GCSE Transformations Guide (with Videos, Examples and Questions)

Transformations questions can look difficult, but they are easily learned through practice and remembering a few tricks.

At GCSE level, students need to master translations, reflections, rotations, and enlargements, including those with fractional and negative scale factors.

Developing these skills will help you tackle transformation problems with confidence.

Translations

Translations are the easiest of the four transformations. Using vectors we simply 'move' the shape left or right and up or down according to the positive or negative value of the vector values.

This video shows you how to perform translations and how to find the vector of a translation.

Reflections

Reflections involve flipping a shape across a given line. Common lines of reflection include the x-axis, y-axis, y = x, and y = -x, but any straight-line equation can be used.

Students need to be able to reflect a shape accurately across a line and also determine the equation of the line of reflection when given two shapes.

This video explains how to reflect shapes across a line and how to find the equation of a line of reflection.

Rotations

Rotations involve turning a shape around a fixed point by a given angle and direction, such as 90 degrees anticlockwise about (2,3).

Students must be able to rotate a shape accurately and also describe a rotation when given two shapes. It's important to have tracing paper when drawing and describing rotations.

This video explains how to perform rotations and how to describe them correctly.

Enlargements

Enlargements change the size of a shape while keeping its proportions the same. They are defined by a centre of enlargement and a scale factor, which determines how much the shape increases or decreases in size.

Students must be able to enlarge a shape accurately using positive and fractional scale factors, as well as describe an enlargement when given two shapes.

This video explains how to perform enlargements and how to describe them correctly.

Negative Enlargements

Negative enlargements are one of the trickiest parts of transformations. Instead of just changing size, the shape is also rotated 180 degrees around the centre of enlargement. This means the image appears on the opposite side of the centre compared to a positive enlargement.

This video breaks down negative enlargements step by step to help you master this challenging concept.

The rest of the guide on angles is not quite ready, but if you already know what you're doing, we have practice questions linked below.