Struggling with Maths A level

[Ellapaella]

Sorry if this has been posted before. Just looking for a bit of advice from parents whose teenagers may be doing/have done A level maths.
DS got an 8 in his GCSE maths last year and is currently doing A levels in Maths, Economics and Physics. He is in year 12.
Economics and Physics are fine, he is doing well with good predicted grades and enjoying the subjects.
Unfortunately maths has been a struggle from the start. His GCSE school don't have a 6th form so he is at a new school with new teachers (don't know if this is relevant but he had the same teacher throughout years 7-11 who he had a great rapport with and who went above the expected to give support and extra revision).
He has really stopped enjoying what used to be his favourite subject, we have had many tears and lots of consultations with his new teachers who all say they feel he can do it, at least get a C but he is finding it so hard.
He does plenty of independent study but is finding it so hard as he isn't really understanding a lot of what is taught in class. He is quite quiet and says he doesn't like to ask questions in lessons as he feels embarrassed and like he is holding everyone else up. He feels that his peers all seem to find it so easy in comparison to him. His recent test exam grade is a U!
I don't know what I'm asking really except has anyone's teens felt like this in year 12 but gone on to do okay eventually? We are looking at getting him a personal tutor as he thinks this will help (neither DH or I are up to helping at A level standards).
I really wish he had chosen a different third subject but his true love is physics and so he feels he really needs maths. Physics is not a problem at all for him and his recent exam grade (test) was a B.
Thanks for any advice/reassurance or options we haven't considered - sorry for long rambling OP.

I am in no way blaming the school by the way, it's just he is finding the standard of A level so hard in comparison to GCSE.

A level maths is super hard. You aren't allowed to do it at dds school unless you get at least an 8.

I'd definitely get him a tutor

Thanks @Fazackerley - how is your dd finding it?

DS finds different teachers do make a difference. Its not that one teacher is bad it’s just he personally understands the style of some more than others. Does he only have one teacher ? It’s even more important in maths where it’s all about understanding and you can’t really teach yourself so easily.

A good tutor would definitely be worth a try

Thanks for your reply @Oratory1 - he actually has 3 different teachers now for maths. I've made some enquiries about maths tutors this afternoon, so hoping I will find one that he can hold a good rapport with. I really feel for him - he works so hard but is really struggling with this.

Does the school run top up sessions in particular areas? These small group sessions might go back to basics & give him the confidence he needs in areas like mechanics.

Thanks for your reply @Stickerrocks - yes he already goes to all the extra sessions that the school provide. He really had very few issues with GCSE maths and got an 8 so was confident he would be ok at A level. Unfortunately he has really found the step up to be very hard and he is quite out of his depth.
In the days when they used to do 4 A levels and then have the option to drop one I guess he could have thought about doing that - but it's just too late for him to do anything other than persevere with this now.

I would suggest that he doesn’t go on to do a degree in physics or engineering. The maths gets a lot harder. I speak from somewhat bitter experience.

he actually has 3 different teachers now for maths

Is it possible that this is part of the problem? They could all be great teachers but may have different styles and even with a good handover they may not know exactly what was taught in that lesson, who was struggling or whether there is a need to recap a particular subject.

I had this with an 'A' Level subject and it was a nightmare - things were explained slightly differently and quite a lot of people got lost on the way.

@noblegiraffe may have some suggestions.

dd is in no way doing A level maths

but a few of her friends are

Definitely recommend getting a good tutor. DD also has several teachers for a level Math and sometimes find one is better than the other for explaining things.

Do the school recommend any online resources? DS finds these helpful.

It is hard and you have my sympathy.

My DS teachers don't overlap on topics so there isn't an issue with handover but he does find some better than others at explaining concepts and they all know the whole syllabus

My daughter gets t A* for maths but struggled with a level, especially statistics. I offered to get her a tutor, but she said to wait and we got her extra statistics text books. She got an A for her A level maths. A level maths is different from GCSE but your son will get it; it takes time to adjust.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. I have made (another) appointment to speak to one of his teachers with him next week and have a tutor coming to do a trial session with him to see how they get on.
It would be such a shame if he can't pursue his chosen subject of physics at a higher level but of course that may be something we have to consider.

@Mammajay that is very reassuring to know -thank you for that. One of my friends ds is now studying maths at university and she tells me he found the first year of A level particularly hard but at some point something 'clicked' and the he was okay. I'm really hoping this will be the case with a bit of extra support.

Last year dd did A level maths (Last of the modular A level). For reasons I'll not go into, she did most of her learning at home.

She used CGP revision guides and Khan Academy videos. She ended up with A*.

Since then I have also discovered 3blue1brown on YouTube. Though a lot of the videos are more advanced than A level is excellent for understanding calculus. He has also done a few more series at around A level standard.

Next, it is important not to try and understand maths at this level straight away, but to build an understanding. So, if there is something he does not understand, leave it and come back to it and think then, not do I understand it now, but do I understand it more than last time?

Maths is also something you learn by doing, not by reading about or watching videos, so he needs to do lots of questions.

Lastly leave time next year to do a number of practice exams. This is the one thing that really pulled dd's grade up; getting used to the timing and seeing from the mark scheme exactly where the marks were being lost.

I think having 3 different teachers is poor planning on the school's part. If they are doing different topics then that suggests that each lesson of the week he is working on a different topic with a week's gap before he returns to that topic. If that is the case I'm not surprised he is confused. Probably the best thing, given that you are unlikely to be able to change it, is to encourage him to ask for help in class, and/or to pair up with someone who does understand, or to use a private tutor. I would ask the school for the detailed scheme of work showing what is to be taught each lesson each week. This would help DS and tutor in planning what to cover.

I hope you do find a tutor that fits. I'm currently working with a friend's son who is doing maths and physics having got a 7 in GCSE maths. He found the first few weeks very tough and seemed to be floundering; but reviewing things systematically we found a few points where he was shaky on a particular method, or knew how to answer a question but not why. Sorting those out has meant he now seems to be coping quite well.

I do think the first thing is to have really good facility with algebraic methods. Which is a combination of understanding, good setting out and a systematic approach, reliable handwriting (so you copy accurately and don't mis-copy your writing on the next line!! guess how I know that one ...), and enough practice to gain a little speed.

My next aim with my student is to focus on reading the question and keeping track of what information you have been given - he has always had issues with more wordy stuff as I know. He's jumping to the end of a question to avoid having to read a whole paragraph of stuff ...

By the way, he also has two maths teachers dividing the course between them; I expect that is a common pattern at A level.

coronapop very common to have more than 1 teacher at alevel. Usually they teach different modules- so one would do pure, one stats etc. Often teachers have modules they specialise in so it makes sense to have multiple teachers. I've never worked somewhere where the entirety of the course was taught by 1 teacher

Wow thanks so much for those replies - that is so helpful, I will tell him about the you tube and online stuff and that's really helpful to know going forward with a personal tutor. Thank you.