Reading notes

How a Margin note is laid out, how to track your progress on it, how to use worked examples and practice questions, and what you can do with any selection.

Every note covers one topic from the syllabus, written as long-form teaching. This page walks through what you will find in a note and the actions available while you read.

The header#

At the top of each note you will see:

the subject, course and unit it belongs to, for example Mathematics / Pure Mathematics 3 / Integration. Click the course or unit to jump to its first note.
the title
a tag with the note's level and paper, such as A2 · P3, and the estimated reading time
the progress control, described below
Builds on, the topics to understand first, when the note has any

On wide screens, an On this page column beside the note lists its sections and highlights the one you are reading. Click a section to jump to it, or choose Back to top.

Tracking your progress#

Under the title of every note is a progress control:

Mark as studied marks the note as studied. It changes to Studied; click it again to unmark the note.
Learning, Confident and Mastered record how confident you feel about the topic. Hover a level to see what it means. Choosing a level also marks the note as studied.
Last studied shows when you last marked or rated the note.

Opening a note also counts towards your study activity, once a day per note. Everything you record here feeds the Progress tab and helps the Planner decide what to schedule.

Prerequisites and next steps#

Notes are linked into a map of the syllabus:

Link	Where it appears	Meaning
Builds on	In the header	Topics you should understand first. If something in this note is unfamiliar, start there.
Leads to	Under Where this leads, at the end	Topics that use this one. Read these next.
Related	Under Where this leads, at the end	Notes on the same idea from another angle, neither before nor after.

At the end of every note, Previous and Next follow the order of the course, which matches the syllabus.

Teaching blocks#

Notes use a small set of blocks so you can tell at a glance what each part is for. Here is how they look.

Definition

Specific heat capacity is the energy required per unit mass to raise the temperature of a substance by one kelvin.

Key result

E = mc\Delta\theta

Solving a quadratic inequality

Rearrange so one side is zero.
Find the roots of the quadratic.
Sketch the parabola and read off where it is above or below the axis.

Watch out

Dividing both sides of an inequality by a negative number reverses the inequality sign.

Exam tip

"Show that" means the answer is given: every step of working must be visible to earn the marks.

Tip

Check a factorisation by expanding it again. It takes seconds and catches most slips.

Block	What it holds
Definition	A term defined precisely, in the syllabus's wording where it is examined word for word.
Key result, Formula	Results and equations to learn.
Method	A procedure as numbered steps.
Example	A worked example with a hidden solution.
Proof	A derivation or proof.
Tip	A shortcut, a check, or extension material beyond the syllabus.
Watch out	A common mistake and how to avoid it.
Exam tip	Command words, how marks are awarded and what examiners look for.
Practical skills	Apparatus, method, variables and uncertainties, in the sciences.
Summary	The things to remember from the note.
Question	Practice questions, with answers in a collapsible block.

Worked examples#

Each note has at least four worked examples, graded from routine to the hardest exam standard. The solution is hidden until you open it:

Heating water

How much energy is needed to heat $0.50\ \text{kg}$ of water from $20\ ^\circ\text{C}$ to $80\ ^\circ\text{C}$ ? The specific heat capacity of water is $4200\ \text{J kg}^{-1}\ \text{K}^{-1}$ .

Solution

E = mc\Delta\theta = 0.50 \times 4200 \times 60 = 1.26 \times 10^{5}\ \text{J}

Try each example yourself before opening the solution. The solutions show the working an examiner wants to see, so compare the layout of your answer as well as the final number.

Practice questions#

Every note ends with six to ten practice questions of mixed difficulty, with the last two at the hardest exam standard. Full worked answers sit underneath in a collapsible Answers block.

Graphs in notes#

Curves in notes are drawn live, so they are always sharp and follow light and dark mode. The lines that make up the figure are listed under the graph. Choose Open in grapher on a graph to load its curves and points into a new grapher tab, where you can zoom, trace points and change the expressions.

y = x^2 - 4x + 3 fill 1 3 y = x^2 - 4x + 3

Working with a selection#

Select any text or maths in a note and a toolbar appears above it:

Action	What it does
Graph	Opens the selected formulas in a new grapher tab. Shown when the selection contains something plottable.
Add to sheet	Adds the selected formulas to your cheat sheet, filed under this note's course and unit.
LaTeX	Copies the selected formulas as LaTeX source. Shown when the selection contains maths.

Maths in notes keeps its LaTeX source, so selecting a rendered formula gives you the exact expression rather than a jumble of symbols.

Printing#

When you print a note, the sidebar and the On this page column are left out, and every worked solution and answer block is printed open.