marks for the gcse foundation paper in maths?

[gymboywalton]

does anyone know what sort of marks out of a hundred would translate to what grade?

so if for example you got 50/100 would that be an f/g?
60/100 a d?

dyswim?

anyone got any idea? thank you!!

[dinkybinky]

I think its changed now but a couple of years ago you only needed to get 32% to get a C !!

[gymboywalton]

no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
surely not??

[bulby]

Unfortunately it depends on the exact paper and year. I have never seen anything like as low as 32% on a foundation paper for a c though. That said I teach science not maths. That percentage could be a possibility on a particularly difficult higher paper though. Hopefully some maths teachers will be along soon.

[noblegiraffe]

32% would be a C on the higher paper! Foundation C is more like 75% although this varies from year to year and exam board to exam board.

[gymboywalton]

so if someone got 70/100 on a paper what sort of mark would that equate to? sorry-being a pain i know!

[noblegiraffe]

This year Edexcel had 65% for a C, 53% for a D, 41% for an E, 30% for an F and 18% for a G on linear. Modular grade boundaries tend to be a bit higher, but it's all linear now.

[gymboywalton]

so does 70/100 equate to 70 %? {you can tell how good MY maths is?]

[noblegiraffe]

Yes! Per cent means 'out of 100'! :)

So 70% would probably be a C.

[gymboywalton]

oooh i feel quite proud then!

my 12 year old son has just achieved this mark on a gcse foundation paper.

that's good isn't it???? [proud mummy emotion!]

[noblegiraffe]

A C at GCSE is roughly level 7 at KS3, so yes, that's very good for a 12 year old

[gymboywalton]

his end of key stage 3 target is level 7 so he's well on the way it sounds

[gelo]

modular or linear? That seems to make a big difference.

[gelo]

oh, has modular gone already noble? I thought they were going to keep it, but with all the modules at the end (why?).

[Kez100]

It varies for all papers and all exam boards and you can see where the boundries were drawn on the past results if you check out the exam board websites.

When my daughter was doing past papers as homework revision her teacher treated 75% as a C. She used to say that she thought that was a mark or two higher than normal but he wanted them to aim high while revising.

[cricketballs]

you also need to factor in the lack of exam conditions; it is a lot easier to score higher in a 'normal setting' than an exam hall

[noblegiraffe]

Gelo, there has always been a linear option in maths so I imagine that most schools would simply switch back to that. I think exam boards might be offering the option to sit all the modules at the end of the course instead, but as that would mean sitting 3 or more different papers in one session instead of the simple calc and non calc of linear, I can't imagine many schools opting for it. Especially not as the grade boundaries for modular were outrageously high compared to linear in June, resulting in students doing far worse on modular than they would have done on linear and many schools being very hacked off.

[gelo]

too true noble, but apart from the apparent inequity, and that there are 3 instead of 2 exams, the 'modular done as linear' only has 30% non calculator as against 50% for linear which might suit some candidates better.

[noblegiraffe]

It sounds like you're suggesting that the lower percentage of non calc paper will suit candidates with poor numeracy skills.

I don't think the fact that more of the modular exam is labelled 'calculator allowed' will actually make much difference to the types of questions between the options, comparatively speaking. A lot of the calculator paper doesn't actually require a calculator, despite one being allowed. The calc paper still has questions on transformations, graph plotting, analysing questionnaires etc that don't require any calculations, let alone difficult ones. The number of questions that actually need a calculator (trig, quadratic formula, tricky percentage calculations etc) will probably be the same whether you sit linear or modular. The questions that actually test numeracy skills will be non-calculator, whichever spec you sit.

[gelo]

probably true there noble.

[No1spank]

Just talking to a lad about what you need for a GCSE, sounds like an idiot can get a C these days.
In 1993 100% on a foundation paper would get you an E.
70% on intermediate was a C but you had to be able to do trigonometry, algebra and know Pythagoras theorum as these questions carried high marks especially for writing the working out. 100% on intermediate would still only net a C grade.

35 - 40% on higher paper would get a C but was harder to do than getting the 90 odd percent I could get easily on intermediate. 50% would get a B and qualify you for Maths A - level.

I liked the easy life at school and dropped down a group so I could do nothing for the last 2 years and still breeze an easy C. I believe it was 10% course work so you had to know it which was good as I hated course work.

Come to think of it I generally disliked school which is why I dropped out of A-levels after a term or two. Don't know why I couldn't have done the GCSE's a couple of years earlier rather than waste my time re doing the same old crap.

[noblegiraffe]

^In 1993 100% on a foundation paper would get you an E.
70% on intermediate was a C^

No, 100% on foundation would get you a D. 70%-100% on intermediate was a B.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I doubt 70% on an intermediate was a C. As noble said the paper went up to a B.

And I'm fairly sure some of my maths set had significant issues with algebra and trig but managed to get a C.

[Mabelface]

No.1spank - my daughter got an F in the foundation. In your book, that must make her beyond an idiot. Your comment was thoughtless.

[catslife]

Just talking to a lad about what you need for a GCSE, sounds like an idiot can get a C these days.
Agree with the previous poster about this comment. An average ability Y11 child is expected to obtain a grade C and many have to work very hard to achieve this grade.
The new linear Maths (first examined in 2013) is much harder that the old modular system and very different to exam around 1993 where there were 3 tiers for Maths and Science.
These days the grade C questions on the Foundation paper are exactly the same ones as those on the Higher paper.
Maths as a subject probably has the greatest ability range of all subjects at GCSE (and throughout school). The fact that a high ability 12 year old can obtain a grade C by doing a practice paper simply means that the OPs child is very good at maths not that the overall exams are easier.

[chantico]

"The new linear Maths (first examined in 2013)"

And this thread dates from 2012.