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In this blog, I will outline the five most common numerical mistakes I’ve seen made by students of all levels – be it primary school students in their SATS or secondary school students in their non-calculator GCSEs. I will explain why people get it wrong so often, how you avoid… Continue reading 5 common numerical mistakes – don’t make these!

In previous blogs, we’ve looked at some interesting integer sequences. We’ve looked at the Fibonacci sequence, the Look-and-say sequence, Golomb’s sequence, Van Eck’s sequence and the Lazy Caterer’s sequence. Today, we’re looking at the Kolakoski Sequence. This fun sequence can be found on the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences here.… Continue reading The Kolakoski Sequence

Standard deviation is the process that involves calculating the squared difference between each data point and the mean, summing those squared differences, dividing by the number of data points, and then taking the square root of the result. Standard deviation is useful in various fields, such as statistics, finance, and… Continue reading Mastering standard deviation: a step-by-step guide

In the previous blog, I explained the difference between simple and compound interest. In this blog, I will show you how to make use of multipliers to answer compound interest questions efficiently. I will also introduce the concept of depreciation and show how you can use multipliers to answer those… Continue reading How to use multipliers

In both the foundation and higher tiers of GCSE maths, interest questions come up fairly regularly. You will need to be able to apply two different types of interest – compound and simple. In this blog I will explain the difference between the two methods by way of an example.… Continue reading The difference between simple and compound interest

Today’s blog is another review of a times tables app. I’ve already reviewed Math Ninja, which ended with an overall rating of 20/30 and 10 Minutes A Day which scored 24/30. Today I’ll be reviewing TimesTablesHero. TimesTablesHero Review Cost: Free The format of this app is a little different to… Continue reading Times Table App Review – TimesTablesHero

As expected, the summer 2023 GCSE and A-Level grade attainments dropped significantly compared to summer 2022. This is due to grade boundaries returning to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since 2019. For example, the raw mark needed to pass GCSE Edexcel foundation maths in 2022 was 135. This shot… Continue reading GCSE and A-Level Results 2023

In previous blogs, we’ve looked at some interesting integer sequences. We’ve looked at the Fibonacci sequence, the Look-and-say sequence, Golomb’s sequence and Van Eck’s sequence. Today, we’re looking at the Lazy Caterer’s sequence. You can find this sequence on the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences here. How to generate the… Continue reading The Lazy Caterer’s Sequence

It’s nearly time for students in Bristol to go back to school for another academic year. In this blog, I will be looking at the state-funded schools in Bristol and ranking them based on KS4 (GCSE) attainment in maths. Obviously there are many other factors to consider when choosing a… Continue reading Ranking Bristol’s secondary schools by GCSE maths attainment

In the previous blog, in which I calculated the arc length of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, there were multiple steps to solving the problem. We had to calculate the radius of the sector. Then, we used this radius to calculate the angle of the sector. Then we had to use… Continue reading Rounding errors

In this blog, I’m going to use mathematics to calculate the arc length of Bristol’s most famous piece of engineering, The Clifton Suspension Bridge. All of the methods used appear in GCSE maths. The Clifton Suspension Bridge opened in 1864 and was originally designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel however sadly… Continue reading Calculating the arc length of the Clifton Suspension Bridge

The non-calculator GCSE maths exam is now out of the way, and you should have your calculator glued to your hand from now on. Even simple calculations you should use the calculator for. You never know what sort of elementary mistakes you can make in the pressurized situation of a… Continue reading How to use the table function on a calculator

Following on from the last blog, in which I discussed 5 common mistakes in foundation tier GCSE maths, this time we’ll look at 5 common mistakes in higher tier GCSE maths. Even if you’re studying for the higher tier exam, I’d still recommend going back and reading the foundation tier… Continue reading 5 common mistakes in higher GCSE maths – don’t make these!

We’re now fully in exam season. I hope your revision is going well. In this blog, I will explain 5 of the most common mistakes I’ve seen in foundation tier GCSE maths. I will explain why people get it wrong so often, how you avoid this and what the correct… Continue reading 5 common mistakes in foundation GCSE maths – don’t make these!

Today’s blog is another review of a times tables app. I’ve already reviewed Math Ninja, which ended with an overall rating of 7/10. Today’s app is 10 Minutes A Day – let’s see how it compares to Math Ninja… 10 Minutes A Day Review Cost: Free The game is a… Continue reading Times Table App Review – 10 Minutes A Day

In previous blogs, we’ve looked at some interesting integer sequences. We started with the Fibonacci sequence, then the “Look-and-say” sequence and most recently Golomb’s sequence. Today, it’s Van Eck’s sequence. The sequence was first published to the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) in 2010 by a hobby mathematician called… Continue reading Van Eck’s Sequence

At Metatutor, we only offer face-to-face tutoring. Even during the pandemic, when the choice was between offering online tutoring or nothing at all, I chose the latter. I of course had to consider online tutoring when the lockdowns were introduced, but having trialled it I determined it was not a… Continue reading 5 reasons why online tutoring doesn’t work for maths

This blog will be a guide to rationalising the denominator of a fraction. It will cover all types of these questions that can come up in GCSE mathematics. Please note that this topic is only examinable on the higher tier GCSE, so if you are studying foundation this blog will… Continue reading How to rationalise the denominator of a fraction

For the first time since 2019, GCSE and A-Level students sat their exams in 2022. However, due to the disruption to education caused by the pandemic, advance information was given to students giving them a heads-up as to what topics will and won’t come up in the exams. Despite this,… Continue reading GCSE and A-Level Results 2022

Comparing fractions can sometimes be really easy. Take for example these two fractions – which one is larger? Example 1 It’s obvious that the fraction on the left is larger than the fraction on the right, isn’t it? Because 4 is bigger than 3. Take a look at the diagrams… Continue reading A guide to comparing fractions

Today (September 1st 2022) is Metatutor’s 5th birthday! Exactly 5 years ago, we started up with big dreams and a mission of providing affordable and effective maths tuition for children in Bristol. Despite a rather large setback in 2020 (you remember, that pandemic…), we’ve had a great 5 years all… Continue reading Happy 5th Birthday Metatutor!

In previous blogs, we’ve looked at some interesting integer sequences. We started with the daddy of all integer sequences, the Fibonacci sequence. Then, the Look and Say sequence. Today’s sequence is the Golomb sequence. The sequence is named after its founder, American mathematician Solomon Golomb. Golomb was not only an… Continue reading The Golomb Sequence

If you’re studying GCSE or A Level maths, you will be spending a lot of time using a calculator. Sometimes by accident (or by a friend getting hold of it!) the mode of a calculator is changed and the results don’t display in the way you want it to. You… Continue reading How to fix a calculator that is in the wrong mode

“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content” There are very few things that are perfect in the world. But in maths, there are perfect numbers. What is a perfect number? To describe what a perfect number is, we first need to know what a factor is. The factors… Continue reading Perfect numbers

In the previous blog, I explained the Difference of Two Squares, as this mentioned in the Advance Information. Another topic that is mentioned specifically in the Edexcel Advance Information for the Summer 2022 GCSE exams is the Capture-Recapture Method. This will be very easy to prepare for as the questions… Continue reading The Capture-Recapture Method – how to estimate the number of fish in a lake

Mentioned specifically in the Edexcel Advance Information for the 2022 GCSE exams is something called the Difference of Two Squares. So I decided to write a blog about it. I’ve already touched on factorising quadratics in these two blogs – Factorising Quadratics (Foundation) and Factorising Quadratics (Higher). In those two… Continue reading The Difference of Two Squares

Due to the disruption to schooling caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, exam boards have provided advance information for the upcoming Summer 2022 GCSE exams. This consists of: This blog will summarise this advance information, so you don’t have to read through it all yourself. Firstly, it is worth noting that… Continue reading Advance Information for Summer 2022 GCSE Exams

For a child in primary school, there is nothing more important in maths than knowing your times tables. It will make everything you learn in the subject so much easier. If a child needs to write out their times tables every time they need to work out something like 6×4… Continue reading Times Tables App Review – Math Ninja

If you’re taking the higher maths GCSE, there are certain values of sin, cos and tan that you need to know off by heart. Luckily in two of the three exams you will be allowed to use a calculator, but in the non-calculator exam you will need to know the… Continue reading How to use triangles to remember exact sin, cos and tan values

In this blog I will show you the most efficient way to list factors, and explain why this is a good method. What is a factor? The factors of a number are numbers that you can divide the number by and get a whole number result. For example, 5 is… Continue reading A more efficient method for listing the factors of a number

Unfortunately due to the pandemic, GCSE and A-Level exams were cancelled again in 2021. Grades were awarded based on teacher assessments. 746,880 students were entered for GCSE mathematics and 97,960 for A-Level mathematics in 2021. The GCSE results were very similar to the previous two years, with a slight increase… Continue reading GCSE and A-Level Results 2021

In a previous blog I looked in more detail into “the daddy of all integer sequences” – the Fibonacci sequence. While the Fibonacci sequence is an impossible sequence to match up to, there are plenty of other intriguing integer sequences out there. So if you can deal with the disappointment… Continue reading The Look-and-Say Sequence

What is a recurring decimal? Some decimal numbers are easy to deal with – 0.5, 0.3, 0.25 etc. These are easy because they do not have recurring digits. Converting between these numbers and fractions is easy. Recurring decimals are numbers which have a repeated digit or sequence of digits –… Continue reading How to represent a recurring decimal as a fraction

Following on from the previous blog, which showed you a series of tricks you can use to determine if a number is divisible by the numbers 2 to 6, this blog will build on this for the numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Rule for 7 This is… Continue reading Divisibility rules for numbers 7-12

In this blog I will show you how you can easily check any number is divisible by the numbers 2-6. So simple that should your mental arithmetic be strong enough, you will be able to just take a glance at the number and know immediately whether it is divisible by… Continue reading Divisibility rules for numbers 2-6

We have previously touched upon Fibonacci sequences when discussing different types of sequences for GCSE maths so you may already be familiar with them. This blog will go into more detail and show you some more uses of the Fibonacci sequence that you probably wouldn’t expect! What is the Fibonacci… Continue reading The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio

In this blog, I will explain one of the most common mistakes I see made by GCSE maths students. We have already seen how to solve equations, but you also need to be able to solve inequalities in GCSE maths. What is an inequality? There are two inequality signs you… Continue reading The Problem with Solving Inequalities in GCSE Maths

Following on from our previous blog on why university students make excellent maths tutors, in this blog I will list 5 traits that every good maths tutor has. Having hired over 30 tutors since starting Metatutor, I know a good maths tutor when I see one. I am leaving out… Continue reading 5 things that make a good maths tutor

Triangles come up a lot in GCSE mathematics. And there are a variety of different methods that can be applied to questions. If you are given a triangle with a missing side or angle, there are four different methods that you can use to find the missing information (bold means… Continue reading Triangles in GCSE Maths

In the last blog, I introduced a method for using trigonometry to find the missing side in a right-angled triangle. This blog will build on that and show you how to find the missing angle in a right-angled triangle. I would recommend reading that before this one for an introduction… Continue reading A guide to trigonometry (SOHCAHTOA) – Part 2

Following on from the previous blog on Pythagoras’ theorem, this blog will be a guide to solving trigonometry questions. This guide will show you how to use trigonometry to find a missing side in a right-angled triangle. The next blog will build on this idea and show you how to… Continue reading A guide to trigonometry (SOHCAHTOA) – Part 1

a2 + b2 = c2. That’s Pythagoras’ theorem. What it says is that in a right-angled triangle, the sum of the squares of the two smaller sides equal the square of the longest side (or hypotenuse). From my experience, most GCSE students understand what Pythagoras’ theorem is, but when it… Continue reading Easy as Py – a guide to Pythagoras’ Theorem

Following on from the previous blogs about the number 6174 and the (not-so) magic number 10, here are 5 more cool maths tricks that you can use to impress your friends. Trick 1 For this trick, pick a three digit number with repeating digits (eg. 222 or 999)Add up the… Continue reading 5 more maths magic tricks

In this blog, we will look at distance, speed and time calculations and I will show you a handy trick that will help you to remember how to calculate them. First of all – distance, speed and time are all related. If you have two of them, you can use… Continue reading Distance, speed and time calculations

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, 2020 has not been an orthodox year for students taking their GCSEs and A-Levels. To many students’ disappointment, the exams were cancelled and grades were awarded based on a mixture of mock results and teacher assessment. Due to this, it was always inevitable that some… Continue reading GCSE Results 2020

At Metatutor, we provide home one-to-one face-to-face maths tuition. In this blog, I will outline some of the many benefits this service can have on a student. I firmly believe that every student benefits from having some extra home support – it doesn’t matter whether you are a student targeting… Continue reading 5 reasons you should hire a home maths tutor

In this blog, I will show you a method for solving linear equations. Solving equations is the most useful aspect of algebra you will learn at school. Take the example below… Solve 3x + 1 = 13 The x is just a number that we don’t know yet. Solving an… Continue reading A guide to solving linear equations

In our blog we’ve already covered Kaprekar’s constant, as well as the (not-so) magic number 10. Here’s another cool little trick to sink your teeth into… First, pick a positive integer (whole number). Now, we are going to generate a sequence of numbers, starting with our starting number. Each term… Continue reading Hailstone Numbers

Following on from our previous blogs on identifying different types of sequences and finding the nth term of a linear sequence, in this blog I will show you how to find the nth term of a quadratic sequence. It is important to note that this topic is only examinable on… Continue reading How to find the nth term of a quadratic sequence

Following on from the last blog on identifying different types of sequences, in this blog I will show you how to find the nth term of a linear sequence. This is a relatively simple process, but is incredibly useful. What is the nth term, and why is it useful? First… Continue reading How to find the nth term of a linear sequence

If you’re studying for your maths GCSE, you will have encountered a lot of different sequences. For both foundation and higher GCSE mathematics, you need to be able to identify these different types of sequences: 1. Linear sequences Linear sequences are the most common and simplest type of sequence you… Continue reading Different Types of Sequences for GCSE Maths

At Metatutor, all of our tutors are university students at either the University of the West of England or University of Bristol. I purposely choose to only take on university students because I believe that they make excellent maths tutors, and our results certainly back that theory up. Here are… Continue reading 5 reasons why university students make excellent maths tutors

Following on from the two previous blogs on factorising quadratic for foundation tier maths and higher tier maths factorising, in this blog I will use an example to explain why factorising is useful and how it will help you pass your maths GCSE. When you were first taught about putting… Continue reading Turning dragons into chihuahuas – why factorising is useful

If you’re studying for your maths GCSE, there are certain values of sine, cosine and tangent that you need to know off by heart. Luckily, in two of the three mathematics exams, you will be allowed to use a calculator, but in the non-calculator exam you will need to know… Continue reading How to remember exact sin, cos and tan values

Here’s another maths magic trick that you can use to impress your friends. This trick works for ANY number that you choose. Follow these instructions and you will always end up with 10. Pick a number. Multiply it by 3. Then add 30. Then multiply by 2. Then divide by… Continue reading The Magic Number 10 – A mathematical trick

Following on from the last blog on factorising quadratics, here is a guide to factorising quadratics of the form ax2 + bx + c, where a is greater than 1. This will only be tested on the higher tier GCSE maths exam, so if you’re studying foundation, this blog is… Continue reading Factorising Quadratic Expressions for GCSE Maths – Higher Tier

Here is a simple guide to factorising quadratics on the GCSE mathematics foundation exam. If you’re doing the maths foundation exam – luckily for you, you’re only going to need to factorise quadratics of the form x2 + ax + b (which trust me, makes things a LOT easier! If… Continue reading Factorising Quadratics

2019 saw a record number of students enter for GCSE mathematics. But how did those special 30 that Metatutor helped along the way do? In all, we helped 30 students study for GCSE maths, 16 of whom took the foundation exam, with the other 14 taking the higher exam. You… Continue reading GCSE Results 2019

We’ve all been there at some stage – 4 x 1 = 4, 4 x 2 = 8, 4 x 3 = 12… and so on. It’s not fun, but it is effective. Unfortunately, knowing your times tables is incredibly important for maths students of any age and ability. That… Continue reading Times Table Practice

Here’s a random 4-digit number that I bet you didn’t know was special. 6174.  Follow these instructions and you will (if you have done things correctly), ALWAYS end up with 6174. 1. Pick any four numbers between 0 – 9. The only rule here is you must pick at least… Continue reading 6174 – Kaprekar’s Constant