Level up your skills
After a break away from studying, you may be feeling a little rusty and want to brush up on the maths and stats you will encounter as part of your course. To help you get a head start, we've created this page which contains everything you need to revise key topics.
If you'd like to work on your academic skills more generally, visit the 301 Academic Skills Centre pages.
How to use this page
Below are some resources to help you learn some common topics which you may be expected to know for your course. Different courses have different requirements so bear in mind what the entry requirements were for your subject. If you'd like help or advice learning these topics, get in touch or book a 1:1 appointment with us.
Resources
Use the links below to find resources to help you revise.
GCSE Standard Topics |
Hard GCSE/Introductory A-Level Standard Topics |
A-Level Standard Topics |
Probability and Statistics |
How to Study Maths and Stats
Getting good at maths and stats is a matter of practising skills, like learning an instrument or a sport. Many people focus on the first step: learning the methods, without moving on to the next step: consolidation through practice. If this sounds familiar, or if you’ve had other problems learning maths in the past, don’t panic! We’re here to help!
Effective methods for learning mathematics follow the Cycle of Practice
Stage 1: Test yourself
Can you solve questions at the required level? Don’t allow yourself to use notes or look things up. Make sure you actually do the questions, don’t just look at the answers and convince yourself you could have done the question.
If you got the questions right, have you practiced to the point where you won’t forget the topic? If so, great! It might be time to move on to a new topic.
If you got some questions wrong, that’s fine, now you know what you need to work on. Move on to stage 2.
Stage 2: Refresh your knowledge
Consider whether you once knew how to do the questions and you’ve forgotten, or whether this topic is new. Can you recall the key points in the method? If you need an explanation of how to do the topic, the resources linked above are designed to help you. It might help to write your own notes. If you’ve tried this and it hasn’t helped, consider booking a MASH 1:1 session.
Stage 3: Practice, practice, practice!
When learning maths, it's vital to practice by doing questions. This should take up most of your time when learning a topic. Again, the links above will help you find some useful exercises. You know you’ve done enough when you feel like you would be able to do the questions without help in a month’s time. Now it’s time to go back to Stage 1 and test yourself. Ideally, you would do this after a day or two, to be sure that you have understood the method.
Don't forget that if you would like some additional support, you can always book an appointment to speak with one of our friendly advisers. We're here to help all students on all courses at all levels of study.
Jumpstart University
The Jumpstart University hub has been developed by The Open University in collaboration with the Russell Group to help students starting university this year to prepare for and settle into their studies. Below are links to the maths and stats resources.
Mathematics For Science and Technology
Maths Anxiety
And last, but by no means least, if the thought of maths and stats makes you feel anxious, you are not alone: over 80% of students have some form of maths anxiety. Why not take a look at our maths anxiety page. It contains an online resource for you to work through to help you address this. We also run workshops on maths anxiety and there is a link to the workshop page as well.
We are constantly working to improve and add to these resources. If you have any suggestions or feedback, let us know.
Book a 1:1 appointment or workshop
Would you like to explore a maths or stats topic in greater depth? Why not book a 1:1 with an advisor or a workshop (current students only).