GCSE Maths four-week learning-gap planner

Use the planner without oversharing

The planner is designed for independent use, or for use with a parent, carer, school, college or suitable tutor. Keep a completed paper copy somewhere private. For a learner under 18, any later contact with Evlent must be made by a parent or guardian; do not enter a child's personal phone number or email address in a public enquiry form.

If studying is causing significant distress, or the learner wants to disclose a safety concern, pause the activity and speak to a parent, carer, teacher, designated safeguarding lead or another trusted adult. Do not record the disclosure in this planner or a public contact form.

• This resource is educational support, not a complete assessment or examination-entry service.
• It does not predict a grade or guarantee a learning or examination outcome.
• If tutoring is considered later, share only a short summary of topics and error patterns.

Confirm the course before choosing materials

Write down the exam board, specification code, Foundation or Higher tier, intended sitting and confirmed entry route. Do not guess. The learner's school, college or examination centre controls entry and can confirm the correct course details.

Record a broad signal, then make it specific

If the learner used Evlent's 12-question gap check, copy the four broad scores: Number and proportional reasoning, Algebra, Geometry and measures, and Data and probability. Each score is out of three. A three-question sample cannot diagnose a detailed topic gap, so add evidence from classwork, a mock, a board-appropriate question or teacher feedback.

For each area, record confidence from 1 to 4, the evidence used and one precise skill that needs review. Replace a label such as “weak at algebra” with a checkable statement such as “sign changes become unreliable when rearranging a linear equation.”

1. My first priority is... Name one small skill, not a whole subject domain.
2. The question evidence is... Record a source, page and question number.
3. A prerequisite I may need is... Identify the earlier idea that blocks the next step.

Build four short, reviewable cycles

Choose two priority skills at most. Agree a 20, 30 or 45-minute session length, three realistic study windows and one fallback window. Define success in observable terms: for example, “On fresh questions, I can answer four of five correctly twice, on different days, and explain the method.” That statement is a personal study check, not a grade boundary.

Repeat the same simple session structure

Each week can contain three main sessions and one optional short retrieval session. Adapt the times to the learner's energy and other responsibilities; filling every evening is not the goal.

1. Plan - 2 minutesWhich one skill am I practising, and what evidence made me choose it?
2. Recall - 5 minutesAnswer three to five older questions without notes.
3. Learn - 8 to 10 minutesStudy one correct example, cover it, then reproduce the reasoning.
4. Practise - 15 to 20 minutesComplete a small, focused question set.
5. Mix - 5 to 10 minutesAnswer two questions from earlier topics without labels.
6. Check - 5 minutesMark the work, classify errors and write a correction.
7. Adapt - 2 minutesSchedule the next fresh reattempt.

For every session, record the date, duration, exact skill, source, support used, number correct, confidence before and after, main error code and reattempt date. Write the corrected reasoning in one sentence.

Classify the error before adding more practice

Use one primary error code and, only if necessary, one secondary code. The code is a prompt for reflection, not a label for the learner.

An error record should include the original approach, the reason for the code, the correct method in the learner's own words, one correctly worked line and two fresh reattempt dates. Mark the status as “still needs support”, “developing” or “independent”.

Review fresh questions without inventing a predicted grade

At the end of week four, use a small set of fresh questions from the correct board and tier under comparable conditions. Record the source and question IDs, calculator or non-calculator conditions, permitted support, time used and whether each response was fully correct, partly correct, incorrect or not attempted.

Count which error types lost marks and schedule the next reattempt. Do not convert the small result into a predicted grade: grade boundaries vary by paper and year and are set after examinations.

Choose the next step from the evidence

1. Course details not confirmed?Contact the school, college or examination centre first.
2. Success check met on fresh questions?Continue independently with the next specific gap.
3. The same knowledge or method error returned after two corrected attempts?Ask a teacher, school, college or suitable tutor for targeted feedback.
4. The difficulty is mainly timing, calculator use, interpretation or working?Build the next cycle around that behaviour instead of repeating the whole topic.
5. The learner wants live support?Tutoring is optional. A parent can review Evlent's resit information or book a free trial.

Check the official course and examination information

Use the learner's own awarding body and entry centre as the final authority. Evlent's planner helps organise study; it does not replace official specifications, examination timetables or entry advice.