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Secondary education

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Original poster

If your DC needs to resit maths, please read!

46 replies

noblegiraffe · 22/08/2015 11:20

If your DC got a D in maths GCSE then they will need to resit GCSE maths. If they got below a D, then they can take functional skills instead, but not all schools offer this.

The pass rate for 17 year olds resitting GCSE maths is a dismal 35.8%

The first chance to resit is in November, with results in January. If they fail in November, then the next chance is June. If they pass in November, that frees up the rest of the year to concentrate on other subjects. If not, it means maths lessons, maths homework and preparing for exams in June when they have other exams going on.

If they fail in June, then they need to continue resitting in Y13.

Students should try as hard as they can to pass in November. Unfortunately, I've taught a lot of resit classes and this is unusual. They forget a lot of maths over the summer. Then they spend time settling into their sixth form courses. Then November comes around really quickly and they suddenly start thinking about maths but it's too late.

If your DC needs to resit maths, I would suggest that they start preparing for November now, in order to counter the backwards slide over the summer.

There are some very useful websites here:

corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/
www.hegartymaths.com
www.mrbartonmaths.com/gcse.htm

I know a lot of students will see their other courses as their priority, but I know my resit class this year spent a lot of time wishing they'd got it out of the way in November.

OP posts:
sandgrounder · 26/08/2015 10:28

Thank you for this really useful information and the site links. It has answered a lot a questions before sixth form enrolment.

BestIsWest · 26/08/2015 10:42

Thank you for this. We are in Wales and not sure there is a November resit here. DS is one of those 17 year olds and has just had his 3rd attempt. He got an E this time, one mark off a D so is having a re mark.

I have also asked for the papers so that I can see where he is going wrong.

He is severely dyslexic and struggles with mental arithmetic although he is ok with the concepts of algebra etc.

A friend suggested he might be better off attempting the higher level paper as I suspect he is making lots of small mistakes. Do you think this might be an option?

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 26/08/2015 11:12

Yes, WJEC have November resits too, 4th and 10th November.

If it's his arithmetic that's letting him down, and he is good at the more abstract concepts, then Higher might be worth a try as he isn't getting anywhere with Foundation.

I would say though, that it would be best attempted with a tutor. If he has only studied Foundation then he should be taught some Higher tier topics too: some quadratic equations, trig, cumulative frequency (I don't know the Welsh syllabus, I'm assuming the topics are similar to England).

He could attempt some higher tier papers, see how it goes before deciding.

OP posts:
BestIsWest · 26/08/2015 17:04

Thank you. I will sort out the November resit. We've had trouble getting tutors. The two we've had were not very good.

PenelopePitstops · 26/08/2015 17:06

Fantastic post noble. Hear hear.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 26/08/2017 11:01

Bumping this. New year, new batch of resitters.

The rules have now changed. If you got a 3 you have to resit GCSE. If you got a 2 or below then you can be entered for GCSE or an equivalent such as Functional Maths.

The pass rates for resits this year were even worse than last year I think.

OP posts:
Peaceandl0ve · 26/08/2017 12:27

Bestiswest, where in Wales are you? Are you in the far west, we are Wales too, I may have a few contacts re tutor, a long shot but you never know.

catslife · 26/08/2017 12:27

Further questions:

  1. are November resits still available?
  2. If your dcs took the old A*-G GCSE do they now need to switch to the 9-1 GCSE?
Peaceandl0ve · 26/08/2017 12:28

Sorry, should have seen this is an old thread, oops

Gingernaut · 26/08/2017 12:33

The problem with Functional Skills, is that there are courses which rigidly adhere to GCSE requirements.

Even my local college had problems. Adult students had the FS Maths course under their belts, but still had to do GCSE Maths course the following year as their Access to Further Education specifically required GCSE Maths Grade C or above.

They were not happy at having to postpone their Access studies for another year.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 26/08/2017 12:49

November resits are still available. If you are in the UK, it is a condition of sixth form funding that resitters sit a reformed 9-1 GCSE if they got a D or a 3.
If they need to resit English, then they must sit English Language, you cannot resit English lit or English lit and lang.
If the student sat IGCSE previously, they cannot resit IGCSE.

OP posts:
OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/08/2017 13:11

What if a student got a D in a year 12 resit?

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 26/08/2017 13:30

They need to do 9-1 in Y13 I'm afraid! Being allowed to do a legacy resit in June was a last minute intervention, they were meant to do 9-1 then too! Shock

OP posts:
OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/08/2017 15:09

I thought so, unless they can find an place sitting the igcse. So there's no chance of getting away with Functional skills instead?

Cafeconleche · 27/08/2017 10:24

noble would it be worth resitting in November to try to get a grade 4 foundation maths up to a 5? It doesn't affect 6th form choice but am thinking further down the line.

Cafeconleche · 27/08/2017 10:27

Meant to add, would it be worth paying to get the maths papers back so see where the weaknesses were?

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 27/08/2017 10:33

I really don't know what to advise about getting a 5. I think if they were close and are willing to put some work in to give it a shot then why not? But obviously students have a lot on their plate with settling into college courses.

Justine Greening said that everyone should accept a 4 if they accepted a C, but we've seen that there are already universities saying a 5. This might change, but then again it might not.

If your DC sat Edexcel you don't need to pay to see papers, schools already have them. Through ResultsPlus they can also print out a topic breakdown of weak areas for revision. Not sure if other exam boards offer similar.

OP posts:
Cafeconleche · 27/08/2017 11:08

Thanks noble it was AQA so I think we'll have to pay to get the papers back. Had a nightmare at school with maths teacher being off sick from Jan-March and, even with extra private tuition, just couldn't make up the difference. I think I'll see how 6th form goes and of DS will be able to cope with maths revision (having not looked at a maths book for 2 months...) Whatever Justine Greening says I take with a pinch of salt, and I do worry about it affecting uni applications (even though he'd be doing languages and humanities) as I know some are already asking for a 5. In the meantime, many many thanks for all your posts. They're always spot on!

incogKNEEto · 27/08/2017 12:17

Thanks for your post giraffe, reading with interest as DD has just got results for year 12 resit, and got less marks than the original exam, both resulting in a D/3. She did higher paper in year 11, and Foundation in year 12.

What do you advise her to do for her retake in November? Should she try and get entered for the higher paper again? Thanks.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2017 13:35

incog I think if any Y13 resits in November they should just do it to try out the new spec and get their papers back to see their weaknesses. I think the new spec is so different and with so much new content that someone who is just prepped for the old exam would be very unlikely to pass.

Even with the first round of results teachers are unsure about which tier to enter borderline candidates for. My foundation group did well so I'd say foundation but other teachers looked at the 17% for a 4 on higher and wished they'd done that instead.

I think if she's just done foundation she should stick with that and see how it goes. Higher would be an awful shock.

OP posts:
Berthatydfil · 28/08/2017 13:46

Bestiswest
Please check which tier he was entered for.
In Wales we now have 3 tiers
Foundation - highest grade possible D
Intermediate -highest grade possible B
Higher Grades D to A*

Also we have maths and numeracy.
I have been told but you will need to confirm that colleges will take either at a pass grade.
If he's not good with written text I would avoid numeracy.

Also if he's struggling to get above an E I would say he sat either the foundation or the intermediate papers.
I would not suggest he tries higher as he will not even get a grade but he might wish to try intermediate.

The Wjec have the specification on their website and Amazon sell student text books.

Is he accessing all assistance to help with his learning needs?

Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 13:50

noble, do you know if the grade boundaries are generally lower for resits? I ask because so many borderline students were put into Foundation, I wondered if it skewed the results (even though I know the boards do an adjustment for grade 5 across both tiers). And I wondered if you had a chance to look at the Higher and Foundation papers and have been able to glean anything from them (eg, it was easier to get a 5 on Higher than Foundation, even with the adjustments...?) I only ask because I am wondering what to enter my DS for, if we decide to go for it and try to get his 4 up to a 5. He was doing really well on the mock Foundation papers (such as they were) so I don't know what went wrong in the actual exams. AQA, so I'll ask for the papers back before he resits (if he does) and see where he went wrong. Also (and finally!) this is probably a really daft question, but is it possible to sit both Foundation and Higher at the same time (ie, do one exam paper straight after the other at the resit, so not leave the exam room and no chance of cheating, but be able to give both tiers a shot...)?

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2017 14:16

There's not going to be any pegging of grade boundaries for the results so I'd expect them to be very similar to this summer (obviously might be adjusted for a more difficult paper). The pass rate for resits is horrendous anyway so I can't see them making it easier.

You can't sit Foundation and higher, it's exam malpractice, schools that try to will get in trouble if caught!

If he is aiming for a 5 then when you get his papers back, look how he did on the 'crossover' grade 4-5 questions - these are the questions that are the same on foundation and higher. The school should be able to tell you which they are. Those are the ones that he needs to get the marks on for his 17% on higher (or whatever the AQA grade boundary was). How close he was to getting those right would help you decide. If he got a good amount of marks on the crossover questions but lost too many marks on the earlier questions (it was a bit of a slog!) then try him with higher (and teach him a bit more higher content) If he didn't do very well on the crossover questions but put in a solid performance on the easier ones, then try again with foundation.

OP posts:
catslife · 28/08/2017 14:20

I know it's not possible to sit both GCSE tiers with the same exam board.
I think that all GCSE papers are marked together - they aren't treated any differently if they are resits or sat for the first time! So no difference in grade boundaries, mark schemes etc.

Cafeconleche · 28/08/2017 14:21

Thanks noble - you deserve a medal for your services to MN. Waaaaaaay more helpful than DS's school!

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