This year's GCSE maths.....

[BertrandRussell]

My ds's maths teacher has just told me that the 7000 odd schools that did the new maths GCSE as mocks recently achieved a modal score of 11% for paper 1. 11% ? Surely not!!!!!!

That does not bode well for Ed Excel students, Scabetty.

noblegiraffe could you point me in the direction of the report on the average results for the secure mocks?

I'd really appreciate it!

I can't I'm afraid! It's behind a password on the Pearson website and the T&C say you're not supposed to distribute stuff on the site without permission (except for classroom use) so I guess people are sticking to that.

Noble have a look at page 10, I put a couple of useful ed Excel maths URLs there for you

Thanks portico, they do look useful!

Please consider linking any good revision sites here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2822454-Study-tips-and-websites-for-those-with-children-in-Y11

Rant about maths text books and revision guides

Having looked at the rigour of Ed Excel Higher Maths Mocks, I can honestly say that I have not found a text book or revision guide that prepares kids.

I have the CGP Higher Text Book, CGP Higher revision Guide,p and Workbook, Pearson Higher Problem Solving, Pearson Higher Extension. Yesterday, I spent an hour at Smiths and Waterstones and bought a 'so-so' Collins Higher Practice Book. Will take back it today.

The above books are essentially straight maths, and don't really have higher order maths questions. I may need to interrogate Amazon and possibly look for maths books from the 60s and 70s.

For example, there was a question where an isosceles triangle sat on top of a rectangle. You had to find the total area of both shapes.The length of rectangle was 8cm, and height 6 cm. the trialangle had hypotenuse 5cm. You then needed to use Pythagorusto work out height of triangle before you could work outs its area. A very good question, but not sure how any books prepare kids for such higher order questions.

Will update soon.

GCSE Maths Edexcel Grade 9 Targeted Exam Practice Workbook

That question about the triangle on the rectangle was also on the foundation paper!

noble, I agree it was in both F and H papers. Point I am trying to make is that no books seems to prepare for it. I do have the CGP Grade 9, but that is a workbook for a. Inority at the top level.

Pearson are creating targeting grade 3,5,7,9 topical workbooks but have not seen samples to give opinion. I also value models answers; the only thing CGP is good for.

Sorry Portico I misunderstood I thought your rant was about the lack of Grade 9 revision books. Best way to prepare is a workbook imo.

No worries lottachocca, I am frustrated as I cannot find the right book. I am very good for 9/10 GCSE 9-1 subjects. But not so good for maths.

I think the Pearson workbooks I mentioned are a potential silver bullet, given Pearson own ed Excel. I understand answers are available. I just hope it is worked answers

Portico it was a 3,4,5 triangle. My D grade resitters managed that question.

Edexcel put together a few papers called top 10% for the previous spec. They contain questions that less than 10% of the cohort could gain full marks. They are good practice for the grade 8/9 students. All the revision guides were put together in such a short space of time so they are not very good. So were the textbooks.
The first SAM paper that were rejected due to its difficulty is good for grade 9 students also. m4ths.com also has a grade 9 paper. No answers included unless you buy them though.

Lots of worked answers

Fantastic, thank you. A thickie like me loves worked solutions. Makes it easier when assessing work of kids,

One of the things I have had 9-1 GCSE students working on is questions that blend topics.
Remember Hannah and her sweets?
It is likely that we will see more of this type of question. Not an area that textbooks cover well, as they tend to be in distinct chapters on each topic.
Also remember Youtube, choose your own maths teacher , lots of worked examples there.

portico is your child Year 11? If so what were their areas of weakness in the mocks? I would concentrate on those rather then searching for ever harder books. What does your child's maths teacher recommend?

What do your school recommend? What resources does the school have subscriptions to?

As I mentioned up thread Corbettmaths is very good - why not try their 5 a day? They are graded by difficulty.

We've just bought the Corbett maths revision cards and DD is really pleased with them, the set out is great for her as a visual learner and they link to videos and more questions and answers.
DD just had her March results and was given a 6 despite teacher telling her shed got a 5 (104/240) - so no less confusion here.

Hi Ollycat, I am helping nephew who is Y11.

Ds1 is Y9, and already at Grade 7, but haphazard in his approach. Tends to use the Pearson Higher Problem Solving books before he knows the fundamentals. I usually try trial and error with hard copy resources before I get it right. Give me until the end of the month, and I will find something and will share with you all.

Can't remember if anyone has mentioned piximaths, but these booklets also have worked answers.

www.piximaths.co.uk/revision-materials

Is anyone else's child really struggling with the new narrative form of many of the questions? DS2 is pretty good at English but put together Maths and English in the wordy maths problems and he is lost! Once he figures out what is being asked, he is not too bad but mostly he just doesn't know what he is supposed to be answering! Getting really worried ....

^
Yes me too ☹️

I like that one even more noble, thanks a lot👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Having just looked at a GCE O'level paper 1 for maths from 1968 I wonder what everyone's worrying about lol!

Is it the one on the Bourton Grange website with other O level and 11 plus papers