How to move from 2 to a 5 foundation maths GCSE?

It is definitely possible to go from a 2 to a 5 in a year for maths. However, the motivation has the come from your ds.
I have seen learners regain new confidence and suddenly put in the effort. Just this year, I had one go from a single figure score in his mocks to a grade 5 in the exam.

A good face to face tutor is probably what your ds needs, but he will also need to do a bit of self study outside, practise past papers and check them so that he gains as many marks as possible and not lose any through silly mistakes.

Someone mentioned Mathmo. He does have some good exam tips and calculator hacks, but I find him very scathing of the teaching profession on his SM which would put me off as a parent.

https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/secondary-books/gcse/maths/mxfs42-gcse-maths-edexcel-complete-revision?_gl=111nkau6_upMQ.._gs*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwlY3WBhANEiwApsNrLQGgxeiRN29FqCuqlt6v3lpbESvrYFtGehg7Y1Y7JaYpJjh1baHxwxoCz1EQAvD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAADuMZW297gfYcg5_WWL90ffDjwOVF

these ones are good. They basically contain everything he needs to know for foundation maths. He probably needs to cover and understand more of the content before revision, but my DS found it very useful to have an overview of everything he needed to know.

the issue with mine was that when he was stuck or didn’t understand, he was too embarrassed to ask the teacher in front of the other kids. Having the tutor got round this and could ask in a safe environment without fear of being laughed at.

My child went from 3 to strong 5 in a year to gcse. Weekly tutor and lots of revision and past papers. Their motivation was to never have to sit a maths exam ever again. It worked. Good luck.

Why is DC at a 2?
Who thinks they are capable of a 5?
Why is it thought that they are capable of a 5?

If they are just very slow to take in maths for some reason, then massively over learning putting lots of hours in outside school and possibly having 2 or 3 hours with a maths tutor each week might do it. However it's a lot of information that isn't in their brain and needs to be. It will require a lot of work and will need them to be really committed.

How do they find the papers? Do they just fall apart/set things out wrong/misunderstand questions, rather than not getting the maths? In this case lots of test practice both under and not under timed conditions may help.

If they really don't have that aptitude for maths, then it maybe that they are not cut out for things that require a high maths grade? I would recommend maybe talking to their teacher first and seeing if they can shed any light on why they are only getting 2s.

Also bring basic maths into everything. Long addition, subtraction, fractions, decimals, percentages. Look up the key facts for each year and drill them. Angle rules, shapes etc. This is repetition more than anything and doesn’t take an expert. Flash cards are good here

That all sounds great. I would still encourage starting from scratch with him with the curriculum - but not teaching him, get him to teach you. If that means learning it from YT or whatever first that’s ok. Can DC1 do some distance learning with him once or twice a week for extra support? It’s like driving - one lesson a week with an expert is great but daily practice is vital.

Hi @Thebestthingsinlife you have had some really good advice here on how your DS can progress so I won't add to that.

I would agree with the PP who said you or other family members can probably support as well – the maths required for F level GCSE is probably within your knowledge and ability. You need to find what he is struggling with and focus on those questions. The papers don't vary that much from year to year.

You have asked about post-16 – certainly some sixth forms in schools will allow resits alongside A levels. Most sixth-form colleges (so separate institutions that go from age 16, in case you are not aware) will allow resits as well. Many will allow three A levels or Btec equivalents to be studied alongside the resit.

Can I ask what subjects he is hoping to take? And what grades he is looking at in those at GCSE? As a PP says, just bc schools will allow a YP to take A level biology or English lit (or whatever) with a GCSE grade 5, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Go to some open days and look at other options which may suit better, including Btecs and T levels.

Ex-tutor here. 2 to 4 is doable with a good tutor and a committed student.

What grades is he looking at for other GCSEs? 6+ or 4-5s?

If he has to resit then

• resits for Maths & Eng Lang are in early November and then the following summer
• some places may allow Level 3 courses (A level, BTEc or T-Level) with one resit, others may require a year at Level 2 whilst resitting alongside
• as stated above resit success rate is not great, though of course it depends on the reason for the low grade first time around and the motivation of the student

Also not that just because a school lets students do A levels with grade profile 5-6, it doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea.

If you choose to pay, you attend the online tutorials that are relevant. He runs through papers so it helps if they’ve had a go before hand. He taught her several very usual exams techniques and calculator hacks.
Foundation maths appears to me to be mostly stuff they should have done in year 7 and 8. The algebra is the toughest bit.
Mathmo has quite a bit of free content around try YouTube.

Why can’t anyone in the family help? Amazing resources on YouTube and TikTok and some of the foundation maths is taught in Y6 so theoretically you (the royal you) could
learn from scratch together. I’d be doing that, learning alongside my son and trying to support him with gaps in his knowledge. Did any adult relatives get their maths GCSE?

One of the key indicators of whether he will get a 4 in maths is does he know his times tables? If he doesn’t then there are workarounds but if he does then he will find it much easier.

My dagger managed to move from a 2 to a 5 in less time than this. My DH was able to help her and she worked very hard. We used this https://www.mathmo.com/
and found it very effective.

The other thing to mention is that in order to get a 5 sitting Foundation Maths, you need to get around 75%. So that doesn't leave much room for making mistakes.

Also, rather depressingly, the stats on students passing maths GCSE on a retake are really low. I've just looked it up and only 15.3% of students who retook maths GCSE this summer got a 4 or above.

I've known two DC who ended up in a 'doom loop' of sitting Maths GCSE 5 times and never getting above a 3.

This is why schools tend to throw everything at students who are struggling with English and Maths GCSES.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gcse-resits-2026-english-and-maths-pass-rates-fall-as-entries-surge/

I think you need a good tutor to help set a baseline of what the problems are

does he have a poor grasp of basic number calculations, how the number system works, how decimals and fractions work, does he recognise when he gets an answer that is way outside off.

does he have difficulty understanding how to approach questions, ie working out what is being asked, what part to solve first,

does he understand areas of maths like geometry, algebra etc

If a tutor can work out which areas are causing the problems then you can focus on those areas using online tutoring sites rather than just randomly working through past papers/ test questions. This is why it is always best to use a qualified teacher for a tutor , not some 18 year old on a gap year who has never actually had any problems with maths so won’t know how to spot poor knowledge and more importantly , how to remedy it.

the rule from the govt is that they have to keep sitting until they pass if they got a 3 at gcse.

this is relaxed for kids who got a 2 or a 1 and they are allowed to do functional skills as the government recognise it’s pretty much impossible to turn a 1 into a 4 and close to impossible to turn a 2 into a 4.

gcse resits are November and June but not all settings allow or insist on all resits.

most unis want apass in gcse maths and some courses want a 5 or higher so if he’s not got it by uni there could be difficulty

Maths is something you either get or you don’t. I had a tutor for 2 years, tried my very best and took my GCSE maths twice and got a D both times. It’s not just tutoring and attitude - it’s natural ability too.