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Original poster

If your DC needs to resit maths, please read!

46 replies

noblegiraffe · 22/08/2015 11:20

If your DC got a D in maths GCSE then they will need to resit GCSE maths. If they got below a D, then they can take functional skills instead, but not all schools offer this.

The pass rate for 17 year olds resitting GCSE maths is a dismal 35.8%

The first chance to resit is in November, with results in January. If they fail in November, then the next chance is June. If they pass in November, that frees up the rest of the year to concentrate on other subjects. If not, it means maths lessons, maths homework and preparing for exams in June when they have other exams going on.

If they fail in June, then they need to continue resitting in Y13.

Students should try as hard as they can to pass in November. Unfortunately, I've taught a lot of resit classes and this is unusual. They forget a lot of maths over the summer. Then they spend time settling into their sixth form courses. Then November comes around really quickly and they suddenly start thinking about maths but it's too late.

If your DC needs to resit maths, I would suggest that they start preparing for November now, in order to counter the backwards slide over the summer.

There are some very useful websites here:

corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/
www.hegartymaths.com
www.mrbartonmaths.com/gcse.htm

I know a lot of students will see their other courses as their priority, but I know my resit class this year spent a lot of time wishing they'd got it out of the way in November.

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Original poster
noblegiraffe · 11/09/2017 22:22

Don't know about IGCSE, but like I said, resit rules were introduced to stop early entry. Generally anyone who is past the age of GCSEs can sit whichever exams they like. Wouldn't be good for people needing to pass qualifications for jobs if they were excluded from certain sittings!

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catslife · 11/09/2017 19:51

This is the link for AQA resits.
For the 9-1 GCSE Maths they are accepting new entries for pupils aged 16 years or older as well as resits.
www.aqa.org.uk/news/resit-opportunities-in-gcse-mathematics

OhYouBadBadKitten · 11/09/2017 19:44

Do you think that would apply to IGCSE Noble or is Jeanne sadly correct?

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 11/09/2017 19:32

Yep, here you go:

"In respect of an assessment for a GCSE Mathematics qualification which it makes available an awarding organisation must take all reasonable steps to ensure that each Learner who takes an Assessment by Examination during the month of November has reached at least the age of 16 on or before 31 August in the same calendar year as the assessment"

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/592159/GCSE_Subject_Level_Conditions_for_Mathematics_Feb_17.pdf

OP posts:
Original poster
noblegiraffe · 11/09/2017 19:22

I'm pretty sure she can take the November exam because she will have been 16 or over at the end of August.
The resit only rule is to stop kids being entered early, not to restrict entry only to those who sat it in June.

OP posts:
jeanne16 · 11/09/2017 19:02

The January IGCSE can only be taken as a resit.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 11/09/2017 18:25

I wonder if it is because it's not counted as a resit as she didn't sit any of the original papers. Have you looked into whether she could take the IGCSE in January?

Sofabitch · 11/09/2017 17:36

Shes already having tutoring from the hospital school. And did all her other exams in hospital. Unfortunately a couple of surgeries and an infection meant she miss all 3 maths papers.

But they seem to think she can't take the November resit. Seems a shame to have it hanging over her for a whole year.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 11/09/2017 16:34

oh even better advice from catslife - ignore mine!

catslife · 11/09/2017 16:29

sofa would suggest contacting the local hospital education service. They may be able to provide tutors and/or revision materials. They may be able to liase with her old school about exam arrangements on your behalf. I understand that the hospital education service can either provide an invigilator to enable your dd to sit the exams at home or have a room at the hospital where she can sit the exam if she would prefer not to return to her old school.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 11/09/2017 16:18

Sofa if you phone the school she is registered at (or was registered at) you can phone the exams officer and ask if she can sit it as an external candidate. If she doesn't want to or can't sit it at her old school you could phone local sixth forms and ask the same question.

Sofabitch · 11/09/2017 14:29

Does anyone know what happens if your DC was in hospital and unable to sit the maths GCSE.

Obviously she got ungraded. Can't enrole in college as she is still in hospital. But is well enough to revise and take a resit in November.

Can this be arranged without college registration?

incogKNEEto · 01/09/2017 16:26

Thanks Noble. Dd has just enrolled at college and has been put into the foundation group (she got 95 in her retake earlier this year, so a 3) and is doing a full year to retake in May/June as her mark was too low for November resit. She is happy with that, so am l.

shoppers · 28/08/2017 21:11

Thanks Noble.

Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 17:34

catslife you're a star. Will do my research this week and post my findings (incase anyone else wants to join the maths iGCSE journey with me). Many thanks everyone for all your input FlowersWineCake

catslife · 28/08/2017 16:18

Cafe iGCSE doesn't have a November resit. It does have 2 tiers though!
There is a "final" sitting of the old A*-G iGCSE in January 2018 - I don't know whether that's open to new candidates or just resits. The first sitting of the new 9-1 iGCSE is June 2018.
Because it's an international exam some of the questions are less wordy and written more clearly to allow for the fact that many candidates don't have English as their first language. I would have a look at the Edexcel iGCSE see link and see if it may suit his style qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-international-gcses-and-edexcel-certificates/international-gcse-mathematics-a-2016.html as more schools are already Edexcel centres this should be OK.

Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 15:36

Thanks noble and catslife for all the information. I'm going to have a think about this over the next week or so, and have a look at the iGCSE maths content and past papers with DS. If it looks more his 'style' (he finds wordy questions with lots of components difficult to untangle, but is good at the straightforward stuff) I may get him tutored for iGCSE in November and forget AQA. I realise he'll be starting at 6th form college in a few weeks and will be in the throws of 3 new A Levels, but perhaps one more push at this stage will be enough to get him a 'good pass'....

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2017 15:18

You needed 122/240 for a 4 and 158/240 for a 5 on Edexcel Foundation.

I'm afraid I know nothing about Igcses! You're not allowed to sit Foundation and higher GCSE for different exam boards though.

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shoppers · 28/08/2017 15:01

Sorry if I've missed this but can you tell me the percentage needed for a 4 and 5 for edexcel foundation in maths? My son is sitting it next year and is very borderline at the moment. Thanks.

Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 14:32

Thanks catslife - that's interesting - I'll definitely look into it. As a matter of interest, do you know if iGCSE maths has one or two tiers? And how the content compares with the new 9-1 maths exams?

catslife · 28/08/2017 14:29

It may be possible for your ds to take iGCSE in addition to the standard GCSE Cafe but you would have to enter him as a private candidate and may need to use a different centre.

Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 14:21

Thanks noble - you deserve a medal for your services to MN. Waaaaaaay more helpful than DS's school!

catslife · 28/08/2017 14:20

I know it's not possible to sit both GCSE tiers with the same exam board.
I think that all GCSE papers are marked together - they aren't treated any differently if they are resits or sat for the first time! So no difference in grade boundaries, mark schemes etc.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2017 14:16

There's not going to be any pegging of grade boundaries for the results so I'd expect them to be very similar to this summer (obviously might be adjusted for a more difficult paper). The pass rate for resits is horrendous anyway so I can't see them making it easier.

You can't sit Foundation and higher, it's exam malpractice, schools that try to will get in trouble if caught!

If he is aiming for a 5 then when you get his papers back, look how he did on the 'crossover' grade 4-5 questions - these are the questions that are the same on foundation and higher. The school should be able to tell you which they are. Those are the ones that he needs to get the marks on for his 17% on higher (or whatever the AQA grade boundary was). How close he was to getting those right would help you decide. If he got a good amount of marks on the crossover questions but lost too many marks on the earlier questions (it was a bit of a slog!) then try him with higher (and teach him a bit more higher content) If he didn't do very well on the crossover questions but put in a solid performance on the easier ones, then try again with foundation.

OP posts:
Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 13:50

noble, do you know if the grade boundaries are generally lower for resits? I ask because so many borderline students were put into Foundation, I wondered if it skewed the results (even though I know the boards do an adjustment for grade 5 across both tiers). And I wondered if you had a chance to look at the Higher and Foundation papers and have been able to glean anything from them (eg, it was easier to get a 5 on Higher than Foundation, even with the adjustments...?) I only ask because I am wondering what to enter my DS for, if we decide to go for it and try to get his 4 up to a 5. He was doing really well on the mock Foundation papers (such as they were) so I don't know what went wrong in the actual exams. AQA, so I'll ask for the papers back before he resits (if he does) and see where he went wrong. Also (and finally!) this is probably a really daft question, but is it possible to sit both Foundation and Higher at the same time (ie, do one exam paper straight after the other at the resit, so not leave the exam room and no chance of cheating, but be able to give both tiers a shot...)?

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