Needing B at GCSE to do A level

I'd get it checked over just because you literally have nothing to lose. A few getting Us seems very odd, like a paper had been lost or something? The grade boundaries for higher were so low it seems unlikely that the maths department got it that wrong for the mocks.

He was getting 4 and 5's. I just concerned how badly he had done and that there were a few of them.
I know the English papers inside out and have marked for the board. I know zilch about the maths. Thanks for answering :)

wannabe that sounds extremely odd, although the statistics paper isn't a good representation of the GCSE maths content which is far more algebra focused so it's possible to do well on one and not so well on the other. To get a U on higher, you needed to fail to get an average of about 9 or 10 out of 80 marks on each paper, depending on exam board. Some students did fall off the bottom, but how did he think he had done? You'd have thought he'd have known he'd done that badly?

If it's Edexcel, then there's free access to his paper so I'd ask his teacher to take a look. What sort of marks was he getting on the mocks?

@noblegiraffe can I ask you a question on querying a paper? My son (and a few others) got a C in his statistics paper (sat in year 10) but a U in maths in year 11. He has got excellent grades for all other subjects (6's and 7's). I am a teacher too but I am at a loss as to how he can have done that badly. Any thoughts?

YUp
They get you in the lab no tell you to forget most of gcse chemistry and you almost start from scratch

I got an A in GCSE Chen and came out with a U at Alevel ... I received As in all 3 of my other A levels. I will admit I'm more creatively minded but the leap from GCSE to A level in sciences is absolutely massive.

My DS got Bs at GCSE in the subjects he chose to do at A level and got AAB in those subjects at A level (this included Chemistry- his B at A level).

So all 7s are equivalent to old As BUT
Not all old As would be 7s - some will be low 8s.

Tbf, 8 is A/A, 9 is top of old A.

Draylon, I think the 6/5 thing will be useful in distinguishing here.

6s (high Bs) may be 'Just about A-level worthy if you really go for it, but may achieve a lowish grade'.
5s (low B / high C) are 'No way!'

I would expect 7s to progress as lower As did.

a 6 is a B.

Cs are divided between 5 (good pass) and 4 (pass)

7 = A as that's how the grade boundaries were set
8 = A*
9 = A**

Draylopn,

IIRC, the bottom of 7 was pegged to the bottom of A this year, as the same proportion of students were to get 7-9 as got A/A* last year.

So 7 is definitely an A.

I would also argue - time will tell - that having done a much harder syllabus, and tougher question sty;es, will actually mean that a 7 candidate this year will be in a better position than an A candidate last year. The 7 candidate will already have come across more of the A-level / AS-level concepts, and will have gone through the mental barrier of 'OMG, here's some Maths I can't do', rather than being 'dropped a few marks on an easier paper'.

We shall see.

7 isn't a high B, a 6 is a high B.

7+ stats match the A+ stats from last year so if we excluded 7s from taking A-level, take-up would drop massively!

It depends on how hard he will work and if you can get a tutor to go over bits he doesn't understand in class. Judging by the A level results at dd s college those that put the graft in got amazing results. But they did work!

A fifth of students will get an E or U ( again using the same charts that noble linked to). It is really important to appreciate that these do not include any kids who sacked off during the 2 year course ( more common prior to this years first go at the reformed A levels).
If you cannot get an A or higher at GCSe in science then you really need to consider other options. For the vast majority of kids who get Bs and then do the A level they are looking at 2 years of very hard slog and struggle, with only around half of them ending up with a C or better.

I would say a B at GCSE, one that has been predicted all along rather than an unexpected exam collapse, predicts a D at A level.

DD's schools demands Bs as a minimum for humanities, As for sciences and maths. DD has been told they want a 6 for English Lit but will take students with a 5 if they feel that 5 is a blip.

I think schools are starting to up their minimum requirements. DD's first choice school require As in the subjects they want to take, as well as an A in maths in they want to do a science of history (not idea why you need maths for history) subject. A state school close by require 5 As.

Her present school requires a minimum of four Bs (obviously including Bs for the subjects they want to take). However, if they're taking maths or a language they need a minimum of an A - they have upped these this year.

From the experiences of my son's peers. You need an A in GCSE maths/chemistry/physics to cope with the A level. His friends who got Bs in art, English, History etc GCSE managed to get Bs in the A level. It seems to be very subject specific!

Personally I think it depends on whether the B grade student has just missed an A grade by a few marks or whether they have only just scraped a grade B.
I think the former student should still be able to attempt A level and the latter shouldn't.
A grade B student from a school where teaching has been poor may be just as good as one who was at a better school.

Ds2 got As in maths and computing at GCSE and has just got U and E respectively at AS ... as bonkerz says it's a huge jump ...