Maths grade 2 needs to get to a 6/7 grade over the 2 years of GCSE

Well she's predicted a B for her geography A level so has coped with the maths element ok.

Think they did try saying she needed a 6 for geography

They are protecting their results.

Think they did try saying she needed a 6 for geography.....I rang them up and pointed out none of the university prospectuses I was looking at specified a 6 in maths for a geography degree so why did she need it for a-level. They backed down and let her do geography with a 5.

Do sixth forms really ask for a 6 or 7 for entry? Or even to do science?

Dd goes to one of the top comprehensive schools in the country, she moved to it for sixth form. She just needed a pass (4) in maths and she's doing science.

Why does he need a 6 or 7?
Maybe for entry requirements for a particular sixth form or certain A-level subjects (e.g. Sciences).

I think it’s possible but depending on the child, some people just don’t have the logic for maths and if he’s not that interested it will be harder for him to learn. Is he planning on A levels and a good uni? Dd is in year 10 and needs to get a good grade to do A level maths as she wants to do computing at UNI, she’s currently working at a level 7 maths and a 9 in computing. She doesn’t really enjoy maths and the level 7 is her lowest grade prediction out of all the subjects she’s taking.

See how he gets on with a tutor. I was told I would not pass maths, I worked hard in year 10 and 11 and scraped a C.

DD always took a while to get the concept of various maths topics. When she was in year 11 the teacher went too fast for her so she started falling behind. I knew she was capable of doing well as long as she learned at her own pace, so I sent her to a tutor. Her marks started going up from mid 50% to 70 and 80%. At the maths mock just before Christmas she managed to get a high enough grade to be put in early for maths iGCSE in the January (in 2016 iGCSE maths was considered more rigorous than the old style GCSE).

She did loads of practice papers over the Christmas holidays and ended up with a well earned A*. It was the tutoring that made all the difference.

Why does he need a 6 or 7? Is he aiming for medicine? Or Oxford/ Cambridge?

The latter surely is meaningless as he hasn't been taught loads of it.

This doesn’t apply in maths. In English lit you could say ‘of course he would only get a 2, he hasn’t memorised the poems or read most of the books so he can’t answer the questions’ or in history he hasn’t studied the right periods.

In maths, the GCSE syllabus isn’t separate to what is taught in previous years.
Basically the maths curriculum is a long spiral of progressively more difficult maths. Some students will get to the end of it by Y11, most won’t. A student who is genuinely grade 2 in Y9 is right near the beginning of the spiral in terms of maths covered and mastered, and has got about 5 year’s worth of work to get under their belt to be grade 6/7, and only 2 years to do it in.

Michaelahpurple

It's the 'new' grades for GCSE's.

So Grade 4/5 is and old level C so a 6/7 is B/A pass mark and a 2 would be a E or D grade.

You need to get 4 or above to 'pass' the exam.

Sorry to bring a general question in , but what does it mean to be on a grade 2 in year 2? Is it that his general standard for a year 9 child suggests a progression to grade 2 ie he is pretty dreadful at maths, or that if he sat the gcse today r would get a 2? The latter surely is meaningless as he hasn't been taught loads of it.

This concept comes up fairly often on MN and I have always wondered. Do schools give these predictions/comments?

It will take more than a bit of practice over the 6 week holiday ( although every little helps). I think he will need regular structured practice and also learning of new material.

If he is happy to do some practice over the summer holidays between Y9 and Y10, this can only improve his confidence and will help him to hit the ground running in September.

Is his predicted grade a 2 or did he sit a gcse paper and get a 2? If the latter that would be explained by the fact he hasnt covered half the content.

Why do you feel he needs to get a 6 a 7? A 6 is a high B equivalent and a 7 an A equivalent iirc? If maths isn't his strong point why would you think he needs such a high grade? Because I'm assuming he isn't looking at doing maths A level?

But yes a tutor should make a massive difference. Dd got a 2 and a 3 in her English language and lit mocks in year 11. We immediately got her a tutor for 1 hour a week and she got 8s for both. I suspect they may have marked the mocks harshly....her tutor seemed to think so when she saw the papers (and she marks for the exam board, she reckoned they were more of a level 5/6). But she still improved with tutoring.

Why does he need a 6/7 tho op? 4 or maybe 5 is fine for post 16 (assuming he's not planning a level maths)

Crikey that’s a big ask. As pp have said, it depends what that 2 represents. If it’s a student genuinely working around primary school level despite years of excellent maths teaching, then I think you’re probably out of luck.

If he is normally an average student who just bombed an exam due to not taking it seriously, then it’s more doable but will require tutoring and significant effort.

Has he got a tutor?

Get the gcse revision guides and workbooks and bribe if necessary over the summer hols. Once school starts back see how he's doing and consider a tutor starting in maybe January. But he will improve a lot in 2 years

I'd be checking with school he's doing the higher paper.

Students on a grade 2 at the end of year 9 would be sitting foundation at the end of year 11 as it is extremely unlikely they will be getting anything above a 5.

Which is pretty much what we have done with ds Teen.

I agree, it does seem like a lot of pressure. However the OP hasn't given any context as to whether this is reasonable or not. What are they like academically in other subjects such as science? If the child is academically able but has an spld, or has missed school due to illness, or has been subject to very poor teaching and that is the reason for the low grades, thats very different to just being an all round mid to low academic ability who styruggles to grasp the concepts.

That seems like a lot of pressure to go from a 'grade 2' end y9 to grade 6/7 end y11.

Personally, whilst supporting improvement, I'd also be looking at Plan B and Plan C for after GCSEs, to find schools/colleges/courses that don't require such a high score in maths.

Round here a DC can go on to do A levels in non science subjects with a 4 in maths. But we have vast 6th forms that cover everyone, not small 6th forms trying to keep results high by unnecessary barriers on entering.

Pika - there is no tiering for English. His Year 10 exams were based on GCSE questions from last years sample papers but only on half of the content eg, poetry anthology and Inspector Calls, not Romeo & Juliet or Christmas Carol.

In maths ds's school uses an exam board provided Year 10 paper based on content they should have covered and in Science they use Paper 1 (foundation or higher depending which set they are in)

in his recent Year 10 exams he got a 4 and a 5.
Our school gives a foundation paper at the end of y10 which has a maximum score of 5. Could this be the case at your school in which case your son might be much higher already?

It depends on how the school report grades. Some schools use what they think is the students actual grade level at the time, other schools (like ds's) in Year 9 gave on track for grade predictions.

Pika - the OP says her ds has 2 years of GCSe course so I would assume he is Year 9 now going into Year 10 in September.