How hard was June 2023?
The June 2023 AS set is a notch tougher than 2022. The arithmetic is no harder, but more questions ask students to reason rather than reproduce a routine: differentiation from first principles, describing graph transformations, and a 7-mark calculus optimisation on Paper 2 all reward students who understand why a method works.
Where the marks are
Calculus dominates once again — differentiation is worth around 23 marks and integration a further 12 across the two papers. Exponential/logarithm modelling (a depreciating-car model) and coordinate geometry of circles are both well represented. In Mechanics, the examiners lean on kinematics tackled with calculus (acceleration and displacement from a velocity function) rather than only constant-acceleration formulae. Statistics covers simple random sampling, probability, the binomial distribution and a short hypothesis test, plus a box-plot interpretation tied to the Large Data Set.
Examiner pitfalls
The first-principles question catches students who quote \(\frac{dy}{dx}\) instead of building it from \(\lim_{h\to0}\frac{f(x+h)-f(x)}{h}\). In the optimisation, marks are lost by not checking the stationary value is a maximum and by failing to give the area, not the variable. In Mechanics, mixing displacement with distance, or integrating without a constant, are recurring errors.
Strategy
Treat 'show that' and 'prove' items as communication tasks — every line must follow from the last. Budget time evenly (about 60 minutes on each Pure section, 30 on each applied section) and leave a few minutes to state statistical conclusions in context. Memorise the small-angle / transformation behaviour of standard graphs so the 1-mark sketch items are free marks.
Prediction
Differentiation, integration and exponential modelling are perennial high-value topics; kinematics-by-calculus and binomial hypothesis testing recur most years. Prioritise these for revision.