GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy
This double award is assessed by three written papers, one of them non-calculator, covering number, algebra, geometry and measures, statistics and probability, with Unit 1 given over to financial mathematics in real-world contexts. Literacy matters more than many expect: every paper sets questions in written context and awards two marks for communicating, organising and writing accurately, so learners must read problems closely and explain their working in words. The biggest thing Key Stage 3 should build is solving multi-step worded problems from real contexts, with every step explained and a written conclusion.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2025
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- High
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Financial Mathematics and Other Applications of Numeracy: Written examination, Higher Tier 1 hour 45 minutes (80 marks), Foundation Tier 1 hour 30 minutes (65 marks), 30%, calculator allowed
- Unit 2: Non-calculator: Written examination, Higher Tier 1 hour 45 minutes (80 marks), Foundation Tier 1 hour 30 minutes (65 marks), 30%, calculator not allowed
- Unit 3: Calculator-allowed: Written examination, Higher Tier 2 hours (90 marks), Foundation Tier 1 hour 45 minutes (75 marks), 40%, calculator allowed
Skills that use Financial literacy
-
Personal and household finance
Unit 1 is built around financial mathematics: wages, payslips, income tax and National Insurance, VAT, budgets, bills, best buys, exchange rates, profit and loss, and at Higher Tier simple and compound interest, AER and APR.
Numeracy: Financial literacy
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils plan a class trip to Barry Island within a £300 budget, comparing coach and train prices and recording spending in a running-total table.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare supermarket pack sizes of the same product, work out the price per 100 g to find the best buy, and calculate profit for a school tuck shop.
- Year 9
- Pupils read a mock payslip and a savings advert, calculating VAT, a percentage discount and compound interest over three years using a multiplier.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 1, Section 1.8, pages 18 to 19
“understand the basic principles of personal/ household finance and enterprise in order to solve problems relating to”
Progression step 3
I can manage money, compare costs from different retailers and determine what can be bought within a given budget.
I can make comparisons between prices and understand which is best value for money.
I can use profit and loss in buying and selling calculations.
Progression step 4
I can carry out calculations relating to VAT, saving and borrowing.
I can appreciate the basic principles of budgeting, saving (including understanding compound interest) and borrowing.
I can use and understand efficient methods of calculating compound interest.
Progression step 5
I can understand and demonstrate the real-life process of foreign exchange.
I can understand and calculate income tax and understand the implications of taxation.
Good to know
- Unit 1 allows a calculator: 'A calculator will be allowed in this paper.' (page 5).
- Unit 2 is non-calculator: 'A calculator will not be allowed in this paper.' It holds all probability and much of the geometry (pages 5 and 10).
- Unit 3 allows a calculator and holds most of the data handling and measures content (pages 5 and 10).
- Two marks on each paper, at each tier, are for 'communicating, organising and writing accurately', six marks across the qualification, 'in addition to the marks allocated to the mathematics'. One mark is for communicating and organising, one for writing accurately, and the questions are clearly indicated on the paper (page 51).
- Writing accurately means learners 'show all their working', 'use correct mathematical form in their working' and 'use appropriate terminology, units, etc.' (page 51).
- Calculators must not offer language translators or hold stored dictionaries, formulas or text, and must not be borrowed from another candidate during the examination (page 52).
- Units 1 and 3 have a formula list at the start of the paper; Unit 2 has none. The Foundation Tier lists give only the area of a trapezium and the volume of a prism, so all other formulae must be recalled (pages 52 to 55).
- Metric to imperial equivalences 'will be given to learners' (Section 3.5.7, page 35), and compasses 'will be required' for some constructions and loci in Unit 3 (Section 3.2.2, page 30).
- There is no NEA. All assessment is by written examination, tiered Higher (grades A* to D) and Foundation (grades C to G), and learners may be entered at different tiers across units (pages 6 and 59).
Links with other qualifications
The finance, percentage, compound measure and statistics content overlaps heavily with Business, Geography, Social Studies and The Sciences, so agreeing shared methods for percentages, graphs and units with those departments will reinforce Key Stage 3 teaching.
Source: WJEC GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy (Double Award) Specification, for teaching from September 2025, Version 5, September 2025.