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!!!!!!

And presumably the same applies to the kid in ds's class- we were talking about the first paper, which they all seemed to find so difficult when I heard about the 26 Presumably the 6 was over all three.

Well he's been told he got a 4 at 26%. I would assume over all three papers, so that was my calculation. Unless the teacher meant 26% of just the first paper (the hardest), as she was trying to convince DS (who was predicted a 9) to do A levels maths as he is apparently a good mathematician, which puzzled me seeing he got marked a 4.

Mocks again in two weeks only in maths and English so hopefully I'll have a more clear image of how bad it is.

Thing is with both English and maths nobody knows what a % will equal grade wise as they have not decided yet - and won't until after the exam

We've been told DS school has marked to worse case scenario. I still can't accept that a child they believe is capable of a 9 may get a 4. We never expected a 9 as I know these predictions are a bit finger up in the air, but he is in a partially selective school and got in on academics, so I was hoping for a 7/6. Not a 4...

Who knows Fleur who knows what any of these children will get?

Dd is predicted a 6/7 for maths and got a 4 in her mock.

In English she is/was predicted a 7 for both language and lit. She got a 2 and a 3 in her mocks.

I feel sorry for this cohort.

Bertrand those grade boundaries on that video are (thankfully) bobbins. They are way too high! The guy has just transferred the percentages over from the old GCSEs not taking into account that the new papers are much harder.
It would be ridiculous to assume that an old G grade candidate could get 30% on the new GCSE - that was the average mark on the November mock!

Also, he hasn't read the new rules on how the 3 grade will be calculated, it will be much closer to the 4 grade on the higher paper.

Looking at old vs new grades on this photo, how does it make sense that in the higher grades three numerical grades correspond to two letter grades, but in the lower part three numerical grades are the equivalent of four letter grades?

My son's school is doing AQA. At a recent parents evening the maths teacher said they would usually have been concerned at the percentages gained in the recent mocks but have been in touch with other schools who all found the percentages lower than previous years.

Out of 240 how much do the children need to get a grade 6 in gcse maths higher paper?

Less than you would need to get a 7, and more than you would need for a 5.

That's all anyone can say for sure at the moment (and indeed till August).

Noble- do you know the marking scheme they usd for the trial mocks before Christmas?

For edexcel yes, it's all still secure though.

Noble my son's teacher Said to him this morning when he went to extra intervention that the students need at least 146 on all 3 papers is he rite? Thank u

Shaistali no one knows.

I'm glad you've said that the grades on that video are too high!

Sorry didn't come back to this yesterday.
Thank you to @Tiggytape & @nobelgiraffe for clarifying re the grades. So bloody confusing. To be fair, even the teachers were getting mixed up.
So 3 possible A grades. hmmm.

There's also a concern that it will put kids off doing maths A-level. If they got an A, they were one off the highest grade and so might still be confident enough to give it a go. A 7, while the same grade standard is now 2 off the highest grade. Students (especially girls) are less likely to believe they are good enough to take maths A-level (especially now AS has gone and most take 3 so can't drop any at the end of Y12).

This is predicted to have a negative effect on maths A-level at a time when we really need more people to take it.

Slow hand clap for the government.

Can schools try to convince them to think in terms of 8/9 if they want to do FM and so 7 is fine for maths a level or something like that?

My school is asking for a 6 to do maths A-level which was met by by the maths department but it's not our decision.

I think there'll be fallout from this new GCSE for years to come but we don't know yet what the full impact will be.

That does sound low, Noble.

My Ds is doing iGCSE and is looking at a low A* (predicted 8 if they'd stuck with the new GCSE) but he's most certainly not strong enough to do A level.

Dds school want a 6 in maths to do geography and dd is worried she wont get it.