To have not known kids have to attain grade 4 in maths?

My GS sat higher maths paper1 this time last year (again, a school in the SE) and that one was deemed to be ridiculously hard as well to all the local schools - the rest were much kinder!

We can flog revision guides cheaper than WHSmiths because schools don't pay VAT when they buy them and can buy in bulk.

We're not allowed to make a profit from selling them.

Same.

Never had anyone trying to flog me stuff at parent's evening.

Mind you, when my eldest was there, you used to get a cuppa and a Rich Tea.

There's none of that now it's all in the fancy new sports hall.

More basketball hoops than sense to my mind.

Maybe if they'd flogged more texts at a premium....

Ofqual are the exam moderators, it's their job to make sure that exam boards are measuring the same things.

How can they predict that she will never achieve a grade 4 when she is only in year 7?
Have they put her in any math support sessions (usually on during tutor time or during a math lesson where she is able to head to the sen dept and work 1:1 with support staff/ta or work in smaller group?
If not then you should speak to the school head of year/maths teacher and fight for this to be put in place? Support using apps/ software to develop your child's understanding and ability to grasp math topics could help. As could asking for advice on getting a private tutor if you can afford it.

Earlier this support is in place the better for your DC. Building up confidence and skills together is so important.

Please don't loose hope. Speak to your daughters math teacher and try to see what they can advise.

I get why a parent would do that.

But if it's a test that's supposed to demonstrate a basic level of mathematical literacy, wouldn't that be a teeny bit ridiculous?

Surely they should all measure the same things?

How's it general or fair if the variance is so great?

Which exam board set the exams which most eventual RG university students sit?

Bog standard comprehensive.

This sounds exactly like DSes 1 and 2. DS1 is gifted in maths, DS2 is phobic about it. He'd get 30 minutes homework, it would take him 2 hours. 1 hour to do the homework and 1 hour of breaks after each question to calm down. He absolutely won't get grade 4 and can't wait to leave school, so making him resit until he gets it will feel like a punishment and he'll probably run away again.

Genuine question: do other parents really research the exam board and other external factors when their children sit GCSEs?
What will that achieve?

Our school only use WJEC so it was easy. But yes, to find past papers, revision guides etc you need to know which exam board they’re going to be sitting.

I think our children probably go to different types of schools.

Keep your smug ludicrous posts coming, they're the best laugh I've had in a long time.
Self awareness = none!

Thinking about that, I'm sure on this thread there are some people who just wouldn't understand that a child could recognise a cylinder if it was standing on its end but then fail to name it if it was lying on its side.

Also, DD's school was selling the CGP revision guides at parents evening, so we couldn't fail to know which exam board the shool used for every subject.

Fingers crossed! It was a short, squat cylinder which put some of them off.

I expect there were some marvellous spellings too

Genuine question: do other parents really research the exam board and other external factors when their children sit GCSEs?
What will that achieve?

In DD2's case yes as she did home school/online school from part way through Y10 and was sitting it as a private candidate, studying with a tutor so there was a choice.

Yes, so that I could download previous practice papers for DD.
She also had the CGP revision guides which are all exam board specific.

TBH I find it surprising that a parent wouldn't know this or try to find out.

The school were pretty good at communicating this kind of information to parents anyway.

@noblegiraffe last few days I have been doing shapes with DD. What is a ball, a Toblerone, a pringles tube etc, so hopefully she got that one!

How can it be a general certificate of secondary education if it's so variable nationally?

Who decides all this?

It's just a cottage industry for people who passed Maths GCSE but couldn't get into a Russell Group Uni, isn't it? 😂

Higher. Not sure which board.

Really determined human. Standard state school in the SE.

I could look up the exam board for you.

But I'm more concerned about his experience.

Genuine question: do other parents really research the exam board and other external factors when their children sit GCSEs?

What will that achieve?

Mine found Edexcel Foundation quite hard (grade 2,3, and hopefully some 4 kids). I was annoyed because they had plotting a quadratic on it, which they would have smashed on a calculator paper because they've all been trained to use the Table function on their calculators but would probably mess up on non-calc.

There was a 'what is the name of this 3D shape' question which was a cylinder. Some didn't get that. These are kids who have been taught what a cylinder is a few times, and they've worked hard and revised. They just can't retain facts very well.

@BornSandyDevotional Ah but which paper 1?

There is Edexcel, Aqa, OCR, foundation and higher. (And Welsh board and IGCSE).

Apparently paper 1 was pretty hard. Much harder than the last set of mocks, I'm told reliably.

I'm not sure it's been mentioned. But exam conditions can really have an impact on wellbeing and - therefore - attainment.

As can what's happening on that particular day.

Some people are just great at exams. My husband, for example.

Unconditional from Oxford having spent many years in overseas British schools - because of his dad's work - and then being placed as a border in a UK private school payed for by dad's employer.

He'd have done anything to fit in, frankly. Poor, poor boy.

Other people aren't great at exams.

What you might learn from the syllabus might be cross-transferrable to everyday life.

Such as budgeting, shopping or getting a mortgage.

But no one makes adults do any of those things in an unventilated room with nowt but a transparent pencil case, prison issue water bottle and an oppressive invigilator watching every move.

That's not akin to real life, thankfully.

Unless you do want a six figure salary from Deloitte etc.

Then it's pretty much business as usual, I guess!

People are like that cos they are ignorant of any alternative. Blinkered. Lacking in experience except their own. Unable to see that others are different.

Take art, or similar subjects. I am USELESS at such subjects - and always will be. Take English Literature as well. USELSS at that too. I recall my teacher (I was about 14) asking us questions about a poem and one was "Why do you think he says that the sky is blue?". Well, the only thing I could answer was "well, cos it WAS blue". No further discussion needed, as far as I could see! Now I am 73 I might be a tad better, but life experience takes a long time to achieve!

@Tiswa it's slightly better now that dyscalculia is recognised than it was when I was a girl.
But there still isn't the understanding and acceptance. Having to use a calculator is still met with remarks, though not as much as when I was younger, and all the older people would give me all the 'no calculators in my day' malarkey.

And yet nobody criticises anyone for admitting they need to use a dictionary to look up a spelling, or listening to an audio book because they struggle with reading.

Why am I not allowed to use the tools at hand to help me? When I worked in the shop I mentioned before, I was criticised once for using the till (which I had to do anyway, because produce had to go through it) and smugly informed the customer could add up the items in his head and had given me the right money - snide remarks about 'simple maths' and 'poor education'.

Why? Why are people like this about maths?

That is a valid point @ObelixtheGaul - looking it up the British Dyslexia Association have 6% of the population have dyscalculia and 25% have maths learning difficulties but this is just ignored and I agree on this thread somewhat ridiculed

but actually the numbers who don’t make the ‘pass mark’ reflect this

there Is far more support and coping strategies in place for English difficulties but not maths