GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

Welcome HunkyDory ! Yes I believe a lot of schools can’t really set for A levels due to the small numbers doing some subjects and the wide ranging combinations of subjects

In DS2's school, there are six Maths A-level classes but only two of those are doing Further Maths. So he had to be in one of those two.

Maths is in more than one option block, so which Maths class you end up in is based on what other A-level subjects you're doing as much as your ability.

DS2 says they have already started studying Maths topics from the second year A-level textbook (e.g. radians)

Yes, DS1 did radians two or three weeks ago too.

TBH, I don't actually know what he is doing now, except he was doing acceleration questions last night for Mechanics (or was it Physics?!).

I doubt he has covered all of the year 12 curriculum though, so they must just be doing the topics in a different order?

Yes, I think they seem to be choosing topics from year 1 and year 2 of the course, which they can now that the course is linear.

HunkyDory welcome!
My DS's school is the same, I imagine most state comps are as they tend to have lower entry requirements and due to timetabling and numbers can't stream. Ds said he nearly fell asleep in maths as he was so bored, its now his least favourite subject.

Cherry pleased to hear your DS won't have to put up with his maths teacher for much longer.

Hi HunkyDory. I have no idea what IIMR is either.

Only 6? There are somewhere in the region of 30 for maths at the sixth form warehouse, with around 5 FM classes.

DS3 is doing AS levels as well, so he's following the curriculum in order.

He's done a couple of tests and is getting %s in the mid 80s but neither of us are sure what that means in terms of grades. Grade card is due on Friday but it's early days.

There's only one set doing FM so 'mixed ability.' As far as any choosing to do FM are mixed ability.

For maths there are 3 classes and the further mathematicians are split up between them depending on their other options so even more mixed. DS3 says it's faster paced than GCSE but he's having no trouble with it. 'No trouble' for him doesn't mean results in the 90s, obviously!

He doing straight line graphs and starting mechanics in maths while it's complex numbers and series in FM.

For DS there is no streaming for most subjects (small school so timetabling won't allow it) but the FM people are all in one maths set as they plan to cover the maths in first year and FM in second year as they feel it fits better that way - so 12, hour long, maths lessons a week !!!! And that group is supposedly going at a faster pace as its deemed they can cope (though DS is probably the least able). Advantage of boarding though is he has teachers readily available when doing his homework so hopefully he is getting help when needed and new found confidence and experience with GCSE s will hopefully mean he is doing that.

The mega 6th form would only let you take maths if you had a minimum of grade 7. Almost half got grade A or above and 21% got an A*, out of over 600 entries, so it really isn't feas8ble to put them in sets.

I was looking at the stats for both FM and the EPQ earlier and they are significantly skewed towards the top grades simply because of the nature of students who take them. That is almost a shame because I'm sure students could still benefit from the experience, but are dissuaded by the impact on their average grade.

Hunky you are more than welcome to chip in. Nobody is in sets at DD'S SVC due to its sheer size. Some of her classes has been mixed ability at school, so I Don't think she found it too unsettling to find the same at A level, but she is definitely achieving high marks compared to some. One of her subjects is undoubtedly seen as a second class citizen compared to others, so I think it is boosting her confidence to do well in a couple of subjects whilst being one of the crowd in maths.

SFC. When will I learn to proof read?!

Hello all. Hope everyone is well. Interesting discussion about maths. No setting here I don't think.

I'm just catching up and checking in as I'd fallen off the thread again.

I'm taking that as a good sign as I'm so chilled out about dd now. It's remarkable compared to last year when I sweated every minute of her English GCSE with her.

She's loving maths and further maths. I thought she might struggle after years of mediocre boring maths lessons but now she is actually finding it challenging she's really relishing having to work it out.

Most of her grades have been A* so far. She's still not done any extra work other than basic homework but why change the habit of a lifetime

Last day of term tomorrow. I think she's ready for a break.

I got my acronyms mixed up!
IIMR was the (now defunct) professional exam board for portfolio managers. Now they sit the American CFA instead. (Showing my age here!)

UKMT was what I meant to say and that's the charity that runs maths competitions such as IMC and SMC and the maths Olympiads etc.
DS will sit the SMC next month (as I guess most of your maths A level DC will). I only had 3 hours sleep the night before last, so I guess the message is: don't post when tired!

Half term starts today here, but back to school on Wednesday. Think most of it will be spent doing Graphics. Which is costing me a bloody fortune in supplies. At least she seems to be doing lots of work for it...

I forgot to say: welcome, @HunkyDory69!

Hi has anyone got any revision tips please, my daughter is in year 10, they don’t take GCSEs in year 9 and she has to take a 10 GCSEs.

She has her first assessment results and I know it’s early days but because it’s fast moving I’m a little worried.

Her results were 3 & 4s this is a big drop and she wants to study medicine and wouldn’t be able to do A levels with those grades.

Her issue is remembering information, she writes big long revision essays but I’ll ask a question and she can’t remember.

An example is she had to study two Volcanoes, I asked her the names of the volcanoes and she couldn’t remember!

Help

IIMR's (Institute of Investment Management and Research) entry level qualification was known by its acronym, the IMC, (Investment Management Certificate) and, as everyone knows, the UKMT has an IMC too (Intermediate Mathematical Challenge).
I couldn't remember the name of the SMC, so I wrote down the name of the awarding body but I got them mixed up.

Don't post when tired people! You confuse everyone!

Welcome again. I'm sure others will come along with revision tips and there are also threads in secondary education aimed at current year 10s and 11s and also threads specifically offering tips.

I did just want to offer some reassurance though. I believe schools often mark tests now measured against real mark schemes so you wouldn't expect them to get high grades two years before taking the actual exam. Also we found that there was time to do a lot of revision and practise papers in the few months before the exams. My DS found it hard (impossible) to learn things by rote so in class tests and end of year exams did poorly as he hadn't had time to learn the material but with revision and practise in the lead up to the GCSE exam it finally went in and he did well.

They are clearly bright, if interested in medicine - is it possible they have something such as dyslexia hindering their memory. This may also impact on note taking and getting full information down. I would focus for now on making sure they have full understanding of every topic at the moment and good notes and hopefully with lots of practise the learning will come.

Thank you oratory that is very reassuring, it’s getting her down and she has definitely lost confidence.

Hi villanelle. There's lots of time to improve before the end of Y11. But I'd see if you can look into the memory problems. Having a good memory for facts is a major requirement for medics.

I wonder if we should change our thread title away from 'GCSEs' now all our DC are past them. It would seem to be a bit confusing. Maybe 'Y12 (21) Life after GCSEs?'

If your daughter really is Villanelle I'd say you have bigger things to worry about.

Sorry couldn't resist.