Every distinction begins with one topic at a time.- start now
Two papers, each 150 marks and each three hours long, 300 marks in total. There is no choice anywhere: every question is compulsory, so a skipped topic is a skipped mark. The most important thing on this page is not a calculation at all, it is a practical fact that catches learners out every single year: you write in a SPECIAL ANSWER BOOK, and the sources you work from sit in ANNEXURES that you have to unfold and lay out beside you yourself.
The paper tells you where the marks are before you have earned a single one. Read every question total in your first two minutes and you already know how long you are allowed to sit anywhere.- on exam planning
| Paper | Topics and their weighting | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | Finance 60% (±5) ≈ 90 · Data handling 35% (±5) ≈ 53 · Probability 5% ≈ 7 | 150 | 3 hours |
| Paper 2 | Measurement 55% (±5) ≈ 83 · Maps and plans 40% (±5) ≈ 60 · Probability 5% ≈ 7 | 150 | 3 hours |
| Total | 300 | Two separate sittings | |
The weighting is PER PAPER, not across the full 300 marks. Any older list that says Finance is 35% of the subject is working off a retired model. Basic Skills carries no weighting of its own: interpreting and communicating, numbers and calculations, and patterns, relationships and representations are all assessed inside the five application topics, never as a separate question.
Why this matters: two thirds of your Paper 1 mark lives in Finance, and more than half of your Paper 2 mark lives in Measurement. If revision time is short, that is where it goes first, and Probability, at seven marks a paper, goes last.
P1 = 150 marks, 3 hours, Finance-heavy. P2 = 150 marks, 3 hours, Measurement-heavy. Probability carries only 5% in EACH paper, roughly 7 marks, and it usually appears embedded inside a bigger question rather than standing on its own.
| Question | Typical marks | What it is | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| QUESTION 1 | ±30 | Mixed short contexts drawn from the whole subject: a till slip, a tariff table, a small graph, a plan. Level 1 only. | Level 1 only |
| QUESTION 2 | ±30 | P1: the first big Finance question. P2: the first big Maps and plans or Measurement question. | Levels 1 to 3 |
| QUESTION 3 | ±29 | P1: Data handling, or more Finance. P2: Measurement. | Levels 1 to 3 |
| QUESTION 4 | ±31 | Integrated across topics. Unfamiliar contexts may start here. | Levels 2 to 4 |
| QUESTION 5 | ±31 | Integrated, and the heaviest reasoning and reflecting in the paper. | Levels 2 to 4 |
The official guideline permits four OR five questions, but five is current practice. The DBE 2025 model Paper 1 splits as 29, 30, 29, 31, 31. Do not memorise the exact totals, memorise the SHAPE: an easy opener, two middling questions, two heavy integrated closers.
Three separate documents land on your desk, and learners meeting that arrangement for the first time in the actual exam waste minutes on it:
| Item | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Non-programmable calculator | Allowed and needed | Test your percentage and memory keys long before the day. Bring a spare set of batteries. |
| Formula and reference sheet | Supplied | Printed at the back of the paper. It carries no marks itself, but it spares your memory: see Section 13. |
| Ruler and pencil | Allowed and needed | Essential for scale measurement on maps and plans in P2, and for neat graphs in P1. |
| Tax tables, tariffs, exchange rates | Supplied in the annexure | You do NOT memorise figures. You memorise the ROUTE through the table. |
| Graph paper | Already in the answer book | Do not draw your own set of axes when one is supplied. |
150 marks in 180 minutes gives you 1,2 minutes per mark. That is the only timing figure you have to remember. In practice, plan like this:
| Phase | Minutes | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Skim through and lay out annexures | 5 | See every question total, match every annexure to its question. |
| QUESTION 1 (Level 1, ±30) | 25 | Fast and complete. Do not fiddle here, but do not leave a sub-question out either. |
| QUESTIONS 2 and 3 (±59) | 70 | Routine procedures. Show every step. |
| QUESTIONS 4 and 5 (±62) | 70 | Multi-step work and reasoning. Write sentences where a sentence is asked for. |
| Checking | 10 | Units, rounding, money format, blank spaces. |
Two papers of 150 marks and 3 hours each, 300 in total, with no choice. P1 is Finance-heavy (60/35/5), P2 is Measurement-heavy (55/40/5), and the weighting applies per paper. Five questions per paper is current practice, with QUESTION 1 roughly 30 marks of pure Level 1. You work from ANNEXURES and write everything into a thick SPECIAL ANSWER BOOK. Plan against 1,2 minutes per mark.
Every mark in both papers was assigned to one of four cognitive levels before the paper was printed. The split is fixed and identical in P1 and P2. The moment you can read the verb in a sub-question, you know which level it is, how much writing is expected and how long you are allowed to sit there. This is the single fastest upgrade available to your exam technique.
| Level | Name | Weighting (±5) | Marks out of 150 | What it asks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Knowing | 30% | ±45 | One step, direct reading off a source, recall of a familiar fact or formula. |
| Level 2 | Routine procedures in familiar contexts | 30% | ±45 | A familiar two- or three-step procedure in a context you have met before. |
| Level 3 | Multi-step procedures in a variety of contexts | 20% | ±30 | You choose the method yourself, combine topics and work through many steps. |
| Level 4 | Reasoning and reflecting | 20% | ±30 | Motivate, evaluate, criticise, give an opinion backed by evidence. Words, not just figures. |
Level 1 plus Level 2 is 60% of every paper, roughly 90 marks. A learner who handles only those two levels reliably and nothing else already passes comfortably. Levels 3 and 4 are where a 70% learner separates from an 85% learner.
Why this matters: the verb is the instruction, the mark allocation is the length. Four marks never means a one-word answer, and one mark never deserves a paragraph. Underline both before you write anything.
30 / 30 / 20 / 20, each with a five percentage point tolerance, exactly the same in Paper 1 and Paper 2. Unfamiliar contexts may appear ONLY in Question 4 and Question 5. Questions 1 to 3 always work in contexts you have met in class.
| Verb in the question | Level | What you must deliver | Typical marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write down · Name · State · Identify · Read off · Convert (one step) | 1 | The answer on its own, with its unit. No working needed. | 1 to 2 |
| Calculate (one familiar formula) · Complete the table · Determine the mean | 2 | Substitution, operation, answer with unit. | 2 to 4 |
| Show that · Verify · Calculate (several steps, you choose the method) | 3 | Full step-by-step working that lands on the given answer. | 4 to 7 |
| Explain · Motivate · Give a reason · Comment · Do you agree? | 4 | A sentence or two that uses a figure as evidence. Never a bare calculation. | 2 to 6 |
Take a stepped water tariff I invented for practice: the first 6 kℓ costs R12,40 per kℓ, and every kℓ after that costs R21,80 per kℓ. Thabo's meter reading shows consumption of 19 kℓ for the month.
Level 1: Write down the unit price for the first 6 kℓ of water. Answer: R12,40 per kℓ. One mark, no working.
Level 2: Calculate the cost of the first 6 kℓ. 6 × R12,40 = R74,40. Two marks: the multiplication and the money format.
Level 3: Calculate Thabo's total bill, excluding VAT.
First block: 6 × R12,40 = R74,40
Remaining consumption: 19 kℓ − 6 kℓ = 13 kℓ
Second block: 13 × R21,80 = R283,40
Total: R74,40 + R283,40 = R357,80
Four to five marks, each line marked separately.
Level 4: Thabo says his water costs an average of R21,80 per kℓ because that is the tariff printed on his bill. Do you agree? Motivate.
Answer in words: No. His average cost is R357,80 ÷ 19 = R18,83 per kℓ, because the first 6 kℓ were charged at the lower rate. The R21,80 applies only to consumption above 6 kℓ. The marks sit in the opinion PLUS the figure that supports it.
| Question | Dominant level | Context |
|---|---|---|
| QUESTION 1 | Level 1 only | Familiar, mixed short extracts |
| QUESTIONS 2 and 3 | Levels 1 and 2, with a little Level 3 | Familiar |
| QUESTIONS 4 and 5 | Levels 3 and 4 | Familiar OR unfamiliar: this is the only place an unfamiliar context is permitted |
An unfamiliar context is not unfamiliar mathematics. It is a procedure you know well set in a situation you have not seen, for example a medicine dosage chart or a baggage volume limit. The calculation stays percentages, ratios, tariffs and measurement. Do not panic at the words; hunt for the familiar procedure.
Four levels, identical in both papers: Knowing 30%, Routine procedures in familiar contexts 30%, Multi-step procedures 20%, Reasoning and reflecting 20%, each with a five percentage point tolerance. The verb gives away the level: name and read off are Level 1; calculate with a familiar formula is Level 2; show that and multi-step calculations are Level 3; motivate, explain and do you agree are Level 4 and demand words with a figure as evidence. Unfamiliar contexts occur only in Questions 4 and 5.
This is a free preview of Topic 1. The full guide has every topic, the self-marking quizzes, mock exams, planner, journal and wellbeing tools.
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