Percentages

AQA GCSE Maths

8 ready-made resources for teaching Percentages, written for AQA GCSE Maths. Slides, worksheets, mark schemes, homework, an assessment and retrieval quizzes, all with SEN-friendly scaffolding built in as standard. Below is what the topic requires and where students usually go wrong, free to read whether or not you sign up.

Get these 8 files free

What is in this bundle

Assessment mark schemeWord, editable
End-of-topic assessmentWord, editable
HomeworkWord, editable
Retrieval-practice quizzesWord, editable
SlidesPowerPoint, editable
Starter & exit ticketWord, editable
Tiered worksheetWord, editable
Worksheet mark schemeWord, editable

Foundation tier

Calculate a percentage of an amount, with and without a calculator.
Express one quantity as a percentage of another.
Calculate percentage increase and decrease.
Calculate simple interest.
Find an original amount before a single percentage change (simple reverse percentage).
Calculate compound interest, growth, and decay over multiple time periods (straightforward cases; see Higher for multi-stage/successive-change variants).

Higher tier, in addition

Solve reverse percentage problems requiring multiple steps or combined percentage changes.
Solve multi-stage contextual problems involving successive percentage changes (e.g. successive discounts).
Use the multiplier method fluently as the default technique for all percentage calculations.

Where students go wrong

Adding or subtracting the percentage figure directly instead of using a multiplier (e.g. treating two successive 10% increases as a flat 20% increase).
Using the wrong base amount in a reverse percentage problem (dividing by the percentage rather than working from the correct multiplier).
Forgetting that compound interest/depreciation applies to the new amount each period, not the original amount.
Confusing a change in percentage points with a percentage change.

How it gets asked in the exam

"Calculate the percentage of...", "Find the original price", "Work out the value after x years", "increase/decrease by x%".

Key vocabulary

Percentage, multiplier, increase, decrease, compound, principal, depreciation, original amount, reverse percentage.

Assumed prior knowledge

Fluency converting between fractions, decimals, and percentages.
Confident multiplication and division.
Familiarity with ratio and proportion reasoning.

How Speca scaffolds this topic

A multiplier reference grid ("same method, different starting multiplier") builds a transferable mental model instead of memorised one-off procedures.
Use a bar model or 100-square visual to dual-code "percentage of an amount" for students needing a concrete representation before abstract calculation.
Provide an explicit step template for reverse percentages (state the multiplier → divide → never add/subtract) to directly counter the most common misconception.

Every file, free to start

Three full bundles a month at no cost, no card needed. Speca can also write a resource for a topic we have not built yet, and mark a photo of a student's working against the mark scheme.

Start free