GCSE Maths and Physics Formula Sheets 2027: What You Get in the Exam and What You Still Need to Memorise
If you are sitting exams next summer, the GCSE formula sheet 2027 position is settled: students taking GCSE Mathematics, Physics and Combined Science will be given formulae and equation sheets in the exam, exactly as in 2025 and 2026. What is less widely understood is how little the sheet actually does for you. This guide covers what each board supplies, what you still have to memorise, and how to revise when a sheet is in the room.
Will GCSE students get a formula sheet in 2027?
Yes. Following the Department for Education decision of October 2024, Ofqual required exam boards to supply formulae sheets for GCSE Maths and equation sheets for GCSE Physics and Combined Science for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 exam series. AQA has confirmed there are no changes for 2027, and that the physics equation sheet is provided as an insert with the relevant papers.
What happens after 2027?
The original decision covered 2025 to 2027 only, which is why “2027” became a search term in its own right. That has since been extended. AQA’s autumn 2026 GCSE Science subject update states that students taking GCSE Maths, Physics and Combined Science under the current specifications will continue to receive formula and equation sheets from 2028 onwards, and OCR has published the same position. Pearson has issued its own update on the Ofqual decision on formulae sheets.
For a current Year 11 or Year 10 student, the practical answer is: assume you will have a sheet, and revise as if you will not.
What is on the GCSE maths formula sheet?
The maths sheet is short. It typically includes the quadratic formula, the sine and cosine rules, the area of a triangle using ½absinC, and the volume and surface area formulae for a sphere and a cone. Some boards also list the compound interest formula and kinematics formulae at Higher tier.
What is not on it is far longer, and this is the part students misjudge:
| Still expected from memory | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Area and circumference of a circle | Appears at both tiers, multiple times per paper |
| Pythagoras’ theorem | Underpins trigonometry and coordinate geometry |
| Basic trigonometric ratios (SOH CAH TOA) | Needed before you can use the sine or cosine rule |
| Volume of a prism, cylinder, pyramid | Standard mensuration questions |
| Gradient and equation of a straight line | Core algebra and graphs content |
| Probability rules and tree diagram logic | Not a formula, but the examined skill |
A reliable rule: if it is a formula you use weekly in class, it is probably not on the sheet.
What is on the GCSE physics equation sheet?
The physics and combined science sheet supplies the equations the boards decided were least reasonable to expect from memory — things like the equations for pressure in a fluid, the lens or magnification relationships where relevant to your board, elastic potential energy, and the energy change in a change of state.
The equations you are still expected to recall include:
- Speed, distance, time
- Acceleration
- Force = mass × acceleration
- Weight = mass × gravitational field strength
- Work done = force × distance
- Power = work done ÷ time
- Kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy
- Density = mass ÷ volume
- Charge, current and time
- Potential difference = current × resistance
- Electrical power equations
- Wave speed = frequency × wavelength
Boards differ on the margins. OCR’s sheet, for example, is not identical to AQA’s. Download your own board’s version — Cognito’s breakdown of the OCR GCSE physics equation sheet for 2027 is a useful cross-check, but the board PDF is the authority.
Does having the sheet actually help?
Less than students expect, for three reasons.
Selection is the hard part. A question gives you a mass, a height and a time. The marks go to the student who knows which of four plausible equations is the right one. The sheet does not tell you that.
Rearranging still costs marks. Examiner reports consistently show that candidates who find the equation then rearrange it incorrectly lose the same marks they would have lost without the sheet.
Searching costs time. Scanning a dense insert for the right line, mid-paper, under time pressure, is slower than recall. Students who have internalised the common equations finish the paper; students who look everything up often do not.
How to revise with a formula sheet in play
- Print your board’s sheet now and keep it beside you for every practice question. You want it to feel familiar, not novel.
- Highlight the three or four lines you are likely to need. Most students use a small fraction of the sheet.
- Do a “sheet-free” pass first. Attempt a set of questions without it, then check what you reached for. That gap is your memorisation list.
- Practise rearranging. Take ten equations and write each one rearranged for every variable. Twenty minutes, high return.
- Learn the units. The sheet gives the equation, not the unit. Unit errors are among the most common avoidable losses in physics papers.
For a fuller treatment of the habit side of this, see how to use formula sheets properly in GCSE science revision and how to use formula sheets without forgetting the method.
Sources and a caveat
The 2025–2027 position comes from the Department for Education decision published via Ofqual’s consultation outcome, Proposed changes to the assessment of mathematics, physics and combined science GCSEs in 2025, 2026 and 2027. The post-2027 extension is reported by AQA and OCR; confirm the final Ofqual wording on GOV.UK before quoting it in a school document. Exam boards issue the definitive sheets to exams officers — your school’s copy is the one that will be in the exam room.
Primary sources
- Ofqual consultation outcome — maths, physics and combined science GCSEs 2025–2027
- AQA — formulae and equation sheets for 2027 and 2028 onwards
- AQA — autumn 2026 GCSE Science subject update
- OCR — formulae and equation sheets to continue
- Pearson — update on the Ofqual decision on formulae sheets
Next step: download your board’s 2027 sheet, then work a past paper without it and mark which equations you reached for. Bring that list to a GCSE physics or maths session and work through the rearranging drills.
Frequently asked questions
Do GCSE students get a formula sheet in 2027? +
Yes. Students sitting GCSE Maths, Physics and Combined Science in summer 2027 are supplied with formulae and equation sheets in the exam, as they were in 2025 and 2026. The sheets are provided as inserts with the relevant papers.
Are formula sheets continuing after 2027? +
Exam boards have said the sheets continue beyond 2027 for the lifetime of the current GCSE Maths, Physics and Combined Science specifications. AQA's autumn 2026 subject update confirms students will still receive them from 2028 onwards. Check Ofqual for the formal decision wording.
What is not on the GCSE physics equation sheet? +
The sheet supplies the less commonly used equations. The high-frequency ones — including speed, acceleration, force, work done, power, density, Ohm's law and the energy equations — are still expected to be recalled from memory on most boards. Check your board's own sheet.
Does the formula sheet make GCSE maths easier? +
It removes recall marks but not application marks. You still have to recognise which formula a question needs and rearrange it correctly, which is where most marks are lost. Students who rely on the sheet to do the thinking tend to score worse, not better.
Is the formula sheet the same for AQA, Edexcel and OCR? +
No. Each board publishes its own sheet and the contents differ, particularly in physics. Download the sheet from your own board's website and revise from that one.
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Mahira Kitchil
Project Head of AI Buddy
Mahira Kitchil is Project Head of AI Buddy at Tutopiya, where she works with schools and families across the UK, Malaysia, India and the Gulf. She follows Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, AQA, OCR and IB announcements as they land in each market, and writes these guides from published syllabuses, board timetables and regulator guidance rather than second-hand summaries.
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