Year 13 son struggling with A level Maths

[alwayswantchocolate]

My son is just starting Year 13, he's doing three A levels in Geography, Economics and Maths. He's predicted an A for Geography and a B or possibly A for Economics. It's Maths that's the trouble.

He got a 7 (almost 8) at GCSE and felt confident that A level Maths would be ok. But it isn't. In April he failed a test and had to resit it. Then his mocks in July he got a D. He's just failed another 'start of year 13' test with less than 50% (I don't know what he got as he's not home yet but I've had an email from school telling me he has to resit it).

I'm despairing. We got him an online tutor for one hour a week to support him back in May but it hasn't helped. A 'D' would be a nightmare as he wants to do a degree in Economics and the courses he likes are BBC entry requirements.

I just don't know what to do next. I suppose I'm reaching out to see if anyone else has experienced this and it's turned itself around. Please no comments about only those with an 8 or 9 should do A level maths.

If he’s struggling with A Level maths he may not be suited to economics at UG level. I was exactly the same, got a C in maths, went to university to study economics but had to switch to politics (which I ended up loving), because I was getting 2.IIs and IIIs in the maths-heavy modules - microeconomics IIRC.

He’s got time to pull the grade back but needs to be honest about his ability in the longer term.

A level maths is really hard. There’s only so much a tutor can achieve depending on what they’re working with. I would strongly advise doing as many past papers / questions as possible and I’d also rethink the degree choice.

He's doing A level Economics and doing really well, he's expected to get A or B in it. I think that choice would be ok.

He's doing an A level in Economics and doing really well on it, he consistently scores well, expected to get an A or B, and enjoys the maths side of economics (but not maths on its own clearly). My assumption was that Economics would be fine at degree if he's strong at A level? Or is that the wrong assumption?

I also got an A in economics, found it easy. Loved it. Couldn’t keep up when I got to university. I’m not saying your son is the same but please do take advice from the course teams at the universities he is applying to.

Thank you. I have just read your message to him. I hope he’s taken it on board!

I did GCSE maths a year early and got an A and then AS maths (in old 5th year) and got an A. I loved maths. Then hugely struggled at A level although ok with the stats part. I got a D in my mock and had extra lessons and got it up to a C.

I think sometimes it’s just not a ‘fit’ for some brains at that level!

I also did A level Economics and got an A and then did an Economics degree where the maths wasn’t a problem (right kind of maths for me lol). Appreciate Degree courses may well have changed content mind you as I’m old 😅.

Keep on with the tutoring - maybe as someone else said, find someone nearer his age which might click better. Good luck to him and I empathise with his dread…..

I would get a tutor who knows how to pick up points at A level, preferably a current teacher/ examiner for the same exam board your son is taking. I would also get a younger person who can be more like a homework buddy, maybe someone who did it last year. I think those who have done it recently can be good but often it's come quite easy to them so they may not be the best at explaining or knowing how to 'game the system'.

Teachers can be so different and not always hit the required notes with the student.
I loved maths and still do, but doing A level we had 2 tutors. The one tutor was vibrant and everyone took pleasure in his classes so learning the subject was no hardship. The other tutor took no joy whatsoever in her teaching and she was literally reading a textbook aloud. No discussion, absolutely zilch. Everyone struggled with her part of the syllabus to the point that we grouped and dissected the syllabus ourselves to get ourselves forward.
So, in view of this, please try an alternative tutor. Good luck.

Economics degrees can ve BA or BSc with BAs having less of a maths focus and sometimes dont require maths a level. Sometimes they are joint with subjects like politics or social policy. It might be worth looking at these if maths isn't an a level he finds enjoyable.

Even with the best tutor in the world, a student isn't going to improve massively from a D to a B/A with an hour a week of tutoring, if that's all 'extra' he is doing.

He has arsed his way through Y12 when he should have been doing around 5 hours of independent work per week outside of lessons. He should be doing around the same amount of work, possibly more, to keep up with the more difficult Y13 content. Given that as well as keeping on top of the Y13 work, he needs to be mastering the Y12 content that he is weak on, he should be aiming to do around 8-10 hours of maths a week outside of lessons. Is he doing that? If not, that's why he is still working around a D grade and changing tutor won't help because he needs to be putting the hours of practice in to improve.

He should be identifying his weak areas, using online resources - videos to explain the concepts, and worksheets to do the questions, then worked solutions to check and improve his answers. Which resources is he using? Is the tutor helping him with the Y12 content, or with the new, harder Y13 work?

Very very similar. DS1 took A level Business, Geography and Maths. He got a very good 7 at GCSE but struggled massively at A level.
We got him a tutor from year 13 onward who spent 90 minutes with him every week and more as exams came near. He came out with a B, a very hard fought B and almost to the detriment of his other subjects.
No real advice. It was a stressful time as he needed AAB for his first choice uni and the lowest grade was always going to be Maths so really put the pressure on for all three subjects.

Yes I think that part of the problem is he still hasn't been doing enough, although he thought he was. He's using Bicon maths (spelling?) and is currently upstairs doing practice questions from maths genie. I've told him he must work through the answers and find where he has gone wrong, and he must do lots of practice as per the advice here. Does it go in though...

I mean, you can lead a horse to water but it's his A-level at the end of the day. He's probably now thinking that the tutor is the problem and if he just switches tutor his grade will improve.

He needs to be doing the work. If he's doing ok in class and then struggling in exams it's because the methods aren't going into his long term memory, and the reason for that is because he isn't doing enough practice outside of lessons. Your memory is such that you forget almost everything about a lesson overnight and if you don't go over it again soon then it's gone. It's not enough to do a couple of questions and think 'yeah I can do that' because he won't remember it the next week. He needs to do lots of practice to firm up his knowledge (e.g. mathsgenie) then constantly revisiting to keep it fresh (e.g. past papers). The tutor should be helping by explaining tricky topics to him, but he then still needs to do loads of practice of those topics after the tutor has left.

If he needs the grades for Economics (what is the school willing to predict him?) then perhaps that's the motivation he needs?

Mine turned it around after a D in Y13 mocks and got a B, middle of grade boundary so quite comfortable. Used Uplearn, every past paper going, extra maths class after school for nearly 2 months and as much help from teachers as possible.

Is he looking at a BA or a BSc econ? BA is less maths heavy

OP we’re in an extremely similar boat. Almost identical A levels, grades & degree choice.

What does teacher say? DC’s said he does v well in class but seems to have exam problem. He is now quite focused on practice papers & school are doing some extra classes.DC really enjoys maths so no question of changing subjects

Nerve wracking! I have considered worst case scenario options. DM me if you want…

Oh thanks Bufftailed and i'm sorry to read you're experiencing the same thing.

DS teacher also says he works hard in class, and she said a while ago that his exam results don't reflect his work in class. He says he runs out of time in the exam... but I assume that is because he's having to think so hard on the early questions that he doesn't get to the later ones.

I've booked him in with a different tutor for Sunday afternoon and will see what they have to say. They have already asked me a load of questions, which is promising. They also think it likely he has gaps from GCSE as he got a 7.

He's going to the after school maths lesson which is once a week and last night he was doing Bicen and maths genie. He brought his work down to show me and did appear to be trying... I worry it won't stick though as clearly from all the great advice on this thread, he wasn't doing enough practice.

I feel so stressed about it all! I'm also worried I'll make him really stressed. That's a lot of worry and stress! 🤔

Such a tough one. The school are doing two early morning and one after school extra session. I hope these are effective! I think the points above about them hammering out their own practice is key.

Staying positive with DC, but back ups I have researched are foundation year or doing a 4th A level in a year in a year 14. However it works out there will be further options ahead.

Hoping for the best for both of them!

have you looked at Preply it’s a tutoring app, you can get like grads - maths and economics grads tutoring on there - and they’ve of course all recently done the exams too. It’s all online worth a look.

Sorry OP just one other thing. My DC has confided that he is getting nervous and panicking. I think this in part explains the gap between what happens in class/ in exams. So trying to suggest techniques etc. Papers in timed conditions def helps. If anyone has suggestions around this would be grateful. If he see a question he can’t do early on I think he is losing confidence and then can’t think

Yes I've been reviewing other options, including a gap year where he takes another A level in a year alongside doing something useful with his time. I suggested he could repeat Year 12 and change from Maths to something else but that was met with absolute horror. He insists he can do this 👊so I hope this is the turning point.

I've also just emailed his maths teacher, who is also his form teacher handily, with an update on what we are doing at home about it all.

Yes I think exam nerves could be an issue. I was thinking about timed practice, but wondered if that should come later once the techniques are mastered? Or perhaps the mastering of techniques and the confidence from that will resolve the exam underperformance from all angles?

Try past papers. One question at a time and then look at the mark scheme. The mark scheme is great to see where the marks come from.

Mark schemes are great for reverse engineering the question

Our DC sound v similar - mine also said changing subjects was out of the question and the topic was off limits. His teacher was very clear he thought he could do it so I had to let DC lead.

It’s very easy to feel if it doesn’t all work out to the standard timetable it is a disaster. It might not be ideal, but it’s not a crisis to do another A level or foundation year. It could end up being a positive…

Onwards and upwards 🤪