To have not known kids have to attain grade 4 in maths?

[Pepperpotladles]

I did not know this!
I have obviously been living under a rock.
So today someone told me that if kids get grades 1, 2 or 3 in their maths GCSE, it is compulsory that all these kids have to keep on studying GCSE maths until they achieve a grade 4 or above, and they have to keep trying to achieve this up until their 25th birthday.
Is this true?!?
I can't believe my ears.
What about kids who simply can't achieve grade 4 or above in maths, for any number of reasons?

Not Mumsnet good.

DD isn't mumsnet good either.

No. I don't understand. Sorry.

Good for you to invest so much.

I'm sure it's great for 16yr olds to enjoy all that comes with getting a terrific set of results.

But I don't think there anyone who can convince me that GCSEs are fair or a measure of actual intelligence.

But this is about maths.

It's not the causes and effects of the 2nd world war expressed in maths.

The history of the American west in maths.

What does Macbeth tell us about masculinity. In maths?

It's just maths! 😂

Preparation isn’t just for those who are aiming for the top grades. It is for anyone sitting any exam.

Otherwise you get parents not understanding you need the revision guide for the right board because AQA’s history revision book isn’t helpful for OCR history A and vice versa because the content is different.

I didn’t try to convince you of anything or mention anything about fairness or intelligence. Besides, from your posts tonight, you are obviously set in your views and it would be pointless trying to convince you of anything. You don’t want to hear any explanation.

Even in maths there are differences.

Wow.

They're quite limited though, aren't they?

Unless you're tripping.

Well one example that I wouldn’t call limited is paper 1s for GCSE AQA maths, GCSE Edexcel maths and Cambridge IGCSE maths are non-calculator, but paper 1s for GCSE OCR maths, IGCSE Pearson maths A and IGCSE Pearson maths A are calculator papers. Knowing whether you need and can use a calculator is rather important both for the exam itself and the preparation beforehand.

And I haven't tried to convince you that I'm trying to convince you of anything.

Of course it's most excellent to help, nurture and encourage your own children to do really well.

If that's getting them from a 7 to an 8/9 at GCSE, that's great.

It's a huge source of pride and a super achievement.

It just shouldn't be used as a means to demean other people.

My rabbit can't swim and my goldfish can't eat carrots.

They're both really good at what they do though (bob and shit pellets - respectively - mostly).

I think you need to look at your own critical thinking skills, you can take an interest in your child’s exams and simultaneously be invested in your child’s wellbeing and to think independently and critically.

its not one or the other.

To the OP who said exams don’t measure intelligence, in the world we live in they do, children need specific qualifications to often obtain higher education, most importantly most professions/employers seek basic qualifications for employment.

it’s a good thing and not something to be sneered at.

I haven’t demeaned anyone. Preparation is just as important for those aiming for 4s or 2s as it is for those aiming for 7s or 9s.

I haven't tried to convince you that I'm trying to convince you of anything.

Then why mention it in response to my post?

I didn't sneer. That's a really unpleasant word.

Why the personal attack, there?

I didn't do well at Chemistry GCSE. But I do know the colour you turn litmus paper just by looking at it.

I can be vulgar and spiteful too!

I very much doubt you've had a worse day than me. So I'm allowing myself that even though it doesn't make me feel better at all.

I tried to convince you that I haven't tried to convince you that I'm trying to convince you of anything and then I mentioned it in response to your post because you said you hadn't tried to convince me in your post and then I'd tried to convince you of something in my post that I wasn't convinced of in your post and.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What a strange post. So you don’t have a proper answer as to why at 22.34 you originally mentioned it in response to my post?

You may not intend to come across as though you are sneering but that is exactly how you are coming across.

Why the personal attack, there?

It wasn’t a personal attack 🙄

I read your post and in my opinion it read as condescending and patronising to parents who actively help their children be prepared for exams.

Not sure why you’ve brought the litmus test into the discussion, if you choose to be vulgar and spiteful, please do so within MN rules!

Edited , as I did mention in my comment “To the OP who mentioned intelligence” if this wasn’t you then I apologise as my comment was not in reference to you.

I actively help my children towards exams.

Because they're able to pass them.

I am finding this thread utterly impossible.

Not everyone does stuff in exactly the same way you do.

It doesn't make you better.

Or them.

BornSandyDevotional - I’ve just had a look and you made both comments that I was quoting on.

Where have I claimed it’s my way or nothing? - you asked why parents choose to research their child’s exam board and we replied with our reasonings, you then came back and stated that many parents aren’t invested in their children’s wellbeing and independent critical thinking, some of us pointing out that we are not a one path band when it comes to our children.

Im not sure why or even how you’ve come to this conclusion tbh.

I'm impressed you got a diagnosis 20 years ago for dyscalculia. I hadn't even realised that was what was wrong with me. My teachers thought me somewhat of an enigma as I was in top sets for everything else but I managed to work myself down to the 3rd set for maths and had a lovely teacher who would give me extra help at lunch times. I'd always described it as "like dyslexia but with numbers" until I realised it was an actual thing!

Not really

The maths expectations and type of maths covered between the different exam boards should be pretty similar at GCSE.

You should know if your child is doing IGCSE or not. But State Schools in England do GCSEs.

Do you think the maths contents for the GCSE Maths specification is different between OCR,AQA abd Edexcel

The subject content of this specification matches that set out in the Department for Education’s Mathematics GCSE subject content and assessment objectives document. This content is common to all exam boards.
The content has been organised into broad topic areas and given a reference as follows:

• Number references start with N
• Algebra references start with A
• Ratio, proportion and rates of change references start with R
• Geometry and measures references start with G
• Probability references start with P
• Statistics references start with S.

All content can be assessed on any of the three question papers. As such, some questions will draw together elements of maths from different topic areas. The weighting of the topic areas has been prescribed by Ofqual and is common to all exam boards. The table below shows the approximate weightings of the topic areas for the overall tier of assessment, not for each individual question paper.

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/mathematics/2015/specification-and-sample-assesment/gcse-maths-2015-specification.pdf

https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/168982-specification-gcse-mathematics.pdf

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/gcse/mathematics-8300/specification/subject-content

It wasn't at school. I went back to do a degree at aged 25. They happened to have dyslexia assessors, because a lot of people were still being missed at school. I'd read an article about this new type of dyslexia and bells were clanging, so, since the assessment was free, I went and asked about it. They had heard of it, but didn't have a separate assessment as such, so I went through the whole thing.

At the end, they said I had the maths age of a 10 year old, and the massive discrepancy between that and my English capabilities was really obvious. Actually, the whole thing was quite fascinating. Turned out there were quite a few other traits I had, but of course my ability in English had meant it would never have been considered.

Although....I think my old school maths teacher suspected something. Dyslexia had just become a thing, and he was the school's assessor. My mum told me he asked her at parents evening what I was like in my other subjects, how did I get on in English, and when she said, 'oh, it's her best subject, she's in the top set' he was surprised to hear it. My mum was a bit miffed about it at the time, it seemed like he didn't believe her, but later I wondered if he saw the signs...

I was in school with someone like that @ObelixtheGaul .
It was abroad and you needed maths at a basic level, regardless of what you studied.
She qualified for the top university English degree which was very hard to get into, but had to wait a year to go as she had to repeat to pass basic maths. Such an incredibly clever girl.

Sadly, I don't think there's many who'd consider me incredibly clever, but I am weirdly above average in English. Average to crap in just about everything else, but was able to read at the age of 3.

@BornSandyDevotional To actually answer the question re why it helps to know the exam board in maths if they are all testing the same stuff.

Ultimately because when you do practice questions / papers each board has their own 'style'. For example one may have more longer wordy questions whereas another may have shorter worded ones, or one may have a tendency to mix up topics in the same question (see infamous Hannahs sweets in 2015) whereas another may keep things more separate.

It matters much more for other subjects than maths where you may need board specific revision guides, but you may as well do practice papers for the same board.

If a parent is a hands off parent with an organised motivated child at an organised good school you can ignore it all.

However if you want or need to be an involved parent then knowing the board is generally quite key.

.... and parents posting about education on MN tend to be the involved ones!

@cakeorwine so even if your child does GCSE maths, you don’t think it is important to know whether paper one is a non-calculator paper (AQA or Edexcel) or calculator paper (OCR)? You don’t think that is a significant difference that will influence preparation? We will have to agree to disagree on that!

There are some state special schools who sit IGCSE (not always in maths but in other subjects), and since the thread includes discussing DC with SEN, there will be some DC the thread is relevant to who attend state schools but sit IGCSE. And not all pupils attend a state school.