Maths GCSE taking both Higher and Foundation papers

[FozzieMK]

My youngest DD is in Year 9 and I have been told that it is possible for her to take either Higher or Foundation maths GCSE papers for each module. My eldest DD just took Foundation Maths a few years ago so I am confused how this works regarding the marks. Does this mean that it is possible for someone studying the Foundation course to take a Higher paper and gain more marks than needed for the C giving them the possibility of a B?

[TeenAndTween]

Sort of, I think.

There isn't a 'Foundation Course' as such though. Though I guess there are maybe some topics which only occur on the Higher paper.

But yes, you could take a Foundation paper and score 95%, and then for paper 2 take the Higher paper and score 60%, and this could average out overall to be a B.

This is the same as other subjects such a Core science wher eyou could take Foundation for chemistry but Higher for Physics and Biology.

(Obviously though you can't take both levels for the same paper).

I think they don't need to decide until quite late which paper to enter for.

[K8Middleton]

It used to be the case that you had to pick a tier - higher or foundation. The higher papers were scored A*-C and if the student didn't achieve a C grade they got ungraded. The foundation was D-G and the student had to score well to get the D grade. There was also an intermediate with a maximum B grade but that was years ago so I am surely wildly out of date!

I understand this has now changed and students can sit papers at different levels but the grade boundaries are different because the level is different. If you look here: www.edexcel.com/iwantto/Documents/GCSE%20composite%201306%20v2.pdf you can see the grade boundaries for each individual paper on EdExcel.

[FozzieMK]

Thank you both, that explains it.