The formulas you have to learn for GCSE Maths

If you've been told you need to memorise a long list of formulas for GCSE Maths, here's some good news. For now, you don't have to learn most of them. You're given a formulae sheet in the exam.

But "you get a sheet" isn't the whole story. Some things you still need to know off by heart, and having a formula in front of you is not the same as knowing how to use it. Here's exactly where things stand.

Do you get a formula sheet in GCSE Maths?

Yes. The Department for Education decided that students sitting GCSE Maths in 2025, 2026 and 2027 don't need to memorise all the formulae, and Ofqual, the exams regulator, now requires every exam board to give students a formulae sheet in those exams. That includes the November resits.

In May 2026, Ofqual confirmed this carries on from 2028 for the rest of the life of the current GCSEs, resits included. So if you're in Year 10 or 11 now, you'll have a sheet.

For Edexcel, a copy of the sheet is printed as an insert in every question paper. AQA also supplies its own Foundation and Higher sheets as an insert with every paper. Ofqual's rules base every board's sheet on the same Department for Education list, but practise with your own board's version so it looks familiar on the day.

What's on the Foundation sheet

These are on the Edexcel Foundation sheet for 2026:

• Area of a trapezium = ½(a + b)h
• Volume of a prism = area of cross section × length
• Circumference of a circle = 2πr = πd
• Area of a circle = πr²
• Pythagoras' theorem: a² + b² = c²
• Trigonometry (SOH CAH TOA): sin A = a/c, cos A = b/c, tan A = a/b, for a right-angled triangle where c is the hypotenuse
• Compound interest: total accrued = P(1 + r/100)ⁿ
• Probability: P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) − P(A and B)

What's on the Higher sheet

Everything on the Foundation sheet, plus:

• The quadratic formula: x = (−b ± √(b² − 4ac)) / 2a, for ax² + bx + c = 0
• The sine rule: a/sin A = b/sin B = c/sin C
• The cosine rule: a² = b² + c² − 2bc cos A
• Area of a triangle = ½ab sin C
• Conditional probability: P(A and B) = P(A given B) × P(B)

Having the quadratic formula on the sheet is a big help, but you still have to use it. It's easy to drop marks on the signs, so practise substituting carefully:

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Formulas that can be given in the question

A few formulas aren't on the sheet because, under the national rules, they can be given inside the question that needs them. These are:

• Volume and curved surface area of a cone
• Volume and surface area of a sphere
• The kinematics formulas, like v = u + at

You need to be able to use them, but you don't need to learn them.

What you still have to know

This is the important part. Plenty of things you need are not on the sheet. The main ones:

• Area of a rectangle, a triangle (½ × base × height) and a parallelogram
• Volume of a cuboid, and using the prism formula for a cylinder
• Arc length and the area of a sector, as a fraction of the full circle
• Speed, density and pressure: speed = distance ÷ time, density = mass ÷ volume, pressure = force ÷ area
• Angle facts, like angles in a triangle adding up to 180° and the interior angles of a polygon
• The exact values of sin and cos for 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°, and tan for 0°, 30°, 45° and 60°. Every student is expected to know these, Foundation and Higher.
• y = mx + c for straight-line graphs
• On Higher: the equation of a circle x² + y² = r² (centre at the origin), and the circle theorems

The exact trig values catch a lot of students out because they look like something that should be on the sheet. They aren't. Here's how I'd learn them:

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How to use the sheet well

1. Practise with it now. Print your board's sheet and keep it next to you whenever you do a past paper, so you know where everything is.
2. Don't wait for the exam to read it. You don't want to be hunting for the cosine rule with five minutes left.
3. Learn when to use each formula. The sheet tells you the formula. It doesn't tell you which question needs it. That's the skill the exam is testing.
4. Know the rest by heart. The things in the list above come up all the time, and they're not given.

Ofqual has also said exam boards shouldn't set questions that can be answered just by copying from the sheet. The sheet is a support, not a shortcut.

Questions people also ask

Is the quadratic formula on the GCSE Maths formula sheet?

It's on the Higher sheet, along with the sine rule, the cosine rule, the area of a triangle using sine and conditional probability. It isn't in the Foundation list in this post. Having the formula there helps, but it's easy to drop marks on the signs, so practise substituting carefully.

Do I need to learn the exact trig values for GCSE Maths?

Yes. The exact values of sin and cos for 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°, and of tan for 0°, 30°, 45° and 60°, aren't on the sheet. Every student, Foundation and Higher, is expected to know them.

Is the area of a triangle on the GCSE Maths formula sheet?

Only the version using sine, half ab sin C, and only on the Higher sheet. The area of a triangle as half base times height isn't on the sheet, so you need to know it, along with the area of a rectangle and a parallelogram.