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AIBU?

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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:
Handsoff7 · 06/03/2015 18:09

If they'd prepared even remotely properly I would think it but wouldn't say it.

I certainly wouldn't describe someone with a B as "Very good at maths" though.

AnnieThePianist · 06/03/2015 18:14

Haha Irene, I agree.

Another one is banking...I am management level within a Commercial Bank and my mum often says proudly 'well she always did excel at maths' and people nod in agreement...my job is bugger all to do with maths. Even as a mortgage advisor it was bugger all to do with maths lol.

FindoGask · 06/03/2015 18:17

I got a B in GCSE maths and I am indeed shit at maths.

MonoNoAware · 06/03/2015 18:19

I'm another one who got a B at GCSE, then went on to do better at A Level.

At my school, GCSE maths was taught as a 'list' of facts and functions to be memorised. Bored the pants off me. A Level maths was doing cool stuff with numbers and I was engrossed.

I did get raised eyebrows from my GCSE maths teacher when I said I planned to take it for A Level, and actually went as far as choosing an alternate subject before my Physics teacher persuaded me otherwise.

Openup41 · 06/03/2015 18:28

Wow! I would feel like a genius if I achieved a B in maths - even now 20+ years after leaving school.

I achieved a G- twice! I should be in the Guinness Book of Records. I am absolutely crap at maths unless I am doing simple additions or subtractions.

I simply do not understand it. My brain is not wired for it.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 06/03/2015 18:30

Ryan: out of interest what year did you do your GCSEs and A-levels?

I did my GCSEs in 1989 and was labelled as a high flier because I got all A grades. But the reason i did was because I was a real swot and had a great work ethic. The same approach just did not work for A-levels. Well, I got an A in a language which I could do standing on my head at GCSE. But for Maths A-level I only got an E. I chose it because I enjoyed the subject but despite working so so hard at A-level, I was clearly not a natural mathematician and struggled with the massive jump up.

So depends how the B at GcSE was obtained. Someone who did no revision yet still got a B may be a better candidate for a higher grade at A level (as long as they stepped up the effort), than someone who simply revised for GCSE like billy-o and had no life, and got an A in it.

There were no A* in the grade boundaries when I did mine though. Maybe if there had been I would have tended to look more closely at where I really excelled.

noblegiraffe · 06/03/2015 18:34

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!

They got rid of the intermediate tier and extended the higher tier down to D grade. Now only half of the higher tier paper contains B-A grade questions, and very few true A grade questions. That means it's not very challenging for brighter students and poor preparation for A-level. My school used to accept Bs for A-level but after this change we saw too many kids fail and have to resit Y12 to be able to in all conscience allow them on the course except in exceptional circumstances. Now we require an A. We have also introduced Further Maths GCSE (as have many other schools) to bridge the gap to A-level.

PrivateRyan · 06/03/2015 18:39

GCSEs in 1996, A Levels in 1998

hettie · 06/03/2015 18:44

I got an A at GCSE and my school pushed me to do A-level maths. I dropped it in the end as I found it nearly impossible to understand... But in answer to OP, no I would say well done

Coconutty · 06/03/2015 18:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DisappointedOne · 06/03/2015 19:28

I sat my GCSEs in 2004 and A levels in 2006.

DisappointedOne · 06/03/2015 19:29

Sorry - that was complete lies! 1994 for GCSEs and 1996 for a levels!

(Was always crap at history, lol)

PrettyFeet · 06/03/2015 19:33

Absolutely nothing wrong with a B in any subject, they can also go on and do "A" levels with B's. A "select" up their own arse academy won't take them but lots of others will.

DontCallMeBaby · 06/03/2015 19:41

Agree with what ClassicTron says. Lots of numeracy at GCSE, very different to what comes next. I have an A at GCSE (pre A* days Smile) and a B at A level which took me three years and blood, sweat and tears to get. I love numbers, struggle with the more abstract stuff. DH has a first class maths degree and a mental block about 7 x 8. DD is okay at numeracy, astonishing at non-verbal reasoning; I think she might fly if she ever gets onto more abstract maths, but experience so far makes me doubt she'll ever get there.

Oh, and another seriously good mathematician I know struggled to learn times tables, and I doubt he's the only one. It's quite a niche skill!

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 06/03/2015 19:42

I got a D in maths, 1990Blush

My dses are 10 and 12 and both really very good at maths. Their homework is so far beyond me, it's a joke.....

Fwiw op, I've always been regarded as the 'not very clever one' in my family, and have always lived in the shadow of my brothers academic achievements. I stopped caring long ago and have forged a decent career for myself as an RMN.

I would never undermine my own children by comparing their achievements in that way though. They are both amazing to me.

squizita · 06/03/2015 19:43

And the B to A level rate depends on the school too. Mine usually converts good Bs (they get a breakdown of the scores - it needs to be a good solid B not a paper which was A* on one topic, D on another iyswim) into C at A level. Setting, extra homework, online workshops, tuition, academic mentors etc ... plus hard working kids...
Any teacher blustering about the impossibility of it probably wouldn't get a job here. And yes, it's a comp in a poor area, not a snooty academy (which is precisely why we work bloody hard to support all the kids from A* - G). Smile

Topseyt · 06/03/2015 19:45

I can understand maths as it applies to my everyday life. I can use statistics, averages and percentages, I can weigh and measure accurately for cooking, I can work out money and I know whether or not my change in a shop is right. I can use and understand basic formulae needed to create and use Excel spreadsheets. I work with them regularly and have no difficulty. That is basic numeracy I suppose.

Move onto things like algebra, pythagoras theorem, pi, and many other theorems etc. and I am lost. I look at a page with them on and I literally just cannot read it or make sense of it at all. I don't need or use them in my everyday life either. If I had needed to get a B at "O"Level, as it then was, I would still have been at school trying for it now, at the age of 48.

I think someone earlier in the thread suggested that everyone if taught correctly should be able to master all aspects of subjects like maths. I would disagree. It is a very wide subject indeed. We are not all equal in all subjects. I really struggled with maths at school, but now that I have uses for some of it in my daily life, and with more maturity too, I have come to terms with much more of it.

Maths was my achilles heel, but I was good at languages. I would not try to suggest that everyone can master foreign languages given the right teaching because it just isn't that simple. Same with maths. Why should it be any different?

mynameisnotmichaelcaine · 06/03/2015 19:51

I got a B at maths GCSE. It was my worst grade, and the one I worked hardest for. I am absolutely appalling at mental arithmetic, but good at things like algebra.

NotGoingOut17 · 06/03/2015 19:55

If you said that to a child you would be pretty ignorant given that a B is an above average grade at GCSE. I got a B in Maths but it was the highest mark I could get as I opted to take the intermediate paper rather than the higher paper because I was aware that the higher paper was very hard and I preferred to spend my revision on subjects that I would go on to do at a level/degree of which I knew Maths was not one.

My Maths exam was the easiest I did by far despite no revision and I got a very safe B. I am no mathematician (and probably would have struggled had I done a-level) but I am certainly not 'bad at maths' and would consider myself above average. I have had to use maths in work and in a uni module and have always done well. In fact I have a very strong tendency to working with numbers/data etc.

I really hope no one has told a child with a B that they are bad at Maths, talk about knocking their confidence.

DrCoconut · 06/03/2015 19:59

I will be crying with happiness if DS1 gets a C let alone a B. It will be a dream come true for him not to have to resit both maths and English next year. He is on track for a D in maths and a U in English.

NotGoingOut17 · 06/03/2015 20:02

To be honest I'd be very careful judging anyone by what they get in their GCSEs, they tend to count for fuck all (as long as you have a minimum of a grade C or above in English & Maths - past the age of 17 I think that is the only information I have been asked for info about my GCSEs).

To get into my 6th form I think I needed something like 4 Bs and 2 Cs so I wasn't exactly working my hardest as I knew I could probably get that without much effort - my a Level results were much better because there was much more at stake when I was applying for uni. I may be mistaken but I can't even remember GCSE results being a big deal when I was applying for Uni.

SilverShadows · 06/03/2015 20:17

I have a B GCSE obtained in 1996. I'm good at basic arithmetic, but often struggle to do the numbers round on countdown.

I'm a financial adviser - I have a calculator and lots of clever programmes that do the math for me.

Icimoi · 06/03/2015 20:21

DD got a B and would be the first to say she isn't very good at maths. Basically it was all down to the sheer good luck of being moved to the bottom set at school where they happened to have a brilliant teacher.

thewavesofthesea · 06/03/2015 20:30

I got an A in GCSE maths (in 2000) and was advised not to do A level maths as I didn't get an A*.

I got an A at A level too though; I think the style of it appealed to me more then GCSE. Am still a little smug though Grin

Lancelottie · 06/03/2015 21:24

a good solid B not a paper which was A on one topic, D on another iyswim*

Oh dear. Squizita, you just described DS's entire run of GCSE results.

He's finding A-levels a bit hard.