A* or A in maths. Does it matter?

PurpleDaisie I was thinking more of 'natural sciences' rather than making a judgement between individual physics courses.

1805 my point is that your DS should be in the position of liking maths enough to want to do it beyond GCSE and getting top grades at A level to consider top physics or chemistry or natural sciences courses.

User is right, he won't enjoy and will struggle in a science course (even more for Oxbridge) that is physics or chemistry biased if his maths is not a strength.

I don't know what "even more for Oxbridge" is supposed to mean. My physics degree was just as difficult as dh's Oxford one.

If he wants to do medicine, having less than an A* in any of the core GCSEs can make it harder because those are the GCSEs used in university tariffs.

I'd keep him down for the year. You want the best result you can get as there are no AS levels now to help universities see what you're capable of.

User is right, he won't enjoy and will struggle in a science course (even more for Oxbridge) that is physics or chemistry biased if his maths is not a strength.

In fact what xar was saying was 'lucky OP doesn't NEED to be pushy because the excellent school will do it for her' - paraphrasing. I'm saying there is no 'need' anyway.

Well, I suppose it depends whether you consider enquiring about grade requirements is tiger motherish?

I don't. Not at all.

It's something xar said about the necessity of pushiness that I'm taking issue with.

"Why do we all have to whip ourselves up into frantic tiger-mothering competitions? It's so perplexing."

Well, I suppose it depends whether you consider enquiring about grade requirements is tiger motherish?

Some schools don't understand the Oxbridge process. Surely it's a good idea for someone to check in time to change things if they've got it wrong?

Coming late to thread, but don't do early GCSE. It's a pita. Dd did hers in year 9 and got an A when she should have got A*. She then got left to self study additional maths causing a lot of stress, she got an E in yr 10 and a B in yr 11. Fast forward to A level, she's struggled, as lost a lot of basic GCSE concepts from 2 years ago. She got a B at As and is now resitting her C1 paper to try and get an A, which she needs for her proposed degree in engineering.

Oh how I wish I'd put my foot down.

I wasn't disputing that some parents are more enthusiastic in their forward planning than others.

I was disputing your assertion that all Oxbridge applicants must have either a pushy school or a pushy parent.

Err we aren't talking about sixth formers. The OPs son is in year 10 so could be 14. Doing maths gcse 18 months early and needs an a star. That's pushy!!

You see, I can't understand why you're so determined to believe that/ pour scorn/ perpetuate the myth that the parents of sixth formers must exist in some kind of frenetic whirl of effort for two years.

It's a conspiracy of competitive performing and it stresses everyone out. The applicant's efforts are the main plank of any UCAS application. Why do we all have to whip ourselves up into frantic tiger-mothering competitions? It's so perplexing.

Drive them around to open days, do some basic research and chat to them. That's it. It's quite enough to slot into weekends.

It is a fact that it matters less for Cambridge. - might change with the disappearance of AS's? Just speculating, not a fact, lol.

But I think user is right above - Oxford sciences (and I assume Cambridge NatSci) are extremely maths-heavy, and getting an A in maths gcse does not predict top grades at A level - although there are definitely exceptions, and presumably any admissions people would take into account that he sat it halfway through y10!

I'm sure with revision over Christmas he can get the A star. Good luck

Anyhoo, I think we've established that the OPs school is most definitely one of the pushy ones!

There's always that cornerstone of parents who love to talk about how little work they do or input they have and YET their children are reading History at Oxford etc etc

Same ones who used to pretend they hadn't done ANY revision for exams

It's funny. To my eyes MN is hothouse parenting central a lot of the time

But really, MN isn't a place. It's a disparate collection of procrastinators. We all need to remember that.

Also If your DC wants to do science at Oxbridge, A* s in maths and the sciences would be expected.

I am a secondary school maths teacher. January exams have been stopped except for resits. So only pupils who didn't get their C grade in maths or English on a previous attempt can now sit exams in January. Please go back and check this with your school.

Only on mumsnet are kids totally and utterly self motivated, with no whip cracking from school or parents. It's like Billy Elliott on here, honestly.

Calm down Bert. Did you read all my posts on the thread or just get suddenly italicized about that last one?

I'm just disputing that pushiness is essential or has to come from somewhere external. xar was asserting that either the school or a parent had to be pushy. It's not true.

I don't know what the 'if MN is to be believed' scepticism about internally motivated Oxbridge applicants is in aid of.

Generalize about what?

It is a fact that you are unlikely to get into Oxford without excellent GCSEs. It is a fact that it matters less for Cambridge. And it is a fact that some institutions require a certain number of GCSEs to be taken in a single sitting.

And it is also a fact that in the real world you are unlikely to get into Oxbridge without a bit of pushiness from someone-parent or school. Or, if Mumsnet is to be believed- the student him or herself.

I don't think you can generalise.

But there are quite a few successful Oxbridge applicants who take gcses at the normal time. Ds went to Oxford and yes he was self motivated but there is no doubt we pushed him more than ds2.

It easy to be determinedly non-pushy when you've sent them to the kind of school that will be pushy for you, as the OP has chosen. Mine went to a comp with very few oxbridge so I was very pushy, and rather proud of it.

Getting an A rather than A star in a few subjects is OK for Oxbridge applications.

Getting an A rather than an A star for Maths, if intending to go into sciences, is much less OK. Regardless of the science being studied, Oxbridge would be looking for strong maths skills.