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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DS thinks he can teach himself to pass an exam in a week. AIBU to think he is wrong?

755 replies

user1494154933 · 07/05/2017 13:45

This is going to sound ridiculous and I wasn't going to post, as you'll probably call me stupid Blush or irresponsible, etc.

My son is now 18. He isn't a 'genius' or anything like that. He did ok at GCSEs but didn't try hard at all. I used to try my best to get him to revise for him exams, he refused to and said it was pointless and exams don't help etc. which is ridiculous because as much as I do agree it's about memory, you clearly do need to know, anyway, he did ok and got accepted into sixth form, he decided not to go and got a part time job but did a part time photography course in the evening (he is still doing that).

I don't really know how it came about but I think I brought it up about how his exams were important and does he agree now he has matured and he was saying how he doesn't agree because exams aren't showing how intelligent you are, etc. and anyone can do them if they learn the exam technique. Last year (around december) he was telling me how he was going to prove it, he booked himself into the Maths AS exams for this summer (last year you can do these ones I believe). He hasn't learnt anything yet Hmm and I keep bringing it up (he spent £150 odd pounds for the exams (private candidate) and will sit them at his college he goes to part time) and he is telling me 'to wait and see'. He says when he has a week until the exam he will start learning the technique of it? I could slightly understand if a different subject, but he seems to think for Maths it works the best. I really don't understand his whole thinking behind this, but can't wait to be like WTF when he doesn't pass...

AIBU to think this is just stupid and not possible?

OP posts:
karalime · 07/05/2017 17:03

I got an A in GCSE Maths, did very little work and got a C at AS then retook it and got a D!

Maybe if he focusses on getting 100% in C1, as good as he can get at C2 and then not bothering with the last module he can pass overall.

BlessYourCottonSocks · 07/05/2017 17:06

Grin No worries, hack. I know damn well I couldn't pass the Maths! (Took several goes at getting a C grade O level in it!)

I generally tell my AS students that you can figure on dropping at least 2 grades from whatever you got in your GCSE and then (hopefully) dragging yourself back up over A2. That's if you work your socks off...

Weatherforecaster · 07/05/2017 17:08

I passed A level English with a week work.

MyNameIsJane · 07/05/2017 17:12

I wish him all the best! I'm going to have to watch this thread to find out the August results.

haveacupoftea · 07/05/2017 17:16

He could probably wing it with most subjects but maths, physics and chemistry really need to be applied to be understood.

I hope he does well though Smile

DixieFlatline · 07/05/2017 17:32

you can't look for the answers in the material for maths, you have to work them out using methods that you have practised over and over answering similar questions.

Yep.

I taught myself A-Level Maths in, IIRC, about a year. I grappled with the GCSE>C1 transition for far more than a week, and I got A* at GCSE (though the gap between the two was years)!

I also got complacent with the time I had left and how much I wanted to spend on M1, so I bombed M1 (think I got a D?) and basically only glanced at C4 for about a day, and scraped an E in that. Got a B overall which was fine, but it would have been an A* if I'd pulled myself together for C4. But obviously, shoulda woulda coulda - it didn't happen, I didn't put the time in.

noblegiraffe · 07/05/2017 17:33

He has no hope of getting 100% in C1. None. His algebra skills aren't up to it. And I'm assuming that he's spending the full 7 days on C1, with a further 7 days each for the other modules.

If he were a natural maths genius he'd have done better than a B at GCSE.

It's pretty bloody insulting to maths teachers everywhere to assume that an amateur without even a textbook could get themselves to pass maths A-level in a week.

He won't know how to complete the square. Completing the square isn't easy, it's A* grade GCSE. However, without being able to complete the square, he won't be able to find the centre of a circle. How will he be able to look at the mark scheme for a finding the centre of a circle question and realise that he needs to complete the square when he doesn't even know what completing the square is, let alone how to go about it? The mark scheme won't tell him that.

Beelzebop · 07/05/2017 17:35

Honestly? No chance. It will do him good to fail, so he learns from this. Sorry xxx

DixieFlatline · 07/05/2017 17:38

How will he be able to look at the mark scheme for a finding the centre of a circle question and realise that he needs to complete the square when he doesn't even know what completing the square is, let alone how to go about it? The mark scheme won't tell him that.

Absolutely this.

Each of the core units absolutely depends on a sound grasp of preceding units. That's why I didn't just split my time more between C3 and C4 - any time taken from C3 before I got 100% in it was not likely to result in mark gains in C4 to make up for mark losses in C3 - and given they're weighted the same, it would have been insane to voluntarily sacrifice the C3 marks.

rararaa · 07/05/2017 17:42

Is ir just as or the whole alevel? I didn't try at all for GCSEs . Bunked off school a lot in last 2 years . Was predicted straight A*s at beginning of year 10 and then got 3 As and the rest B's. I cared more about alevels but had never learnt to revise at school and had terrible work ethic. So I only revised for maths AS level for one weekend and got a C . I went to most of my lessons though!

rararaa · 07/05/2017 17:44

Oh, should have said one of those gcse a's was maths obviously! The other two were English.

Flopjustwantscoffee · 07/05/2017 17:44

£150 is incredibly cheap for the lesson he's going to learn so I reckon he's got hi self a bargain :)

Flopjustwantscoffee · 07/05/2017 17:45

*himself

Katie6448 · 07/05/2017 17:46

Sorry have not read the whole thread but I did the equivalent of this and got an A in business studies at A Level. Teacher was nice but totally ineffective and I learned nothing in the lessons, didn't go to many of them. Got a shitload of flash cards to write out and taught myself the entire syllabus. So it is possible, but not what I would call advisable and I did it because it was the only option available.

dingit · 07/05/2017 17:49

I'm not showing this to my dd who is doing maths papers until they come out of her ears. She got a high B on the C1 paper last year and is resitting it with her A2s this year. She is getting high 90%s at the moment, still hasn't managed the allusive 100.

Trifleorbust · 07/05/2017 18:05

Nor could you get near passing A level English in a week. It isn't enough to read the books anymore. The content is synoptic and requires a systemised knowledge of historical periods, how the content in unseen extracts might link to those time periods, how later movements reacted to it etc. It really isn't just a case of reading some books. Unfortunately, students have a bad habit of assuming they know what is involved in an exam.

LightYears · 07/05/2017 18:09

Good luck to him.

fannydaggerz · 07/05/2017 18:14

Yes it's positive. If he has a week to learn then he will probably learn more in spending a solid week doing it than he has done all year.

fannydaggerz · 07/05/2017 18:14

Possible**

noblegiraffe · 07/05/2017 18:21

Maths can't be learned through mindmaps or flash cards. It's not a knowledge-based subject. To learn maths you have to do maths. Lots of it. He doesn't have nearly enough time to do the amount of maths that he needs to do to pass the course.

And even if he did, he is going about it in the most stupid way - going straight to exam papers which are the hardest examples of questions on a particular topic and thinking that he can master them by looking at the answer with no explanation.

OP, once he realises he isn't getting anywhere with the exam papers, at least point him in the direction of this website: www.physicsandmathstutor.com/a-level-maths-papers/ for notes and worksheets

And this one: www.examsolutions.net/a-level-maths/aqa/ for videos on how to do the stuff he needs to know.

saoirse31 · 07/05/2017 18:24

Best of luck to him!!! Maybe he's been looking at course topics through year... Interesting experiment anyway!!

Garlicansapphire · 07/05/2017 18:31

Ah the arrogance of youth. In the end you don't really achieve anything without putting in the effort and valuing what you can learn from others - teachers.

I have a slight feeling that if he fails he will find an excuse to not really learn the life lesson though....

I was a lazy - do enough to get by - student - until I got to taking my degree and decided that rather than make excuses ('I didnt really try'), the buck stopped there and I had to find out what I could do if I really put my mind to it rather than make excuses for the rest of my life. Because being clever but lazy isn't smart. I finally proved myself and enjoyed sweating for it. Been a hard worker ever since. But in the end the motivation had to come from me.

I shall wait to hear the results. Sadly, I'm hoping he will earn the bigger lesson - that hard work needs to be for more than a week.

alltouchedout · 07/05/2017 18:40

I don't know whether to hope he passes or not. It's horrible to wish failure on someone but part of me thinks he needs to learn, quickly, that you can't just wing it and that his attitude to this is weirdly arrogant. And Maths A Level of all things. That's just insane! I know very bright, hard working people who were defeated by Maths A Level. (Also op, I got a B at GCSE Maths quite some time ago and I genuinely don't even understand Maths A Level questions).

DixieFlatline · 07/05/2017 18:42

Sorry have not read the whole thread but I did the equivalent of this and got an A in business studies at A Level. Teacher was nice but totally ineffective and I learned nothing in the lessons, didn't go to many of them. Got a shitload of flash cards to write out and taught myself the entire syllabus. So it is possible, but not what I would call advisable and I did it because it was the only option available.

I know it's already been said, but Maths is nothing like this. It's more like languages. You have to build it up over a period of time. Cramming set phrases in a week after starting from a B at GCSE will get you absolutely nowhere.

I even did a couple of AS levels in another language (as in, taught and examined in a different language to English) and even they were less work than bloody Maths A-Level. Loved Maths though.

bluediamonds · 07/05/2017 18:44

Place marking!