Any maths teachers/tutors about? Fairly simple q. (I think) about practice papers

[DolorestheNewt]

DS (Y11 so GCSE in summer) has form for marking his own practice papers and not being attentive to detail when he does it, with the result that he's often disappointed with the outcome for the real exam. I think I'm going to see if I can find someone to mark and annotate his GCSE chemistry and biology papers during the Easter holidays so that he can't "hide" from lost marks as he might left to his own devices, but I wondered about maths - is it more straightforward to mark a practice paper against the mark scheme for maths? Can I leave him to do those? Any maths teachers or tutors about?

For context, he's a solid 7 who could def get an 8 if he practised a bit more and could tidy up some careless error-making, and he wants to do Maths at A level so his grade is important for confidence, even if it doesn't change his raw ability (IYSWIM).

TIA

To be honest I reckon you could have a good go yourself for all the science and the maths just from the published mark scheme.

I think any 'self-marking' is prone to bias, and if you did it for him you would be more harsh.

TeenTimesTwo I'd agree, but I tend to go the other way and argue with him about every comma and full stop. I'm the other way, I can't get past worrying about the tiniest detail. I'm coming to the conclusion that no price is too great to reach September with our relationship more or less intact!

Fair enough

Will his school be running any revision sessions for science in the Easter holidays? If so, he could turn up with the questions you dispute between the two of you and get the teacher to explain which view is correct, and why. There really shouldn't be that many to dispute, it's not like English. I found the science mark schemes pretty clear when DD1 did her GCSEs.

No, no revision sessions during the holidays. Not a bad idea to just take the disputes to a teacher next term if there's time, though. Time's a bit tight for paper 1, but paper 2 (Chem/Bio) isn't till June. That's an idea.

Did you find maths mark schemes unambiguously just right or wrong?

On the whole, yes.
There were key things you had to say, especially specific terminology.

I'm working on terminology with DD2, y9.
e.g.
You can't say the 'negative thingies whizz around outside the middle of an atom'. You have to say the 'negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus.

Sorry, you asked re maths. Yes the maths schemes are pretty clear. They know what mistakes the kids make and they cover them in the scheme. For multi-mark questions they are very clear what you have to do to get part marks.

Good to know. Thanks so much!