Bearings

Tier: #Foundation #Higher

🔗What you need to know first

How to

A bearing is a direction measured clockwise from North, always written as a three-figure number (e.g. 045°, not 45°).

Three rules to remember:

Always measure from North
Always measure clockwise
Always write using three figures (pad with a leading zero if needed)

Example: Due East is a bearing of 090°. Due South is 180°. Due West is 270°.

Back bearings: if the bearing from $A$ to $B$ is $\theta$, the bearing from $B$ back to $A$ is $\theta + 180°$ (if $\theta < 180°$) or $\theta - 180°$ (if $\theta \geq 180°$).

Bearing problems often involve scale drawings or trigonometry (SOHCAHTOA, sine rule, cosine rule) to find distances or unknown angles.

Common error: measuring anticlockwise, or forgetting the three-figure rule and writing 45° instead of 045°.

Common topics that go alongside

Angle facts Sine rule Cosine rule

❓Questions to practise

Practise these questions →

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📝Past paper questions

2023 Nov 2H GCSE Q6 (2 marks)

2019 Nov 1H GCSE Q8 (3 marks)

2019 Jun 3H GCSE Q23 (1 mark)

💬What the examiners say

"Students who had a good understanding of bearings together with applications of the sine rule and cosine rule were able to produce an accurate and concise solution to the problem."

⬆️How you can quickly improve

Draw a north arrow at every relevant point before calculating, and label clearly which bearing you need — which point you measure from and which direction.
After finding an angle, check whether it's the final bearing or an intermediate value you still need to convert to a proper three-figure bearing.

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ℹ️Calculator tricks