GCSE Maths Mock Results: How to Respond
Over the past few weeks, I have received several calls from parents asking for advice on how students should study after their mocks, particularly when the results were lower than expected.
One parent shared that their child achieved a Grade 4 in GCSE Foundation Maths last year but received a Grade 2 in the recent mocks. Another mentioned that their child is predicted an 8, yet came out with a 5 in January.
Is it realistic to move up one, two, or even three grades in around 15 weeks? The short answer is yes. With the May exams roughly 15 weeks away, there is still time to make a significant difference.
Whatever your child’s situation, here are five practical tips to help them move forward after mocks.
1. Treat mocks as a stepping stone, not a verdict Mocks are not a final grade. In the future, no university or employer will ever ask, "What did you get in your January mock?"
Think of mocks as a map:
Where are you now? (e.g., Grade 2/3? Grade 7/8?)
How many marks away are you from the next grade?
How many questions does that actually represent?
Make your goals concrete. For example: "To improve, I need to practise 10 exam-style questions on ratios, probability, volume of 3D shapes, and compound interest."
Write these targets into a weekly study plan. Improvement comes from clarity, not panic.
2. Be honest with yourself Ask yourself: Why was my grade lower than expected? Or, What did I do differently to achieve a higher grade than predicted?
Honest reflection is powerful. It allows you to adjust your revision so that it is truly effective. Sometimes the issue is environmental:
Revising on the bed.
Having Netflix on in the background.
Not completing papers independently.
I recently worked with a student whose parent sat with them during revision purely for moral support. Unfortunately, the student had never completed a full paper alone; when exam conditions removed that support, things fell apart.
Another student admitted they usually completed five questions at a time and checked the answers immediately to ensure they were on the right track. In the actual exam, when Question 5 was challenging and they couldn't check the answer, they panicked. They lost time and made careless errors in the subsequent questions due to stress.
Whatever the reason, remember it is still January. There is plenty of time to adjust, refine, and improve your approach.
3. Strengthen the topics you thought you knew A crucial question to ask after mocks is: Where did I lose marks on topics I thought I understood?
Start there. Practise as many exam-style questions as possible on those specific topics, whether from textbooks or past papers, until they are secure.
For example:
One student focused specifically on surds.
Another worked on direct and inverse proportion.
Once you have completed 10+ exam-style questions independently on a topic, tick it off your list. A common mistake is spending all revision time on the hardest questions, such as the final five-mark vectors problem, while losing 20 marks earlier in the paper on topics assumed to be "easy."
4. Use practice papers strategically, not endlessly I hear this every year: "We’ve done every paper available, but the grade didn’t improve."
Exam papers are vital, but only if you learn from them. My recommendation is to complete one full paper per week under strict exam conditions. Do this at the same time of day as the real exam if possible (yes, that may mean 8:30 am on a Saturday to mirror the 9:00 am GCSE start).
Completing papers serves as both exam practice and a diagnostic tool. Use the paper to:
Identify weak areas.
Choose 1–4 key topics to focus on.
Spend the rest of the week revising those topics properly (notes, examples, practice, reflection).
That is where the progress happens, not during the paper, but in the review that follows.
5. Remember: Progress takes time Change does not happen overnight. Every small step, every improved method, every corrected mistake, and every topic strengthened is a step towards your goal.
Mocks do not define you. What you do after them does.
At Olivia Press, our resources are designed to support students at exactly this stage, focusing on the exam-style, multi-step questions that carry the most marks. With the right practice, structure, and guidance, real progress before the final exams is not only possible, it is achievable.
