Unit 2 Foundation: Number and Algebra

Non-calculator assessment has a higher proportion of straight-forward assessment from Assessment Objective 1.

The specification requires students to be familiar with:

• Working with numbers and the number system
• Fractions, decimals and percentages
• Ratio and proportion
• The language of algebra
• Expressions and equations
• Sequences, functions and graphs.

There are interlinking strands between these skills so content will impact on teaching approaches. Here, content is split into:

• Number
• Basic Algebra
• Sequences
• Fractions
• Decimals
• Coordinates and graphs
• Equations and inequalities
• Percentages
• Indices
• Formulae and algebraic argument
• Ratio and proportion.

Depending on your teaching order, some content may have already been covered in Unit 1. However, the Assessment Guidance does cover all the specification references in detail. Unit 1 will usually assess number skills in a statistical context, this unit, however, may test these skills discretely. Although the unit comprises both number and algebra work, the weighting at Foundation tier focuses on assessing the number skills. Consequently, some teachers may choose to teach this unit first to ensure that the number work for all three units is addressed early in the study.

In areas where content is common across units, you are advised to look closely at the Assessment Guidance for details of where specific content will be assessed. For example, N6.12 which refers to plotting graphs appears in Unit 2 and Unit 3, but assessment of distance-time graphs only appear in Unit 2.