Problem solving guidance and practice - AS and A Level Maths

Guidance for students as to how to attack difficult and unfamiliar problems, and practice in doing so.

The resource includes:

• “Methods for attacking unfamiliar problems” - a collection of strategies that I (a pretty decent mathematician) use when tackling hard problems, laid out clearly for students
• Collections of tricky exam problems, organised by AS/A-level and by Pure/Statistics/Mechanics.
• An overview/instructions sheet so that the resource may be easily set for independent practice

Most of the problems have been sourced from OCR sample assessment materials, but align with any other A-level specification. Other problems were written by me.

The problems may be used as good revision/practice before exams, after spec content has been covered. The “methods” sheet may be introduced at any point in the year, to support students’ problem solving.

If using the problems in class, try not to help students with the maths! Instead, talk to them about their thought processes, direct them to relevant “methods” from the sheet, and encourage them to persevere.

pdf and editable docx versions included.