AQA, Edexcel, OCR: What Changed in the 2026 GCSE Specifications and What It Means for Your Revision
A clear, no-jargon summary of the three biggest specification updates this year — and what to drop from your old revision plan.
Specification changes are dull to read about and easy to miss. They also matter, because past papers from two years ago will sometimes include topics that are no longer assessed, and current students lose hours revising material that has quietly moved.
We have read each board's updated documents so you do not have to. Below is a short summary of the three changes most likely to affect students sitting GCSEs this summer.
1. Maths — formula sheet is now permanent
Both AQA and Edexcel have confirmed that the formula sheet introduced during the pandemic continues. That changes how to revise: the time you used to spend memorising the cosine rule is better spent on knowing when to reach for it.
What to do: when you practise past papers, keep the formula sheet next to you. After the paper, mark not only the answer but whether you used the right formula at the right step.
2. Combined Science — practical assessment weighting
AQA Combined Science Trilogy keeps required practicals, but the share of marks tied to practical knowledge has crept upward over the last two papers. The shift is small but real: roughly one in six marks across both higher papers now hinges on a named practical method, expected results or a hazard.
What to do: do not skim required practicals. For each one, write the apparatus list from memory, the method in five steps, and one source of error. Examiners reward students who can name the error and describe its effect.
3. English Literature — comparative essays carry more weight
Comparative questions on poetry now account for a larger share of marks across multiple boards. The skill being assessed is less about quoting more, and more about precision — picking two specific points of comparison, not five vague ones.
What to do: when you plan a comparative answer, write two columns. In each column put one quotation, one technique, and one effect on the reader. Then write one sentence that explicitly compares them. That is the structure most top-band answers use.
Putting it together
These are not enormous changes. But the cumulative effect is that students who blindly follow last year's revision guide miss small pockets of marks. A good rule of thumb is to look at the most recent specification on your exam board's website once at the start of revision and again two weeks before the exam.
If you are studying with LearnWise, our question bank flags every question with the updated specification reference. Older questions remain available, but the platform will prefer those still in scope for your sitting.
Boring? Yes. Worth ten minutes? Almost certainly.