A new geometric optics model has been developed for the calculation of light scattering by a coated sphere, and the analytic expression for scattering is presented according to whether rays hit the core or not. The ray of various geometric optics approximation (GOA) terms is parameterized by the number of reflections in the coating/core interface, the coating/medium interface, and the number of chords in the core, with the degeneracy path and repeated path terms considered for the rays striking the core, which simplifies the calculation. For the ray missing the core, the various GOA terms are dealt with by a homogeneous sphere. The scattering intensity of coated particles are calculated and then compared with those of Debye series and Aden-Kerker theory. The consistency of the results proves the validity of the method proposed in this work.