Memorising the formulas for GCSE Maths a waste of time!

[HonestDad81]

Here's my first post - wish me luck . I'm looking for input from education professionals and fellow parents to get some opinions and perspectives on this.

This gov.uk article states:

"2024 will be the final year where enhanced formulae and equation sheets will be available, returning to normal exam arrangements in 2025."

So, from 2025 children will need to start memorising the GCSE Maths formulas again.

IMHO I think memorising formulas isn't a good use of time. I've worked with serval Analysts and Data Scientists that have openly admitted to Googling the most basic formula during their professional career.

When young adults transition into a profession using Maths they won't be expected to work in a vacuum, and certainly will be allowed to access online resources to function within any role.

I think the time would be better spent learning real world applications for Maths to inspire and show children how valuable it is.

Do you think memorising GCSE Maths formulas is a waste of time?

For anyone else that is looking for the GCSE Maths formulas. I've added some links below from my searching on Google:

1. Blog Post from Study23 "GCSE Maths Formulas Students Need to Learn"
2. Edexcel GCSE Exam Aid
3. AQA forumla sheet
4. CCEA Additional support materials
5. Blog Post from The Third Space "The 18 Maths Formulas Students Need To Learn For GCSE And How To Teach Them"

I hope these help.

That sounds fair enough, most of the formulae are very simple and are the sort of thing I'd expect a GCSE maths student to be expected to know.

Do people really not know "the formula for calculating the volume of a cuboid is: Length×Width×Height"?

They're hardly complex - Pythagoras, Trigonometry, circumference, area, perimeter, plus compound interest, probability and quadratics.

I don’t need to know the conditional tense of several French verbs on a daily basis but I had to learn that for GCSE. I rarely need to recall the Factory Act of 1833 or to explain eutrophication either.

I think it’s pointless. My DD year 11 knows them anyway but why test kids on memorising something they will always (bar the exam) be able to google? Pointless

It’s easier to memorize formulas than look them up. Besides, memorizing things creates good habits for young people.

There is nothing stopping kids from memorising these. They aren't that difficult and there aren't many so not time consuming. Lets be honest, if they can memorise all the names of every bloody dinosaur at 4 then memorising these isn't a huge task.

I was told this as well for my GCSEs and A levels.

Thing is you don't actually memorise the formula like rota learning it, you practise using the formula to solve questions and in doing so you remember the formula.

I can still remember a large number of my GCSE and A-Level formulae, I had formula sheets but learned them by constant repetition.

DS is a maths teacher and agrees it's easier to memorise them. Once done it saves time in answering every question.

You also need to be able to rearrange formula. If you are stuck on rote learning, rearranging is more difficult.

I think there is an argument to be had for providing formula sheets for foundation level, and the same ones for higher, but not the grade 6 upwards formulae.
Up to grade 5 students aren't really thinking of going further with their maths, but I agree with PP re it being far easier to apply something if you just know the formula.

I can't remember when I last needed to know that s=ut+0.5at^2 , but I like knowing it.
Similarly 1/R=1/r1+1/r2+1/r3 for 3 resistors in parallel (I think? please correct me if wrong)

Memorising things like formulae is good. Rather like learning your multiplication tables.
It means you can calculate things without access to the internet.
Which means you can understand things better.
Eventually, knowing the formula off pat will lead you to understanding the formula itself properly.
Just as knowing your tables will initially help you with arithmetic, but eventually help you understand how numbers work.

It reduces exam worry. It reduces cognitive load. It definitely repays the effort involved initially.

I had to learn by heart the definitions of terms like volt, ampere, etc for my A Level Physics. Good to be able to reel them off (and a couple of easy points in the marking), and knowing them off by heart meant they took up no cognitive processing capacity.

These days, if I needed one of these definitions, I would give it a go to remember what it was (for fun), and then Google to confirm (or probably to correct

I can see both sides of this one - pros and cons. But I’m glad that the area of a circle is forever ingrained into my head so that I always know whether 2 small pizzas or 1 big one is bigger 😂

Maths teacher here….
I tend to agree that very little time will be wasted learning the formulae for the sake of rote learning. If pupils are looking up a formula for anything other than to reassure yourself that you are correct by the the time the exams come round, they probably haven’t revised massively well.
At GCSE if they have revised by doing hundreds of past papers, there are barely any formulae that they won’t know off by heart through sheer repetition.
A-level requires a few more, but again, preparation will mean they will not put effort into memorising them without actually applying them.

Does this guidance actually mean the basic formulae sheet is going, or the one that was enhanced for pupils affected by time off during Covid?

I assume it's the later.

I have a maths degree and worked with formulae in computer science and data analysis for a long time. I found simply rote learning formulae pretty pointless, though learning how to develop them from first principle is invaluable to really understanding them and using them a lot to gain familiarity essential to using them confidently.

I could never just come out with a formula when I was in school or college. My memory for that type of thing has always been unreliable (even when I’d done a few decades of past papers). I would get something a little bit wrong and can’t see it for an age but know it’s not right. Very frustrating. Even in work, if I was using something every day for months I could normally jot it down, but I would need to look it up after I’d been on holiday (or sometimes just on Mondays!). I used to cram them just before going into an exam and write them straight down on the top of the exam paper as soon as I we could pick up a pen. Not being able to simple reproduce them hasn’t been a hinderance in work or life. (I never managed to learn my tables, either).

Memorization used to be an important skill, but with so many good reference books and the Internet, it’s lost a lot of value.

I do think learning things by rote can give kids with good memories confidence with maths but there are plenty of people who are just as capable of mathematical thinking but don’t have good memories for learning that sort of thing who will find an emphasis on rote memorization a hinderance to developing mathematical ability.