To revise for A Level maths, work the lettered subject content the Department for Education prescribes, section by section. Sections A to J are Pure, K to O are Statistics, and P to S are Mechanics. Build the Pure sections first, since both other strands draw on them, then sit full past papers from your board under timed conditions and use the mark schemes to find where method marks are going missing.
Brilliant covers the Pure maths, part of the Statistics, and — since the Derivatives course launched — the two statements that open Mechanics. This page covers Brilliant's maths content only. A Level Mathematics is one qualification made of Pure, Statistics and Mechanics, with no optional papers. Section Q's kinematics language and motion graphs now have Brilliant lessons behind them; the units, forces, Newton's laws and moments of Sections P, R and S do not, and are outside this page's scope. To see Brilliant's science courses, go to brilliant.org/science.
What Brilliant does have is the Pure content, and a lot of it: algebra and functions, coordinate geometry, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation, integration and vectors, taught by making you solve problems rather than watch explanations. Use Brilliant for the mathematics and your exam board’s past papers for the exam.
What is on the A Level Mathematics syllabus?
The Department for Education prescribes the subject content and every exam board — AQA, Edexcel, OCR, MEI — writes its papers to it. It is organised into lettered sections: A to J are Pure Mathematics, K to O are Statistics, P to S are Mechanics. AS is the first-year subset of the same content.
The A Level maths coverage page lists which Brilliant lesson teaches each content statement — use it to get from a topic your teacher put on the board to the lesson.
Which Brilliant courses carry the Pure sections?
Following a class? Open the course matching your current topic. Otherwise work down the table — it runs roughly in the syllabus’s sequence.
| Course | What it gets you for A Level maths | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Exponents and Radicals (83 lessons) | Laws of indices for rational exponents; surds (Section B) | Exponent One Half |
| Quadratics (69 lessons) | Completing the square, the quadratic formula, the discriminant (Section B) | Completing Any Square |
| Polynomials (52 lessons) | Expanding and factorising, roots and factors, sign regions (Section B) | Roots from Factored Form |
| Introduction to Functions (68 lessons) | Composite and inverse functions, reading and transforming graphs (Section B) | Chaining Functions |
| Equations and Curves (61 lessons) | Rational expressions, asymptotes, curve sketching, combined transformations (Section B) | Reciprocal Power Functions |
| Linear Relationships (45 lessons) | Every form of the straight line; parallel and perpendicular gradients (Section C) | Parallel Lines |
| Limits (20 lessons) | Sequences from an nth-term rule or a recurrence; increasing, decreasing, periodic (Section D) | Sequences |
| Trigonometric Functions (62 lessons) | Radians, arc length, the unit circle, graphs, solving trig equations (Section E) | Degrees to Radians |
| Logarithms (29 lessons) | eˣ and ln, the log laws, solving aˣ = b (Section F) | Counting Days |
| Exponential Functions (34 lessons) | Growth and decay models, compound interest and depreciation (Section F) | Growing |
| Derivatives (23 lessons) | The derivative from first principles, difference quotients, tangent gradients (Section G) | Visualizing Change |
| Calculus (42 lessons) | Rates of change, stationary points, chain and quotient rules, definite integrals (Sections G–H) | Rate Of Change |
| Vectors (39 lessons) | Components, magnitude and direction, addition and scalar multiples (Section J) | Magnitude and Direction |
Two more sit outside the table. Simultaneous equations and inequality regions are in Linear Systems at Solve by Substituting, and the equation of a circle is in Coordinate Geometry at Leaving the Origin.
One caveat on the two newest rows: both courses are still being written. Limits has three of its fourteen levels built and is, for now, entirely a sequences course; Derivatives has four of eleven and stops after the limit definition and linear approximation. The remaining level titles are listed on each course page as coming soon. What is there is unusually thorough — it is the pace, not the mapping, that is behind.
Where is Brilliant strongest?
Exponentials and logarithms. Section F is the closest match in the catalog, split across Logarithms and Exponential Functions. Counting Days builds the logarithm as the inverse of exponentiation rather than announcing it, The Product Rule does the log laws, Taking Logs of Both Sides solves aˣ = b, and Percent Increase covers the compound interest and decay models the specification names.
Trigonometry. Arc Length on the Unit Circle and Degrees to Radians construct radian measure from arc length rather than handing you a conversion factor, and Equations in cos and sin covers solving on a given interval, including equations quadratic in sin or cos.
Algebra and functions. The deepest part of the catalog by a wide margin. Between Quadratics, Polynomials and Equations and Curves you get completing the square, the discriminant, factorising, algebraic fractions, asymptotes and holes in Reciprocal Power Functions, and combined graph transformations in Multiple Transforms of Roots.
Differentiation, since the Derivatives course launched. Section G is no longer one course's sideline. Derivatives opens on average rate of change, builds the difference quotient in Difference Quotients, and reaches the derivative from first principles in The Limit Definition of Derivative and the tangent at a point in The Tangent Line — the first-principles half of Section G.1, built rather than asserted. Calculus carries the rules on top of that: the derivative as a rate of change in Rate Of Change, the chain and quotient rules in Chain Rule and Quotients, and stationary points in Identifying Extremes.
Integration is the thin one now. It is a single course's closing levels — antiderivatives and definite integrals in The Area Problem — and nowhere near the volume of practice the Pure papers ask for.
How much of the Statistics sections is there?
The descriptive half, most of the probability, and a start on distributions. Everyday Statistics covers centre, spread, box plots and Outliers; Exploring Data Visually covers histograms and choosing a chart; Regression covers scatter diagrams, Correlation, fitting a line, and why correlation is not causation. For Section M, Probability in Data does mutually exclusive and independent events in Dependence and Independence, and Probability and Chance does Conditional Probability.
Notice where the inferential material lives: sampling to say something about a population is in Estimating Probabilities, and discrete probability distributions in Predicting with Probability at Dealing with Uncertainty and Accumulating Probability — probability courses, not statistics ones. Nothing on Brilliant is a hypothesis test.
What do you need to get elsewhere?
Mechanics, after its first two statements. Section Q opens with the language of kinematics and with displacement-time and velocity-time graphs, and both are now covered: Net Change and Velocity in Derivatives, with Adding Velocities adding resultant and relative velocity as vectors. Everything past that you get elsewhere: the constant-acceleration formulae, calculus in kinematics, projectiles, and the whole of Sections P, R and S — units, forces, Newton's laws, friction and moments.
Hypothesis testing and the Normal distribution. Null and alternative hypotheses, significance levels, critical regions and p-values; the binomial test for a proportion; the Normal distribution and tests on its mean; and choosing which distribution suits a context.
Proof, and a list of Pure techniques. Section A’s proof by deduction, exhaustion, counter-example and contradiction is not on Brilliant. Sequences themselves have since arrived — Limits covers nth-term rules, term-to-term recurrences and increasing, decreasing and periodic sequences — but the series have not: the arithmetic and geometric nth-term and sum formulae and sigma notation are all missing, with the infinite geometric sum in What is an Infinite Sum? as the one exception. Nor are the binomial expansion, parametric equations, partial fractions, implicit and parametric differentiation, differential equations, integration by substitution and by parts, the trapezium rule and Newton–Raphson iteration, small angle approximations, and the compound and double angle formulae. Several are short to learn and heavily examined — the addition formulae and integration by parts especially — so take them early rather than late.
Where does Further Mathematics fit?
It does not, and that explains two things you might otherwise find odd. Further Mathematics is a separate qualification with its own content, and is not mapped here. So the vectors work stops at components, magnitude and direction, and addition: scalar and vector products and the vector equations of lines and planes are Further Maths, not A Level Maths. And the matrix algebra in Brilliant’s Matrices course sits outside this syllabus for the same reason, as does all of Brilliant’s Complex Numbers course — though the basis-vector lessons that open Matrices do map to Section J.
What should you use alongside Brilliant?
Your exam board’s specification and its past papers with mark schemes. The specification tells you which statements your papers can draw on; the mark schemes tell you where method marks come from, which is where most lost marks are. Working full papers under timed conditions is the highest-value revision available, and Brilliant does not replace it. A workable rhythm: sit a paper, sort the misses into “I did not know the maths” and “I ran out of time”, and bring only the first pile back to Brilliant.
Is Brilliant a complete A Level maths course?
No. Brilliant is not affiliated with any exam board and has no past papers or mark schemes, and of Mechanics it teaches only the opening kinematics statements. Brilliant is the understanding layer for the Pure content, part of the Statistics and the start of Section Q — where you go when a topic did not land in class. Your specification, textbook and past papers are the exam layer, and this qualification needs both.
How this mapping was made
Brilliant’s curriculum team maps each skill to the content statement it fits most closely, using the Department for Education’s published subject content for AS and A level mathematics as the authority. The data behind this page was pulled on September 15, 2026 against the live course catalog.
Frequently asked questions
Does this page cover the Mechanics paper?
Only its first two statements. Brilliant now covers Q.1 and Q.2 — the language of kinematics, and reading displacement-time and velocity-time graphs — in the opening levels of Derivatives, and Adding Velocities covers resultant and relative velocity as vectors. The rest of the Mechanics paper is physics rather than maths content, and this page does not map it. To see Brilliant's science courses, go to brilliant.org/science.
I am only taking AS. Does this page still apply?
Yes. AS draws on the same lettered sections with a smaller slice of each, so the courses above are the same ones — you just stop earlier inside several of them.
Related resources
- A Level maths coverage: topic-by-topic Brilliant lesson mapping
- GCSE maths coverage: topic-by-topic Brilliant lesson mapping
- Does Brilliant cover Calculus?
- What math does Brilliant cover?
- Explore Brilliant’s courses
Sources
[1] Department for Education, Mathematics: AS and A level content, for the lettered subject content sections A to S.
[2] Brilliant, standards alignment database, pulled on September 15, 2026.
[3] Brilliant, “A Level maths coverage: topic-by-topic Brilliant lesson mapping”, accessed September 2026.
[4] Brilliant, “Courses”, accessed September 2026.
