Yearly warning about taking A-level maths with a 6 at GCSE

Slight hijack, but which calculator do they need for Maths and Further Maths? DS's new school has a list but the link is helpfully broken and I can't find the models on other local sixth form sites.

Our school won’t let kids do FM without a 9 in maths and they are very strict on it. Purely because for those doing FM they teach maths in year 12 only so need everyone to be extremely proficient and fast.

Even then they have some that stuggle with the pace, drop FM and then join the other maths class for year 13 to go over the tricker maths topics again.

@MaturingCheeseball Some dc don’t find it that challenging though judging by the % of A and A star grades. And most of those go to the 7/8/9 grades at GCSE. If you get maths, the high grades are not that difficult to get.

"If anyone has a link, please post!"

Sorry, I haven't read the thread but there is something that sort of approximates this.

It doesn't link A Level performance directly to GCSE performance in that subject, but rather to average overall GCSE performance (I think based on the Attainment 8 score).

So for example, it shows that for those pupils who averaged a 9 across their GCSEs who then took maths A Level in 2025, 65.5% got an A star.

For those that averaged between 8 and 9 who then went on to do maths A Level, 45.8% got an A star.

For those that averaged between 7 and 8 then did maths A Level, 15.6% got an A star in 2025.

For those who averaged between 5 and 6, only 1.2% got an A star and 75% got a C or lower.

There are similar figures for other subjects as well.

A quick warning, the tables may not include everyone taking A Levels though. I notice that the tables have 97,578 pupils taking maths A Level but Ofqual says that there were 104,630 people who took maths A Level that year.

https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/ks5-transition-matrices/_w_7087ff414f07483dade56da2d1eae160

Even the dedicated maths schools allow students with Grade 8 so that policy seems harsh. Does his school run maths and FM in parallel or maths in year 12, FM in year 13?

Have a look at AMSP for guidance on self studying. I think saying he wasn't allowed to take FM because his GCSE grade wasn't high enough won't be a good enough reason.

For those who mentioned history - it depends on which topics your school does but it’s not easy and there is a huge coursework essay. Ds is doing it with a 6 in gcse and is working really hard not to end up on a C (had 7s for English so they let him do history).

Engineering isn't on his radar. He wants to go into finance, so looking at an apprenticeship or Economics at uni.

Sorry I should have said his other A-levels are physics and economics. He is thinking about engineering but also maths or physics.

If it were me I would definitely retake Further Maths in Y11. A 6 probably is an unfair representation of your daughter's abilities as she was forced to do it a year early.

Be careful if he wants to do an Engineering degree as I think most unis require Physics alongside Maths.

Sorry to jump on. My son got an 8 in maths and a 9 in further maths level 2 cert. He was 4 marks of a 9 so we are asking for his papers back to see if any obvious missed marks. As it stands his grammar school will not let him do further maths without a 9. He is gutted but not so gutted that he wants to change schools. He finds maths easy but tends to be quite careless. He would like to try to study further maths alone and maybe sit further maths AS in June 27. Is this a crazy idea? He is worried that he won’t be considered for some degree courses that expect you to do FM if your school offers it. I assume that school could put in the reference that he was not allied to sit it due to their policy but not sure if that would help.

No that’s not how they do it at her school. Should I be offering to pay for her to do it again in Year 11 to improve her grade? Is there actually any value in doing so?

DS wanted to take Physics but was put off by the teachers at every open evening saying how hard it is. Which is a shame really because he enjoys it, it's his best science subject and he got a very comfortable 8. He's opted for Economics instead, alongside Maths and Further Maths. I'm trying not to have kittens about what happens if he can't keep up/hates the maths side but I'm pleased he's got an essay subject in the mix.

Absolutely bonkers. At DD’s school those doing FM (basically only the top set) don’t start it until year 11 as you need year 10 maths under your belt for the FM curriculum to make sense.

There is definitely an issue with the education system having changed and parents not realising.

In London and alone of the other cities there's also the issue that a lot of parents were educated elsewhere in the world. My personal opinion is that parents should receive more basic information earlier about e.g. what GCSES are and what their significance is. We are an international outlier having important exams at 16.

The teachers I know who teach BTECs think they're great. However, the DfES/government really muddied the waters by trying to take BTEC away before T levels were fully introduced (and some schools will never be able to introduce them because of the amount of work experience required) and are now repeating their mistake with V levels. Hard for schools to communicate clearly with parents when they don't know which courses will be funded from one year to the next!

I agree with this.
Back in the day I did a GNVQ ( two A level equivalent) and one A level.
I did have the grades to do A levels but knew I wanted to work in health and social care, so the GNVQ made sense because the entire content of the course interested me and was very relevant. I loved it. Completed a degree and two masters since and I'm currently one of the most senior people in my team. Obviously depends what your career goal is. Some university degrees only accept traditional A levels .

I think there needs to be more promotion of BTECs/T levels to parents and for parents to not be sniffy about the options they offer vs A levels for their children. I knew early on my daughter would be a BTEC candidate, she was predicted 5s. As it turns out she got a few higher grades- 8 in Eng Lang, 8 in PE, 6/5 in Science among them but to me these grades still translate as “she’ll do better in a BTEC Sports and Exercise science than PE + 2 other A levels”. So many parents have been stunned that I haven’t pushed her to do A levels. If she can come out of a BTEC with the highest grades she’ll do better/have more ucas points for a degree than she would have with the likely grades from A levels. It’s a no brainer for her to follow this route for me.

Yes, this - I work in a similar school. Despite all the fuss about Russell Group and Oxbridge (whence we send kids, of course) there is actually a surplus of university places overall so a skilled UCAS advisor can easily match students to suitable courses.

I will say as a subject teacher that it is a challenge teaching A star to E in large classes and I feel those capable of working at A star are under served as a result - if you have one of those kids it is worth picking one of the more competitive sixth form environments (if that's what they want, of course).

That's mental! Is she retaking Further Maths this year? A 6 in Further Maths a year early suggests she can achieve a 9 if she takes it in Y11.

This is not the case in all schools and all subjects.

We offer btec and A level. Many kids do a combination of both and still get into hallowed Russell groups. Some get interviews at oxbridge but, despite getting the grades, don't seem to get offers (but that's a different thread).

We take with 5s for most A levels. Sometimes 4, depending on circumstances.

Gcses don't always work as a predictor. Especially with boys. And especially in the comps I've always worked in.

However, I do agree with A level maths. And definitely when I think about ds and his 6. He was close to a 7, but he doesn't scream maths kid; just lucky.

Pps inc me have suggested A level subjects suitable for a candidate with grade 6s.

And A levels ate not suitable for all. One of my DC certainly was not a candidate.

There are lots of other options inc Btecs, T levels, apprenticeships.

Would you suggest A levels should be for all Yp? they would need to be very different if so. And then they would fail the more able. We all have different skills and abilities and wishes too.

À level( sorry the phone posted too quickly). Maybe all schools should be offering alternatives and presented as an equivalent alternative not as the choice for teens who aren’t clever enough for A levels. This just leads to yet more eating away at their already dented self esteem