GCSE maths resit

[sandgrown]

DS got a three in Maths in 2018. He went to sixth form college to do resits in Maths and English and BTECS. He passed English in June but again a three in maths (20 marks short) He has been accepted onto advanced BTEC but was told he must resit maths in November.
He took a maths test last week and was 10 marks short of the score to resit in November . He has been put in a group with pupils fresh from high school and is repeating work he finds very easy. I know that he will become bored and start missing lessons ( he did this last year!) Would I be wasting my money paying to sit externally? DS assures me he will work hard and he feels he can pass .
The tutor has said the exam will be very different and DS will have a better chance next June. Anybody know if the exams are very different? I am not sure I can cope with another eight months of begging/ bribing him to attend the maths class ! The irony is that he is very good at everyday maths.

Oops sorry this should be in education!

If the work is very easy, why did he fail the test to sit the exam?

He sounds like he thinks he is too good to be in the class, so he’s not putting the effort in, bunking, and failing.

If the work were too easy he’d be acing it. Tell him to pull his finger out and get on with it.

Does he understand the importance of passing this time? Being bored because he finds it too easy sounds ludicrous from someone working at level 3 having failed twice already.

I’d spend the money on a tutor who can push him over the pass mark. Multiple resits are not the answer and ‘working hard’ hasn’t worked so far. He needs some strategies from someone with thorough knowledge of the specific exam.

Thanks for the responses. He has ability but is lazy and disorganised. In his defence we had a difficult year last year due to his father suffering a mental illness which took over our lives. Hopefully we are past that now. I did wonder if having a tutor would help break the cycle of resits and teach him strategies to pass the exam.

Sounds like carrying on as he is now they don't think he would pass in November. So if you are entering him for November then you need to do something different and sounds like he needs motivating. I would either get a tutor if you can afford that, probably best solution for him, or if not get him textbooks at home for the exam board and make him do that at home for at least a few hours a week.

Might be worth asking tutor what he is weak on and practicing that a lot. Wouldn't take too much notice of the too easy, tends to be one extreme of the other with that age and everything is either really easy or everything is impossible.

Ha ha yes Penguin I agree. I think he just does not like being with the "New" pupils . Maybe it will spur him on .

If you can afford a tutor I'd probably go with that. If he's disorganised he might not get the most out of the group lessons but the tutor should be able to keep him focused. I'dtry to get him with the tutor at least once a week but he'll still need to work in between. The tutor can identify his weaknesses and help him to understand the material and exam techniques but unless he puts the practise in (or you spend a fortune having the tutor for hours a week) it won't be enough to pass.

Could he sit functional skills level 2 instead? It has recently changed a little but is somewhat more straightforward than a GCSE but equivalent to an A-C or whatever that is in numbers

No, he can’t sit Functional skills as he got a grade 3. It has to be GCSE.

Thanks for the suggestions I will.look at a tutor. We have to make a decision this week about the resit and he is now a bit unsure himself !