMAS (Brackets, Indices, Division/Multiplication, Addition/Subtraction) is crucial to avoid common errors with signs.
15. Interpreting Tables & Charts (Two-Way Tables, Stem-and-Leaf) 📊
What it is: Reading and extracting information from basic statistical diagrams.
Key skills: Completing two-way tables, calculating probabilities from a two-way table, interpreting and drawing stem-and-leaf diagrams (including finding median and range).
Higher Tier Hot Takes! 🔥 (For those aiming for Grades 7-9)
If you're sitting the Higher paper, make sure you're rock solid on these additional non-calculator skills:
Surds: Simplifying and rationalising denominators
Recurring Decimals to Fractions: Converting 0.36 into a fraction using algebraic methods.
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factorising: As an extension of topic 7, using factorising to solve equations like x2 + 2x - 8 = 0
Exact Trigonometric Values
Your Primrose Kitten Toolkit for Success! 🛠️
Feeling ready to tackle these topics? We've got your back!
Download Our Predicted Papers! 📥 Get ahead of the game with our expert-crafted predicted papers for 2026. We spend countless hours researching, so you don't have to! Find out How Accurate Are Predicted Papers? here!
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GCSE Maths Paper 1 (Non-Calculator) Structure & Breakdown 📝
Understanding the exam format can really help calm those nerves. Here's a quick overview:
Duration: Typically 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Total Marks: Usually 80 marks.
Content: This paper assesses content from all areas of the GCSE Maths specification (Number, Algebra, Ratio, Geometry & Measures, Probability & Statistics), but without the use of a calculator.
Question Types: You'll find a mix of short, quick-fire questions and longer, multi-step problems that require detailed working out. Expect questions that test your ability to explain your reasoning, especially in geometry.
Weighting: Generally, each of the three papers (Paper 1, 2, and 3) carries roughly equal weighting towards your final GCSE grade.
Good luck with your revision! You've got this! ✨