Five Days This Christmas. Your Teen Walks Into the Mocks With a Method.
The five Year 11 GCSE Maths topics from this term where capable students lose the most marks, taught and practised in five live sessions with a specialist course tutor. Ready for the January mocks.
Without a grade 4, Maths has to be retaken after 16. Only 15.3% of resitting students reached a 4 in 2026.
Why revision is not always enough, and how to fix it.
Watching your teen revise and still lose marks is one of the most frustrating things as a parent. The good news: it is almost always fixable.
Higher-tier GCSE Maths rewards method as much as the answer. Examiners see the same things every year: a sign error in the first line, the wrong bracket, a method that is right but never shown. Each costs marks your teen already knows how to earn.
January mocks are when this shows. The autumn topics are the newest and the least practised, and they carry a lot of marks.
Five days over Christmas changes that. Not by covering more content, but by finding exactly where the marks are going and fixing it before the mocks.
One topic a day. Done properly. Done once.
These are the five autumn-term topics where Year 11 students lose the most marks, chosen from AQA's own examiner reports. By the last day, your teen knows how to set out a method that earns every mark available.
The circle x squared + y squared = r squared and the tangent to it at a point. Both the equation of a circle and the equation of a tangent were listed as struggles. There were many non-attempts, and students took the reciprocal of the gradient instead of the negative reciprocal.
How y = f(x) changes under reflections and translations. The most common errors were reflecting in the wrong axis and moving the graph one square the wrong way.
Factorising, completing the square, the quadratic formula and turning points. Those who scored zero often began with the wrong bracket sign, and as usual the signs of the numerical answers caused most problems.
Simplifying and solving equations with algebraic fractions. Just under one quarter of Higher students scored the first mark on a fraction equation but made no further progress.
Function notation, fg(x) and finding an inverse function. This question had the most non-attempts on the Higher calculator paper; sign errors were common and students managed composite expressions more often than inverses.
Four stages. Every session. Every day.
Every session follows the same four-stage structure. Your teen does not just cover content, they learn how to perform it under exam conditions.
Before any teaching begins, your course tutor identifies where your teen is actually losing marks, whether that is recall gaps, application errors, method choice or exam technique. Different problems need different fixes, and we find the right ones first.
We build the understanding the mark scheme rewards: knowing why a concept works, not just what it is. Your teen learns to apply their knowledge to questions they have never seen before, and to write answers that earn the marks.
We practise performing, not just knowing. Every day includes unfamiliar, exam-style questions under timed conditions. Knowing a topic and applying it under pressure are different skills, and both can be trained.
By the last day, your teen has a repeatable approach to any exam question, and the confidence that comes from preparation. Not hope. A method they have proved works across five days of applied practice.
Meet Your Course Tutor
Phebe teaches GCSE Maths and Science and A-Level Biology and Chemistry at EmPowered STEM. She studied Biomedicine and Chemistry at King's College London and went on to complete a graduate-entry Medicine degree, so she knows what the step from GCSE to A-level, and on to competitive university offers, really takes. Her students describe her as approachable, patient and structured, and her sessions are built on active recall, spaced practice and exam-style questions.
- Joint honours degree in Biomedicine and Chemistry, King's College London
- Graduate-entry Medicine degree
- A* and A grades in A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Maths
- Supports students applying for medicine with UCAT, interviews and personal statements
Not more practice papers. A method.
Most families arrive after trying something else. Here is why this works when other approaches have not.
Taught With the Next Step in Mind
Phebe also teaches A-level, so she teaches GCSE the way the next stage needs it: understanding and method, not memorised steps that fall apart on an unfamiliar question.
The Four-Stage STEMPath Method
Not improvised week by week. The same structured approach in every session, and the same method we use across all our courses.
Exam Technique Built In
We teach the answers the mark scheme rewards. Understanding the content is not the same as writing answers that earn marks.
Most help reacts. We follow a method.
| What your teen actually needs | EmPowered STEM | Typical revision help |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis of where marks are actually being lost | Stage 1, before any teaching begins | Goes straight to more questions |
| Exam technique built into every explanation | Shown and practised daily | Focus on completing the topic |
| Unfamiliar, applied questions every day | Every day, on that day's topic | Practice grouped by topic |
| A specialist course tutor | Phebe, GCSE Maths course tutor | Often covers several subjects and levels |
| Built on the real exam papers | AQA examiner reports, with Edexcel and OCR points flagged | Generic worksheets |
| A measurable outcome | By Day 5, applying concepts to unseen questions | Hard to know what changed |
The difference is not effort, almost every student we work with is already working hard. The difference is structure.
Here is exactly what five days looks like.
- Five live two-hour sessions with Phebe, 3:30pm to 5:30pm UK time, Sunday 27 to Thursday 31 December
- Five Year 11 GCSE Maths topics: Equation of a circle and tangents; Graph transformations; Quadratics and completing the square; Algebraic fractions and equations; Composite and inverse functions
- Exam technique and mark-scheme wording in every session
- Built on AQA examiner reports, with Edexcel and OCR differences flagged
- The STEMPath Method, all four stages across all five days
- Recordings and resources in the challenge area, so a missed day over Christmas can be caught up
5-Day Year 11 GCSE Maths Christmas Challenge
Sunday 27 to Thursday 31 December 2026 £197 · 10 hours of live teaching The first 30 minutes of day one are free. If it is not right for your teen, leave before that session ends for a full refund. Book Your Teen's Place →Questions & Answers
Yes, when the five days are spent on the right topics, in the right order, with the right method.
Yes. The sessions are pitched at grades 4 to 9, and Phebe adjusts the questions to the tier your teen is sitting. Tell us the tier when you book.
The topics come from AQA's examiner reports, and the content is common to AQA, Edexcel and OCR. Phebe flags anything that differs for your teen's board.
No. Every session is recorded, and the recording and resources go into the challenge area the same day, so your teen can catch up on a missed day.
By the end of the challenge you will have a clear, honest picture of where your teen stands. We will tell you what the right next step looks like. No pressure, no push.
January mocks. Your teen opens the paper and knows where to start.
While other students stare at a circle equation or a quadratic, hoping a method comes to them, your teen recognises the question type, writes the first line correctly and shows a method the mark scheme rewards.
That is not a small thing. Confidence in Maths compounds: a teen who feels in control attempts the harder questions at the end of the paper. A teen who feels lost leaves them blank, and those are the marks that separate a 5 from a 7.
Five days this Christmas is what that difference costs.
Book Your Teen's Place →The mocks begin regardless. The question is whether your teen starts them with the method, or spends the spring term catching up.
Five focused days. The rest of the year, different.
Book Your Teen's Place →