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!!!!!!

I hope the boundaries are set low. There are some evil questions out there where I would get zero as you don't even know where to start!

Yes the maths papers are too hard

Lots great tips thanks everyone.

Hi 'Noblegiraffe' my ds is keep getting 84/240 what grade do u think that is I know no one knows but do u have an idea some times he gets close to a 90/240 30 or 28 on each maths paper thanks for reading this

I wondered if any of the maths teachers on here could please take a look at my DS's handwriting, he has dyspraxia and usually has a scribe for maths, (I have a written about this on another thread so apologies if it appears familiar) but learning support didn't put the request in to the exam board in plenty of time and now they are saying there is a possibility it is too late and he won't be able to have a scribe at all. Can you understand his writing, he's been doing practise papers and this is about as good as it gets. He has permission to use a laptop for all his other subjects, but it doesn't really work with maths.

Sorry, forgot to add the pictures.

I think that is readable. Using a scribe in Maths is hard because of the notation.

Very similar to ds's - he types his exams but handwrites maths. I think it quite legible so wouldn't worry.

Happymum - I'd always defer to Noble, but ds's school has indicated that 28 on each paper (assuming higher not foundation) would be a grade 5 (42+ they've estimated a 7 and 68+ a 9) - but who knows.

Thanks Titchy and Marco, that's very reassuring. At parents evening we had a teacher tell us that whoever marks his paper could potentially refuse to mark it if they can't read his handwriting so we've been a tad panicked!

Thanks Titchy that's very helpful he's trying and he's doing higher paper in maths. I really hope it is that because he needs a grade 5 in maths.
Good luck to all the dc

I always tell students if it can't be read it can't be marked. I have seen much worse writing than that though.

Marco, that's about as good as his handwriting gets and we're still working on it, so fingers crossed all should be ok. He has always had a scribe for maths exams, but says it does interrupt his train of thought so maybe no scribe will end up being for the best.

Next time is it possible for him to write it and then the scribe copy it. I know that had worked for some of my students. Also having some templates prepared and pointing out what is required, this was at A'level equivalent though.

Marco, I did ask this but head of learning support said he has to read his work out and the scribe will write it down word for word. He's such a bright boy, but this has really held him back.

Happy a 5 is where my school would put those marks too, but we'll just have to see.

Steggers That handwriting is absolutely fine. You see way worse! If a marker refused to mark it, then they'd just pass it to a marker who could. It's messy, but the numbers are clearly formed.

Thanks *noblegiraffe I really hope so

Does anyone know the grade boundries for double science gcse? Would be really helpful

Grade boundaries are determined AFTER exams, but you could look at last years (Google the board and subject) for an indication.

Will do thanks Titchy

HappyMum543 there's quite a lot of discussion about today's GCSE Biology paper on the Year 11 thread which you might find interesting if you've not seen it
(Apologies if you have)

Thanks will do error

Hi noblegiraffe - I hope all is well.

Just wanted to ask, my Y9 son will do EOY bards tests soon. They use My Maths OUP. In Y10/11 they follow Ed Excel Maths. Does this usually mean schools do Ed Excel Gcse baseline tests at the end of Y9. Please advise

Apologies for typos - retyped below

Hi noblegiraffe - I hope all is well.

Just wanted to ask, my Y9 son will do EOY MATHS tests soon. They use My Maths OUP 3C. In Y10/11 they follow Ed Excel Maths. Does this usually mean schools do Ed Excel Gcse baseline tests at the end of Y9. Please advise

I'm afraid there's no certain answer to that portico. My school does Edexcel GCSE but when we used the Edexcel GCSE baseline tests a couple of years ago they were absolutely bloody awful, so this year we used our own created tests for the end of Y9. We use AQA tests for the rest of KS3, so tbh it's a bit of a mishmash.
You'd have to ask the school if you want to know what format the Y9 exams will take, although the kids should be told what they're going to be on anyway before sitting them so they know what to revise.

Thanks Noble.
Btw, Maths GCSEs next week. A hell of a lot of booster sessions for Maths than other subjects at my son's school