Maths mock help please!

@namechangenumber2 - will ask ds
ime success in exams is about knowledge and exam technique. I know when ds took his gcses he looked at the examiners' reports (particularly for science subjects) and often found there were marks available for things he knew, but had not realised that was required or he didn't write it down as felt that was obvious!
Your ds sounds like mine - all the hard questions correct, but losing marks due to some dodgy addition and writing a - as a +. He did eventually fix this and went on to take higher level maths for the IB diploma.

Agree with pp that past papers are the key to success. Ds used a website where you could access papers according to topics eg all question on vectors or all questions on indices/surds - this really helps to address any weaknesses and similar questions come up again and again.
Also look at where he is losing marks - not showing working/ careless errors? My ds was a champion at missing out negative signs and messing up entire questions! He did eventually get the message about checking his work for careless mistakes!

This site offers "5 a day" GCSE questions corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/

This site is also good if he wants to revise a particular topic mathsmadeeasy.co.uk/gcse-maths-revision/

DS's school also uses Pixl Maths for sample questions, but I think that might be via school subscription.

I'd have been dumbfounded if my mother had suggested getting mock papers back and going through every question to see what went wrong.

Is that dumfounded at mum suggesting it, or dumfounded at doing it?

How else is he going to learn what his weak areas are?

OP, when you say "we're worried" is that you and DS or you and DH? There doesn't seem to be a lot in your OP about your son's views on his results. How does he feel he did? I'd have been dumbfounded if my mother had suggested getting mock papers back and going through every question to see what went wrong.

I'd be concerned that if he doesn't love maths enough to work at it now, what makes him think he will love it enough to work at it when that is all he is doing?

I mean as a history teacher I let kids in on a 6 into A levels and I am not fussy about work ethic because SLT wants bums on seats. For maths though I wouldn't consider it unless he is getting an 8 and is willing to put in the work. It is a difficult A level compared to almost all others and if you or him isn't willing to make him work now for GCSE he is picking the wrong set of A Levels.

I don't know how to revise maths but I would assume same as most subjects, do a question, mark your answer, then improve the answer and do it every day for a lot of time.

Maths is one of those subjects where doing a lot of past papers can help enormously. It's a bit soon for that though, he won't have covered all the content yet. It sounds to me as though he's naturally 'good at maths', rather than a true 'natural mathematician' - in which case he will have to put work in to get the results he's capable of.

As a bit of an aside, does he have any idea what he might want to do post A levels?

Interestingly DS's maths teacher said he thought that if a student was capable of getting a 6 in GCSE they probably had the aptitude for A Level Maths (though he'd want a 7/8 for FM) - but regardless of GCSE grade, students need to be prepared to work hard at A Level as it's a real step up and definitely a subject that if you fall behind early on it will be a struggle to catch up.

I think the main thing with maths is to first check understanding of every topic covered. If he thinks he understands everything, then it's just down to practice, practice and more practice.

My DS is working a similar level and his teacher is comfortable that he should be looking at a 7/8 at GCSE. Providing he puts the work in :)

I was always told off for not writing down my workings, it took until O level to learn to do it.

He must write down workings, as if he makes a silly mistake he can often get some marks for 'method' if he has shown it. Plus any question that says 'show that' or 'explain' is positively asking to see the thinking.

If he is really '8' standard I'd have thought the first half of the paper should seem pretty easy so he needs to know not to makes questions over complicated until the second part.

Sounds like he'll probably be fine provided he does put some focus in. Fingers crossed.

You need @noblegiraffe who I expect will come across this at some time, but may be busy with her own y11 students right now.

My understanding is he really needs an 'easy' 7 to succeed at Maths A level and an 8 to do Further Maths. So I definitely think you should at least consider a plan B.

What I would do is this:

Get him to get his maths papers back.
He should go through every question where he lost marks and work out why he lost them.

• silly mistake through rushing (eg saying 8^2=16 not 64)
• misreading the question
• not understanding the wordy stuff in the question
• not being able to identify the method to be used
• forgetting/misapplying the required method (but he understands it when reminded)
• not understanding the topic
• running out of time so not attempting things he can do
• not been taught it (e.g grade 9 topics)

Once he has seen where he lost marks he should be able to plan a campaign on how to improve. This will almost certainly involve practice questions.

Is it a case of he knows he can do maths really so for the mocks he consciously decided to focus on other subjects? If he could get a 6 with 'no effort' then I would have thought that with some focus in the next 6 months he could get that 8, (but I'm not a teacher).