The best topics to target first for students who are struggling with maths

When a GCSE maths student is struggling, the temptation is to start with whatever topic they most recently failed in class.

Sometimes that makes sense. If they have a test tomorrow on simultaneous equations, then yes, you probably need to deal with simultaneous equations.

But for longer-term tutoring, it is usually better to start with the topics that unlock other topics. Some GCSE maths skills act like foundations. If they are weak, everything built on top of them becomes harder.

A student who cannot work confidently with fractions will struggle with ratio, probability, algebraic fractions, gradients, percentages and exact trig values. A student who cannot solve basic equations will struggle with formulae, graphs, inequalities, simultaneous equations and many worded problems.

So the question is not just:

“What topic is this student stuck on?”

It is also:

“Which missing skill is causing the most damage?”

Start with number sense

For many struggling GCSE students, number is the best place to begin.

That does not mean endless arithmetic drills. It means checking whether the student can work flexibly and sensibly with numbers.

Priority number skills include:

• place value;
• negative numbers;
• times tables and basic multiplication facts;
• mental methods;
• rounding and estimation;
• order of operations;
• using a calculator properly;
• interpreting decimals.

Weak number sense causes problems everywhere. Students who cannot estimate often accept unrealistic answers without noticing. Students who are insecure with negative numbers struggle later with algebra, coordinates, graphs and sequences. Students who cannot use a calculator reliably may lose easy marks even when they know the method.

A useful early goal is to make the student more comfortable asking:

“Does this answer make sense?”

That habit matters across the whole GCSE course.

Fractions, decimals and percentages

If a struggling student has gaps in fractions, decimals and percentages, this is usually one of the best early targets.

These topics appear constantly. They are also emotionally loaded for many students. A lot of pupils decide they are “bad at maths” somewhere around fractions.

Start with the basics:

• simplifying fractions;
• equivalent fractions;
• converting between fractions, decimals and percentages;
• finding fractions of amounts;
• adding and subtracting simple fractions;
• finding percentages of amounts;
• percentage increase and decrease.

Do not rush straight to the harder GCSE-style questions. A student who cannot confidently find 3/5 of 40 is not ready for reverse percentages.

Once the basics are secure, the payoff is large. Percentages link directly to interest, discounts, growth and decay. Fractions link to probability, ratio, algebra and exact answers. Decimals appear in almost every calculator topic.

For tutors, these are also ideal topics for short self-marking homework tasks. A student can practise one very specific skill, get immediate feedback, and you can quickly see whether they are ready to move on.

View our self-marking number worksheets.

Ratio and proportion

Ratio is one of the most important GCSE topics to target early, especially for Foundation students aiming to move up a grade.

It appears in many forms:

• sharing in a ratio;
• simplifying ratios;
• recipes and scaling;
• maps and scale drawings;
• best buys;
• direct proportion;
• speed, density and pressure;
• similar shapes;
• probability comparisons.

The difficulty is that ratio questions are often worded. A student may know a procedure in isolation but fail to recognise when to use it.

Begin with concrete examples. Sharing money. Mixing squash. Scaling recipes. Comparing quantities. Make sure the student understands what the ratio actually means before relying on tricks.

Good early ratio questions should help students see that ratio is not just “divide by the total parts”. It is a way of comparing quantities.

Once ratio improves, many other topics become less frightening.

View our self-marking ratio and proportion worksheets.

Basic algebra

Algebra is another high-impact area, but it needs to be handled carefully.

For struggling students, “algebra” is too broad. You need to break it down.

The best early algebra targets are:

• collecting like terms;
• substituting into expressions;
• expanding single brackets;
• factorising simple expressions;
• solving one-step and two-step equations;
• forming expressions from words.

Solving equations is especially important. If a student can solve simple equations confidently, they gain access to a much larger part of the GCSE course.

However, do not begin with the most abstract version. Start with balance, inverse operations and clear layout.

For example:

3x + 4 = 19

A student should understand that subtracting 4 from both sides is not a magic ritual. It is preserving equality.

Good algebra teaching reduces panic. Students need to see that algebra follows rules. It is not a different species of maths lurking in the bushes.

View our self-marking algebra worksheets.

Coordinates and straight-line graphs

Coordinates are often a good early win.

Many struggling students can improve quickly with:

• plotting points;
• reading coordinates;
• understanding the x-axis and y-axis;
• recognising horizontal and vertical lines;
• drawing simple straight-line graphs;
• using tables of values;
• understanding gradient as steepness.

This area is useful because it links number, algebra and visual reasoning. It also gives students something concrete to look at.

Straight-line graphs can later become more demanding, especially with equations such as:

y = mx + c

But before that, students need to be comfortable with the coordinate grid itself. If they cannot plot points accurately, the algebraic work becomes much harder.

A small amount of confidence here can make GCSE maths feel less abstract.

Coordinates and straight line graphs also fall within our alegbra worksheets section.

Averages and data

Averages are worth targeting early because they are common, accessible and often improve quickly.

Start with:

• mean;
• median;
• mode;
• range;
• reading frequency tables;
• interpreting charts;
• comparing data sets.

Many students can learn these topics successfully even if they find algebra difficult. That makes data a useful confidence-building area.

However, do not treat averages as just button-pressing.

Students should understand:

• the mean as a balancing value;
• the median as the middle value;
• the mode as the most common value;
• the range as a measure of spread.

Averages also provide useful exam-technique practice. Students must read tables carefully, choose the correct calculation, and interpret what their answer means.

View our self-marking worksheets on statistics.

Angles and basic geometry

Angles are another strong early target for struggling GCSE students.

Useful starting points include:

• angles on a straight line;
• angles around a point;
• vertically opposite angles;
• angles in triangles;
• angles in quadrilaterals;
• parallel line angle rules.

These topics reward clear method and careful working. They also allow students to build chains of reasoning without requiring advanced algebra.

Geometry can be a good way to teach students how to explain their thinking. For example, they can practise writing reasons such as:

• angles on a straight line add to 180°;
• angles around a point add to 360°;
• angles in a triangle add to 180°;
• alternate angles are equal.

This helps with mathematical communication, not just calculation.

Area, perimeter and units

Area and perimeter are deceptively important.

Many students mix them up. Others know the formulae but cannot decide which one to use. Some lose marks because they ignore units or forget to square units for area.

Start with:

• perimeter of rectangles and compound shapes;
• area of rectangles, triangles and parallelograms;
• units of length and area;
• simple compound area questions;
• checking whether an answer should be larger or smaller.

This is a practical topic area, so use diagrams wherever possible.

The key distinction is:

• perimeter is distance around the outside;
• area is space inside the shape.

That sounds obvious, but it is one of those ideas that weak students may not have fully internalised.

View our self-marking worksheets on geometry and measures.

Probability basics

Probability is a useful early topic because it connects fractions, decimals, percentages, language and reasoning.

Start with:

• probability words;
• probability scales;
• impossible, unlikely, even chance, likely and certain;
• writing probabilities as fractions, decimals or percentages;
• simple probability of one event;
• complements, such as “not blue” or “does not win”.

This topic can be accessible, but it also exposes number weaknesses quickly. If a student cannot understand that 0.25, 1/4 and 25% can describe the same probability, then fractions and percentages need attention too.

Probability is also good for discussion. Students can often reason informally before they can write perfect mathematical answers.

View our self-marking worksheets on probability.

Exam technique and multi-step questions

Some struggling students do not mainly have a content problem. They have an exam-technique problem.

They may know individual skills but fail when a question has several steps.

Early exam-technique targets include:

• underlining key information;
• identifying what the question is asking;
• showing working clearly;
• using units;
• rounding only at the end;
• checking whether an answer is reasonable;
• trying a first step even when the whole method is not obvious.

This is particularly important for worded questions.

A student who freezes at a long question may need help breaking it down:

1. What information have we been given?
2. What are we trying to find?
3. Which topic does this seem to involve?
4. Can we do one useful calculation first?

Getting students to start sensibly is often half the battle.

So what should tutors target first?

There is no single perfect order, but for many struggling GCSE maths students, a sensible early sequence is:

1. Number sense and calculator fluency.
2. Fractions, decimals and percentages.
3. Ratio and proportion.
4. Solving basic equations.
5. Coordinates and simple graphs.
6. Averages and data.
7. Angles and basic geometry.
8. Area, perimeter and units.
9. Probability basics.
10. Multi-step exam questions.

This order is not fixed. A student’s schoolwork, exam date and confidence level may change the priority.

But as a general rule, start with topics that:

• appear frequently;
• unlock other topics;
• can produce quick confidence gains;
• expose deeper misconceptions;
• are easy to practise between lessons.

Use homework to test whether the gap is really closing

Teaching a topic once is not the same as fixing it.

A student may seem fine during the lesson because you are guiding them. The real test is whether they can do similar questions independently a few days later.

This is where targeted self-marking homework is useful.

With the ESHEETS portal, a tutor can set a specific worksheet as homework, give the student a simple access code, and let them practise independently. The student gets instant feedback, and the tutor can see the submitted result afterwards.

That creates a much cleaner follow-up loop:

identify the gap → teach the skill → set targeted self-marking practice → review the result → decide what comes next

This avoids the classic tutoring problem where homework disappears into a bag with a parent’s vague statement: “he said he did it”.

Self-marking homework is not a replacement for teaching. It is a way of making practice less painful and evidence easier to collect.

Keep the first few weeks focused

When a student has many gaps, it is tempting to tackle everything at once.

Do not.

Instead, you should choose a small number of priority topics and build momentum; early success matters. If the student starts to feel that maths is becoming more manageable, they are more likely to practise, ask questions and take risks.

A good early tutoring plan might look like this:

Week 1: diagnostic lesson and number/fractions check.
Week 2: fractions, decimals and percentages.
Week 3: ratio and proportion.
Week 4: solving equations.
Week 5: mixed review and exam-style questions using those skills.

That kind of structure is far better than jumping randomly from topic to topic based only on the latest school homework.

Final thought

With struggling GCSE maths students, the best topics to target first are not always the flashiest ones.

They are the topics that quietly hold the rest of the course together:

• number sense;
• fractions;
• percentages;
• ratio;
• basic algebra;
• graphs;
• angles;
• units;
• probability;
• exam technique.

Fixing these does not solve everything, but it gives the student a platform.

The aim is not to rush through the GCSE specification. The aim is to remove the biggest obstacles first.

Once the foundations are stronger, the harder topics stop looking quite so impossible. And that is often the point where a struggling student starts to believe they might not be “bad at maths” after all.

Richard Linnington is a maths teacher / tutor with more than 16 years experience working in schools in Horsham and West Sussex.