Which formulae are given in the exam, and which do I have to memorise?
A formulae sheet is provided in every GCSE maths paper for the 2025 to 2027 series, and the sciences give an equation sheet too. What is on it differs by board, and plenty of formulae students assume are given are not. Pick your board below to see the split between what you are handed and what you have to carry in.
Last updated 12 August 2026 · Built and checked by the GCSEwiz team
AQA GCSE Maths (8300)
A formulae sheet is provided in every paper for 2025–2027 series. Includes quadratic formula, trapezium area, prism volume, circle formulae, Pythagoras, right-angled trig ratios, sine rule, cosine rule, ½ab sin C, compound interest, and the probability addition / conditional rules. Cone, sphere and kinematics formulae are still given in the relevant question.
The sheet itself, from AQA
Currently covers GCSE Maths, where the given-versus-memorise split changes most often and confuses most people. The science equation sheets work the same way: your board publishes one, and it lists rather fewer equations than students expect.
Given is not the same as understood
Having a formula printed in front of you is worth much less than it sounds. The sheet gives you the sine rule; it does not tell you that this is a sine rule question, which is the part worth marks. Students who lean on the sheet often lose time hunting through it mid-paper rather than gaining anything.
Treat the sheet as insurance against a blank moment under pressure, not as a substitute for knowing the material. The formulae you use most should be automatic whether or not they are printed.
The ones that catch people out
Some formulae are given in the sheet but only in a general form, and some are given in the question itself rather than the sheet, which means they do not appear on any checklist you might revise from. Cone and sphere volumes are the classic example in maths: they are supplied with the question that needs them, so students who never see them on the sheet assume they must memorise them.
The policy has also been re-announced and adjusted more than once in recent years, which is why so much of what circulates about it is out of date. Check against your board's current specification rather than a revision guide printed a few years ago.