I'd like to take Maths GCSE - just for fun!

[create]

I got an A at O-level about 150 years ago Maths was by far my best subject at school, but DCs bring home lots of (primary) homework that's a mystery to me and of course even when I think I know what to do modern methods are different to the ones I learnt (and it's all a bit rusty).

I'd be happy to give a fair bit of time to the study, but would prefer to work through the books myself rather than do a course. Is that realistic?

How do I find out which books I need?
How do I get entered for the exam if I don't do it through a school/college?
What happens about course work? Is there any in GCSE maths these days?
When is the soonest I could take the test?
How much study do you think it would take?

How do I find out which books I need?
Letts do lots of study guides.

How do I get entered for the exam if I don't do it through a school/college?
You can be entered as a private candidate, edexcel has lots of info as well as a list of local centres

What happens about course work? Is there any in GCSE maths these days?
I don't think there is any coursework with maths gcse

When is the soonest I could take the test?
Probably the autumn

How much study do you think it would take?
Depends on how much you need to learn, if you got an A then not much

Thank you purpose. That's really helpful

Do you know that recommended total number of hours study for GCSE? It is true that I got an A at O-Level, but that was a very long time ago

I think I'd like to do it as well .I only 'got' maths in my last year at school (ended up with a B) but I can't remember anything and am struggling now to help ds (Y4) with his homework!

Why don't you start by downloading some past papers, answers and mark schemes?

Might find you can just do them (but I bet we'd all need some brushing up on trig and surds)

I know I will Kez - we were still using log table (no calculators) when I took it!

That's a good idea, but I'm concerned I might be able to do it, but not using the method the examiners are looking for.

My daughter has a great text book AQA Maths GCSE. That has the question grades in as well so you see how clever/dim you are!

Well done on the olden day A by the way. I managed an olden day B .

I'm intending to resit my GCSE Maths against with my ds in a few years. I got A at GCSE before they invented A* and I'm just curious as to if they are getting easier, it really annoys me every year when they release the results.

I have looked over old O'level papers and they certainly had different questions to the GCSE's of my era.

The syllabus has changed a lot since I did GCSE in 1996. There is a lot more statistics that you may very well never have heard of. There is no incorrect method by the way, if you get the correct answert you will get the marks. Questions are phrased differently. I agree with the suggestion to download some past papers and see what you get. Make sure you download the higher tier! If you get 70%+ you can probably just work through some revision guides. If you do terribly, you may want to enroll in an evening class or get a private tutor.

There is no coursework so you dont need to worry about that!

When I did O Level the bright kids did it a year early and then did Statistics GCSE. I think the two are more merged now (although I know there is a Stats GCSE available, I'm not sure if many do it)

Kez100 - DD1s school used to do the Stats GCSE in yr10 for top sets as an extra. But it has disappeared from their options booklet so ir seems the current yr9s won;t get to do it next year.

No coursework required.

Evening classes available in many FE colleges, though they may be targeting students wanting to get a Grade C only. There are two tiers at GCSE Maths, Foundation (grades G-C) and Higher (A*-C/D). You'd be wanting the Higher tier, so check what is offered by your local college. For an idea of time, my FE college runs an evening course for 2.5 hours a week from Sep-Jun term time. Add on private study, that comes to 3-4 hours a week. You would probably need less.

You'll find the content of GCSE Maths a bit different from O level, but not that different, mainly the stats is increased and the algebra decreased. The style is very different. If you have an A at O level I wouldn't expect you to have much difficulty with the content.

Method: maths doesn't really change that much :) I don't think you would lose marks for the way you did things.

Try revision sites - eg BBC Bitesize - or a text book from your local library (maybe after mid-June, they might have been returned by then!) as well as past papers. You may well find there are questions you can almost answer, but need a prompt as to the method. Often text books will help you with using a calculator as well. There are general GCSE Maths text books as well as ones specific to exam boards and specifications (what syllabus is called this week now). If you plan to take an exam it helps to get a text book specific to that exam, only so you don't spend time on something you won't need in the exam. Even this isn't a huge problem, there's not that much difference between exam board content, more varied is the style of question they ask.

There are exams in November, try asking a local FE college.

good luck, and enjoy!

A word of warning if you are planning to do this to help with your son's primary school maths. I teach GCSE and A level Maths in an FE college. The way they teach Maths to my son at primary is a total mystery to me :) I'm planning to ask his class teachers for a quick explanation of any methods they use so I can do the same at home.

The GCSE papers now certainly look much easier than the O'level was in my day.

I did Maths O'level, then A'level at school (late 1970's)
In 1996 I did an OU Maths Foundation, which seemed much easier than A'level had been, and I had done no Maths in between (although worked in I.T. and finance if that loosely counts).

I was very tempted by this course a coupl e of years ago [http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/me624.htm] but never good round to it.

I also re-did mine a few years ago to help my DSs with any homework and to brush up my own knowledge again. They ended up supporting me!

StainlessSteelCat We run courses in schools as part of family learning to help parents understand the maths methods being taught - your school may do something similar. Also there is a good book by Rob Eastaway called 'Maths for Mums and Dads' which explains things quite well. See:

www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Mums-Dads-Rob-Eastaway/dp/0224086359/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306238552&sr=8-1

It's a great idea. It is easy to get hold of free past papers from the internet. Don't pay anything, except for a basic text book. There was a female stand up on 'The Bubble' who was taking A level maths just for fun. BBC bitesize is very good.

Cupawoman thanks for the book link, I'll look into it. No courses that I know of, but they did an "Intro to Phonics" evening, they might do something similar for numeracy.

I'm a secondary maths teacher and everyone has answered your questions already really, just wanted to offer my help should you get stuck on anything or need some help with learning any topics if you decide to go ahead! Go for it...

My kids are signed up to Conquer Maths online which covers Secondary Maths up to GCSE. It's not free, but it has short videos for each lesson, which you can just have playing while you get on with something else for the topics which you are relatively confident on.

Khan Academy is also good and is free but it's based on the US curriculum and the topic titles are slightly different, but I'd recommend it if you want to take your maths study further than GCSE.

Just to point out that I was a GCSE Maths examiner a few years back at unless things have changed dramatically, a correct answer with a wrong method certainly doesn't score full marks, you'd lose the method marks. A correct answer with no working would score full marks.

Hope this helps!

Good luck create. I wish I had an A. I got a CSE level 2 in 1983. I need a gcse c or above to do either a PGCE or EYPS after my degree. I have done adult numeracy level 1 and level 2 (38/40 ) but it is only equivilant to a gcse and the university only accept an actual gcse.
I tried to enrol at college but they wanted over £700 for the course because I am already a student there. I am going to have to enter as a private candidate at a local school (costs about £30).

Create, I did this fairly recently, for the same reasons as you. Maths had been a strong subject for me at school too. Some of the GCSE material was very different but as you are good at maths you will not find it difficult and you will not need to do much work. (But I enjoyed it!)

I did it at a FE college which was offering an evening class (about 8 months of classes in terms). All the others needed it for access to university/teacher training and nobody seemed to mind that I was there just for interest. (I had worried about that.) I was asked to help others quite a lot which I didn't mind at all-good preparation for helping my DCs. It was fun.

If you plan to take an exam it helps to get a text book specific to that exam, only so you don't spend time on something you won't need in the exam.

Do you know that you said that out loud?

I'm thinking of starting in September too but for different reasons. I was a rebel at school and flunked all my exams achieving a grade F at GCSE. This was despite scoring 100% aged 11 in a scholarship exam (I didn't go).

I'm self employed but have a yearning to teach that won't quite go away and need a grade C for a PGCE, I also need to do it for my own sense of worth. I have postgraduate level qualifications but in terms of general education I'm stuck at age 11 as I achieved nothing at secondary school.

I want to do Maths and Science this year and then a couple of A levels.

I will have to study via ICS or Oxford Open Learning. Do you think I will struggle? I suppose I will have to teach myself the basics all over again.

Hi I did GCSE maths at college evening classes a couple of years ago. They have recently changed the tiers in the modular exams but I did middle tier (we had no choice, we all did middle) and got the top grade so was very happy! There was a bunch of us oldies and a load of resitting 16 year olds who messed around!! I loved it though and made some great friends.

My advice would be definately join an evening class, it is so much easier revising with someone and having that support.

My GCSE WAS modular with exams and multiple coursework over 9-10 months. At least 2 courseworks were in depth projects and they count towards the grade.

In my experience it is quite hard but easier in that you can do it bit by bit (maybe that it why they claim it is getting easier?)

I have also sat another GCSE as a private external candidate (I did the study through ICS but had to find my own centre). I found it a nightmare to find somewhere that would accept me and eventually found one at a private school an hours drive away who primarilly did it for home educated kids. It was £85 approx. No local school or college would accept outside candidates and many people I know also found the same, so may be worth checking this aspect first.

I found the colourful revision guides the best (letts).