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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If your child got a B in GCSE maths...

220 replies

treasureisland · 06/03/2015 14:53

...would you tell them that they are 'not very good at maths' ?

OP posts:
MirandaWest · 06/03/2015 17:02

And of course exam results are in no way necessarily a true reflection of someone's ability. My boyfriend has lower exam results than I do but I doubt there's that much difference between us really.

ahbollocks · 06/03/2015 17:05

Cruel unnecessary defeatist.
Fwiw I got a c at gcse and have a 2-1 in economics. Stupid I ain't.

Waspie · 06/03/2015 17:12

I got a B at O Level and I think I'm bad at maths. I would never have considered taking it at A level. I am still very proud of my B in maths though Smile

SweetValentine · 06/03/2015 17:18

I worked hard, got an A in Maths.

I am shit at maths.

AnnieThePianist · 06/03/2015 17:19

Slightly jaded, I've often wondered about the nature/nurture side of ability regarding maths.

My Ds's are 7 and 4. Ds2 is very, very bright and able at maths. Ds1 is, without a doubt, exceptional. Far beyond my ability when I was his age.

But I wonder just how inherent it is...I love maths, studied it into higher education and am generally mathematically minded. I've never pushed the dc but dh surprised me once when ds1 was about 3 (and had shocked his school with his ability) by saying something along the lines of 'no wonder he's good at maths, you're always doing it with him'.

I was genuinely Shock and replied I'd never 'done maths' with him, he was 3 fgs Confused

But then the 'maths' I was doing with him was just General play, and my own mathematical brain would subconsciously put a maths spin on it. And when I thought about it, dh was right...I had 'done' a lot of maths with ds1. From counting to measuring when cooking, doing more and less with blocks, biggest and smallest, playing shop and counting money and so on...right from when he was a few months old. So how 'inherent' is his ability and how much because he was immersed in a maths 'environment' since birth?

Anyway, there's my brain fart of the day.

SansaUndercover · 06/03/2015 17:23

The thing with maths is it is a "ladder" type subject- i.e. you need the lower rungs in order to progress to the higher rungs. If someone's had poor maths teaching when young, and never fully grasped the basic concepts, then it's much harder for a teacher to make up lost ground in maths than it is in an essay based subject (provided they have basic English skills).

That said, I do think maths is also something you can have a natural ability for- in the sense that if your brain works in a certain way, you will progress faster than those without a "mathematical/logical" brain, just as someone with a creative type brain may produce better stories at the same level of writing ability.

I do think someone who has a B grade in maths isn't "very good" at the subject, but I think that means something different to saying they're "not very good" as this implies they're poor at the subject- I would say a B grade represents above average but not exceptional.

PrivateRyan · 06/03/2015 17:25

Can't believe all the 'not good enough for A level' posts. Typical British attitude.

Of course a B is good enough.

theflyingpig · 06/03/2015 17:34

a B is definitely someone who's not [u]very[/u] good at maths.

but I don't think it's someone who's [u]not very good[/u] good at maths.

if you get me.

B to me points towards someone who's a little better than average, certainly not an Oxbridge candidate but far from a dummy. say towards the bottom of the top third of candidates.

www.bstubbs.co.uk/gcse.htm

Cantdecideondinner · 06/03/2015 17:37

I wouldn't say they weren't good at maths, it's a perfectly fine grade but A level definitely wouldn't be in the radar, it would need to be an A* in year 10 for me to feel that A Level maths would be a sensible option. Agree that other subjects a B is fine for A level but not maths, no way

Yangsun · 06/03/2015 17:43

I actually have an A in maths and still would think it would be fair to comment that I'm not very good at it. I was quite good at learning and applying formulae but had and still don't have any deep understanding of it. My practical day to day applied maths is terrible, I tried and tried buy failed to learn my tables and whilst I can work out most problems I don't do it with any degree of mental agility. By contrast I am very good at practical English (which I also have an A in).

Original poster
treasureisland · 06/03/2015 17:44

Thanks all.

I agree it's the difference between not "very good" at maths and "not very good at maths".

The latter is most definitely what was meant.

My brother is "very good" at maths, as it happens. He is therefore, better at maths than me and perhaps that's what she was alluding too.

However, I did the same degree subject as my brother and got a better degree result than him, I can't imagine for one minute my mother would tell him he's "not very good" at his degree specialism.

OP posts:
AnnieThePianist · 06/03/2015 17:49

PrivateRyan - it's just realistic, not defeatist.

My A Level maths class was 15 people who all got A* at GCSE...and a few of us still struggled to understand some of the concepts in Year 2.

DisappointedOne · 06/03/2015 17:52

Have GCSEs changed radically in the past 21 years? They must be far simpler if a B at GCSE means you wouldn't be encouraged to do A level!

ClassicTron · 06/03/2015 17:53

Much of GCSE maths could really be described as numeracy. A Level is very definitely mathematics.

I think when adults say they were never any good at maths they mean arithmetic and most don't really understand what maths is.

It takes a different kind of brain to be a mathematician IMO. I am good at maths but I couldn't be an artist. If I practised enough I could improve, maybe enough to get GCSE, but never to be properly good, which is what's needed for A Level.

missymayhemsmum · 06/03/2015 17:55

A B in maths requires a celebratory hug and cheering for someone who finds maths a challenge and a kick up the backside for the kid who should have got an A* but didn't bother. Exam results don't just reflect ability. They certainly don't define it

PrivateRyan · 06/03/2015 17:55

I got a B at GCSE. Pleaded with the school to let me take A Level and got an A. It's more than achievable with right attitude.

derektheladyhamster · 06/03/2015 17:57

I got a B in maths 26 years ago. and I was most certainly not very good at maths I'm even worse now

SistersOfPercy · 06/03/2015 17:57

Yanbu in that context, though dd is perfectly aware she's 'not very good at maths' having failed it last year. Waiting for the results of her resit at present but she freely admits it's not something she is good at. Now English and art she is great with.

I was also truly awful with the subject, but back in 1989 they didn't really know about discalcula.

DisappointedOne · 06/03/2015 17:58

A business confederation here in Wales were concerned a few years back that an A*-C in English and Maths was "no guarantee of literacy or numeracy". How the fuck can that happen?!

drudgetrudy · 06/03/2015 18:01

I hope I wouldn't tell my children that they "are not very good" at anything-can't see how it would help.

Perhaps I may say that we all find some things easy to learn and some things need more work.

bbcessex · 06/03/2015 18:02

Depends on the context. I was cross when my son got a B in a recent Maths mock because he refused to revise.

He was delighted with his 'B' and expected accolades, which he didn't get, because if he'd revised he would have got an A.

I wouldn't have said "you aren't good at Maths" though.. Just 'you could have done better if you'd put the effort in".

drudgetrudy · 06/03/2015 18:02

Also if someone finds a subject difficult they don't really need anyone else to point it out.

AnnieThePianist · 06/03/2015 18:02

privateryan, a B at GCSE progressing to an A at A Level is astonishingly rare. Someone downthread posted the national outcomes at Maths A Level for those that achieved a B at GCSE and they weren't good, with a high % failing to pass at all.

So, no, I don't think it's 'more than achievable' at all - and probably only if something went wrong in your GCSE (ie have the ability but were ill/panicked etc). For the vast majority, unless you have the ability to get a top GCSE grade (which as someone said, is mainly numeracy) you're highly unlikely to have the ability to excel at A Level.

bbcessex · 06/03/2015 18:04

Having now read your latter posts(!) sorry - yes, your mother sounds very unreasonable.

In the context you've put it, she is completely wrong that a 'B' equals 'not very good at Maths'.

LTB !!!!

IreneA78 · 06/03/2015 18:08

DH got a B in Maths. Less than ten years later he works as a Financial Controller and is almost fully-qualified as a Management Accountant

aaaaahhh I am an accountant.IT IS NOTHING TO DO WITH MATHS!!!!!

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