Maths GCSE HELP !!

[gillian3985]

Hello
Hope some of you might be able to help me out there.Any advice gratefully appreciated
My daughter sits her GCSE,s this Spring.She,s a hard worker,already has 4 (3 x a,s and one b)she is on target to take another 8/9 for which she is tipped to get A,s and B,s.
She has been offered a place at a really good 6th Form setting to do her A,levels(English,History and Psychology) one of the conditions is that she gets GCSE Maths at grade C or higher.Now she has always struggled with Maths all the way through Primary and Secondary and we current;y pay for a private Tutor once weekly.Now in her last mocks she got a high C on the higher paper but I am just wondering what your views are on asking for her to take the foundation paper hoping that this might raise her chances of getting a C (after all that is all she needs)?
She does lack confidence in Maths and whilst I am trying to take the pressure off her I am worried that if she has a bad day on the exam day and gets lower than a C then all her future plans are thrown into disarray.
I was considering exploring the possibility of asking to take both (can the Foundation be taken privately around the same date at another setting ?)I have been in touch with her teacher who states that he will review after the next mocks in 2/3 weeks time but at the moment is of the opinion to put her in for the higher paper.
I have not yet spoke to the setting where she has received the 6th form offer but i hear that as the places there are much sought after they do not allow them to take a resit whilst studying the A levels.
Any professional advice much appreciated.Thank you

Can she do all the easy questions on the higher and non of the harder ones? Or does she have good and bad topics?

My DD1 did GCSEs last year. She had certain topics she was good at (e.g. algebra) but struggled on others, especially spatial awareness. So she could pick marks up across the whole higher paper, even if she couldn't do earlier questions.

To get a C on foundation you need to get high marks ?80%? (not an expert) whereas on higher you only need ?25-30%?

I don't think you can enter both Foundation & Higher tiers even with different boards, but others will know for sure.

On the Secondary board there is a maths teacher noblegiraffe who is very helpful.

I am a secondary school maths teacher. We put all our pupils in for the Higher paper as we have a much higher success rate of pupils getting a C grade on the Higher paper than on Foundation. As the previous post says, they need around 27% for a C on the Higher and around 75% on the Foundation. Weaker pupils almost never manage to hit that 75% mark whereas they can generally scrape the 27%.

Personally I think the whole thing is a nonsense and shows how bizarre the grade boundaries have become.

Many thanks

I know it's not what you asked, but this is a helpful website too for going over topics and revising.

m.youtube.com/user/HEGARTYMATHS

There will be 10 weeks until GCSE after half term. Have you considered getting her a crash preparation course to overcome the areas that she needs to improve on so that a C is attainable whether a good or bad exam day? Let me know if you want more info

Many thanks,much appreciated

One skill that pays double benefits is the ability to rearrange equations. In the Edexcel Physics 2 paper it seems to pop up all over the place. So being able to do that helps both maths and science grades. As does reading off graphs properly.

DD sat IGCSE maths last month. She was going to a maths tutor once a week, which I upped to twice a week when I learned that she was doing IGCSE. The best thing I did was to find a website with past papers and their mark schemes. I got her to do half a paper a day for about three weeks before the exam. DD said after the exams that they went well. I'm not sure that she got the A* she was aiming for but I am confident that she probably achieved an A.

I really think the key was practice, practice and more practice.

High C grade at this stage on Higher Paper then she should definitely take higher paper in May/June. I don;t think any school would consider putting her in for foundation - C grade boundary can be 80% and just losing a few marks can put the grade at risk. Also, if she is being taught higher curriculum then she is best positioned to sit a higher paper. A move to foundation at this stage would mean she would need to cover a lot of the lower level foundation techniques to ensure she can answer the exam questions correctly.

Agree with the other posters that your dd should take the Higher Paper if she is obtaining C grades now.
I was considering exploring the possibility of asking to take both (can the Foundation be taken privately around the same date at another setting ?)
GCSE Maths for all exam boards is scheduled for the same day and time. You cannot take both Foundation and Higher for the same exam board (it is forbidden as the grade C questions are the same). Taking both at different centres wouldn't really be possible due to timetable clash and the need to keep candidates isolated under exam conditions when this occurs.
You could consider entering for iGCSE privately as those exams are on different dates and times (but you could end up with an exam clash with another GCSE subject).

Tnks for response....she currently has tutor and we plan to double up on her lessons.What is this "crash " course please

Just curious (and not helpful) but why was she allowed/encouraged to take 4 GCSEs early, in addition to another 8 this year, when she is struggling so much with the most vital one? It seems a slighty disorganised use of effort.

Hi..the school encourages them to take 3-4 early which works well and takes the pressure off by taking them at 1 sitting.Thank you for your observations though I think it's me panicking rather than any disorganised use of effort as you suggest.

Too late for you OP but that advice to take several early is AWFUL.

I would second doing the past GCSE papers, then get her to go through the mark scheme so she can see exactly where she is dropping points. Dd did the GCSE the year before last and this really made a big difference.

If she is getting a high C at this stage, I cannot understand why she thinks she is not good at maths. Letts or CGP revision guides are good if she did want to spend some time getting her grade up over the Easter holidays. Khan Academy also has lots of videos which dd used to explain the bits she was struggling with.

I cant believe that not only are you resurrecting old threads galore for your spam, but you lied on this thread too about your dd discovering your site.