Challenge Paper – GCSE Higher

Challenge Paper – click here to download

Each year there seems to a be a question or two that appears on Twitter as it is “impossible,” such as the infamous “Hannah’s sweets” question.

I believe that the vast majority of GCSE tests are fairly predictable but there will always be a “curveball” or two thrown in. It is impossible to predict exactly which “curveball” will come up, but I have created a paper of 40 of my favourite challenging Higher questions.

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Some of my favourites include *questions numbers may vary due to update

Question 2 – An angles in polygons questions involving algebra

Question 6 – A lovely question on mean from a frequency table. The mean is given and the frequency needs to be calculated.

Question 20 – An equation of a line question where the student needs to find the scale on both the x-axis and y-axis.

Question 25 – A probability question that is very similar to the “Hannah’s sweets” one

Question 26 – An area of a segment question where the student needs to use the cosine rule to find the angle.

Question 27 – A circle theorems/geometric proof question

Question 28 – A histogram question with no scale on the frequency density axis.

Question 33 – A question involving advanced trigonometry but given it is a quadrilateral, it can cause some issues.

Question 38 – A quadratic formula question where the student needs to work backwards to find the equation.