Yearly warning not to take A-level maths with less than a 7 at GCSE

Hang on sorry! Just reread that you actually passed gcse! Ignore me!!!!

Can I ask you if your low gcse result in maths ever went against you career wise?
I got a D years ago too (tired twice more and both Ds) and now I feel I can’t put down on job applications that I’ve passed maths gcse? Despite being actually quite good a maths and doing all sorts of bookkeeping and tax related things since then?

Broadly I agree but my son got mostly 4,5,6 for GCSEs and ended up getting A*BB at A level, so it is possible to make a huge jump if you work very hard.

The more I read on this thread, the more I suspect DS has ADHD/ASD.... He has no real enthusiasm for any subject and is just choosing the ones he's best at or feels are the most useful. He's worried that he might hate the whole thing and do badly because of this. He sees friends knowing exactly what they want to do or knowing what they have a passion for, and he doesn't feel like that at all. He's also mentioned before that he takes up things like cycling, or running or weight training, but soon loses interest and doesn't know why he can't stick to things.

I don't disagree with anything you said, BUT if you/your child has just finished their GCSEs with A/A* equivalents in all subjects and you suspect neurodivergence, do NOT do what I did on the advice of my parents and do subjects that you think will be useful even though you don't love them.

People with ADHD cannot focus on something they find boring, even if they want to.

My A levels would be a lot more useful if they were As and Bs in subjects I loved rather than Cs and Ds in subjects I started off indifferent to and came to hate.

@noblegiraffe Slightly off topic,
but I suddenly thought of you as you're good with maths statistics!

In your experience, what percentage of people who ask for a review of maths a-level results actually get a change up?

DS missed a grade by 4 marks. College reviewed the scripts and thought it would be worth asking for a review and put the papers in order to ask for a review.

We've just heard back about the first paper and it's gone up by one mark so he's still 3 marks short.

DH thinks we should just accept it.
move on and not pay any more money to have the next paper reviewed, but I don't want to look back and wonder 'what if'...

Are there statistics or anecdotal thoughts from your career please
to do with how many people
actually get a grade increase following reviews as opposed to how many don't?

So many people on various forums that had positive results from reviews, but maybe they are more likely to comment than people who didn't?!

There has to be a grade boundary somewhere and people are always going to be 1/2/3 under and I completely get that! It's just frustrating for him to be so close and not get it...

Thank you and apologies if this is completely inappropriate!

She felt it was not essential to do maths for chemistry A level.

I'd agree. Afaik many chemistry degrees don't require maths a level either.
But you really need it for the most interesting some degree level (and beyond) aspects of chemistry.

I have just asked my daughter again about this. She is studying physics at university and I asked her about the A-levels. She felt it was not essential to do maths for chemistry A level. But it was for physics. She said it would be very difficult to understand the reasoning behind a lot of the physics formulas they use without a good grasp of maths.

I have one child for whom Maths comes easily and they love it. And another who struggles but knew it was important to do. It was astonishing seeing the difference between how they coped with it at A-level.

Thanks I thought as much.

She may end up scared of physics and maths and move onto chemistry psychology and music instead 🙈.

At least it will be informed....

I feel that very bright kids can do well at most GCSE subjects even in subjects they are not ‘naturally’ good at. A lot of it is quite structured and formulaic, and practice makes perfect. It is really not the same at A level.

I did A level physics over 30 years ago. Initially I chose English as another level, but my school forced me to do maths. Goodness I was grateful.. The maths and mechanics teaching was far better than what I got in the physics. I ended up with As in all subjects. I would not have got an A in the physics without the maths teaching. . Currently my child is studying physics and said she can’t imagine doing physics A-level without maths.

Yes, @CandiedPrincess I would agree about chemistry too. I did maths, physics and chemistry, DS is going to do the same, and I have warned him to expect a big leap in difficulty in all of those subjects. I had no idea of this when I was in his position, and it was such a shock, it really set me back. I want him to be prepared for it, and also not to feel any sense of failure if he does find it too hard.

To those asking if you need maths to do physics, I would say yes. Then if you want to go up to do a degree in physics, 100% definitely yes. Maths is pretty much the language you need to learn to handle physics and this was very much my downfall. I had a terrible A-level maths teacher and could not grasp calculus at all, and he could not explain it to me. I should have found a way to work on it, but I gave up and struggled my way to a D. My university should never have let me onto a physics degree course with a D in maths, the crazy people! My DS is very apprehensive about taking maths at A-level as he is used to coasting through his GCSE with next to no revision, but realises it will be very different at A-level. Same for physics really, but I think he feels the hardest subjects are the ones most worth doing.

I'd agree with this but I'd also add in Chemistry. Moving up to A level is a shocker!

Yes - hopefully a grammar if she gets good GCSEs they'll let her start 4. But she may have somewhat refined her ideas on what she might like to do at degree level and beyond a year hence when she has to decide.

That's really helpful thankyou. She'd really like psychology too. It's hard limiting it to 3 isn't it?!

A level Physics will be harder without maths, and if she wanted to take it beyond that then even harder, not sure if most physics degrees at good unis require it but I'd have thought so.
Her favourite subject is chemistry and she enjoys the calculations side of this (and astronomy)..

Never mind the physics, if she's likely to be interested longer term in some of the mathsy areas of chemistry then she should definitely do maths. (I write chemistry software, there's huge ongoing growth in computational methods - much more fun than lab work imo)

Yes that's kind of what I was worried about - that she'd got used to coasting! I think psychology would be an "easier" route to a high grade and she's interested but she doesn't want to come unstuck not choosing maths if "everyone" does it with physics. I've told her she'd need to put the work in - she does do work but it's very much last minute motivated/due to homework set than any self motivation at all.

Her favourite subject is chemistry and she enjoys the calculations side of this (and astronomy)..

Its so hard to advise - not that I'm claiming to know much at all - (and she has another year but she's working towards it as her friends are manky getting results now). She doesn't have career plans yet.

Can you do physics without maths?

We're a year behind but my daughter is expecting to get an 8 in maths I think. She is used to sailing (Grammar School can do a lot with minimal effort and they don't do regular maths homework/self quizzing like neighbouring schools)

She's started thinking about A levels and wants to do chemistry and physics. She has it in her head "you have to do maths if you do physics" but I'm a bit worried if she's working at a 7 now/predicted 8 and isn't in love with it whether it's enough.

Her other idea is physics chemistry psychology but do you "need" maths to do physics?

Her main aim currently is to aim for A grades and go to a "good" uni (I wish the grammar school didn't funnel them this way) rather than which subject...

Yes, it's worth getting it checked. Dd got a 7 for physics last year. We weren't going to apply for it to be checked but her physics teacher phoned to suggest she get it checked, so we did and it went up to an 8.

We’re still using the traditional letter grades in Wales.

Ds state school have advised that only those who took (and passed) Additional Maths ought to consider Further Maths A level and to take Maths A level they should have passed their GCSE with an A grade.

Ds got an A* in his maths and a distinction in Additional Maths and can’t wait to start A levels in Maths, Further Maths and Physics. He definitely doesn’t get it from me! 🤣

Well, having spoken with him and my sister he is still absolutely determined to do FM. She has told him he will absolutely need to work his socks off, so I think he knows what he is up against. To be fair for him he has said right from the start that he wanted to do FM. Mitigating circumstances are: he was 3 marks of an 8, he didn't actually do that much work, and whilst he was in the top set he was on the lower pathway so it was much more of a mixed group.

Hopefully by the end of tomorrow we will know if it is eSports or Geography as the 3rd subject.

I can't remember which exam board this was but a few years ago when I was researching core maths for my older daughter one of the websites said if you've achieved a '5' at GCSE you should consider A-level Math. You would hope students are being better advised by their schools.

If your school has the option, I’d highly recommend your DC doing Ad Maths alongside their GCSE Maths. Mine did this after being advised to do so. He got a 9 in GCSE, an A in Ad Maths, and honestly he found year 12, year 1 of maths A ‘level a breeze as they’d covered a lot in Ad Maths.

He just got an A in his maths A’ level.