Maths mock help please!

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DS1 is in yr 11 and just finished his mocks. He's done pretty well in most of his subjects but we're worried about his Maths results.

He's predicted an 8 next summer, achieved a 5+ in April and a 6 this time round. Is he doing ok? He's my eldest so have no idea if he's still on target.

Our main concern is he's chosen maths heavy A Levels for college - Maths, Further Maths and Physics ( and Geography). I'm wondering if this is a mistake and he's going to take on too much? The further Maths was always going to be taken on with the intention of dropping if necessary.

He's always been seen as an able mathematician , it's very much his thing. However he seems to have hit a brick wall. He's a bit of a lazy learner - does minimal revision etc.

Non of it is helped that he has no idea what he wants to do, so has nothing to aim for. I don't want to over nag at him, he's doing so well in other subjects and I want him to feel proud of himself.

How can we help him with his Maths? Are his results sounding ok? He needs a grade 7 to get into Maths A level? Should we be considering other options?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks for that link @noblegiraffe ! I'm making a note of all of these!

@noblegiraffe , Further Maths isn't a definite. The college recommended applying for it as DS wasn't sure if he wanted to go on to do something maths based at uni. The likelihood would be that he wouldn't take it, but it's there in case he decides he wants it.

Dd got an 8 last summer.

Agree that past papers are really important with maths. Google "GCSE Maths past paper" plus the exam board After he's done a paper he needs to mark it using the mark scheme.

Dd started with a list of topics and divided them into green (confident) amber (ok) red (difficult) She focused on getting better at the red topics rather than revising everything.

I also helped her with exam technique For example at the end of the exam there is often a difficult vectors question worth a lot of marks. In her November mocks Dd would see that it was hard and skip the question but by January mocks had learned that these questions often had 1 or 2 marks that were easy to get so she would make sure she got them.

Great idea with the colour coding @doritosdip ! I find GCSE's a minefield, feel like I'll be a professional by the time DS2 gets to this point

I would agree with noblegiraffe.
Dd got a high 7 in May year 10, which was a past paper when they hadn't covered some of the topics that came up and her teacher has still only predicted her a 7/8. (I have strong suspicions the teacher is trying to make herself look better by under predicting though)
She's exactly like your description: doesn't bother writing anything down and careless especially when easy, and I doubt she did any revision at all, but a natural mathematician.

Sorry, posted too soon. I think I would be going to the school and asking if they really think he should be up 2/3 grades by the summer, and is that usual for their pupils.
They'll probably either say he under performed (in which case query that's happened twice) or say yes. In which case you have the perfect opportunity in asking how they are going to support him to get that grade.

@witchend To be fair to the teacher, predicting 9s isn't done in most schools. This is because the grade 9 is allocated using the following formula:

Percentage of those achieving at least a grade 7 who will be awarded a grade 9 = 7% + 0.5 × (percentage of students awarded grade 7 and above)

Predicted grades are pretty irrelevant anyway.

As always nobles advice is fab. He needs to work harder is probably what it boils down to.

I have known a few kids like this. Liked Maths because they were good at it without having to put any effort into it. It was easy they never did much studying for it but they always got good marks and generous praise.
Around 16yo the exams start, the questions are harder than they are used to and they just haven't put the hard slog of practise practise practise in. They scrape a good mark and go on to A-level.

But they never liked Maths for the actual mathematics and now the subject is really hard. They really aren't equipped to get their heads down and do some serious number crunching and 2 years later they do really badly.

If there isn't a real turn around before the GCSE I would rethink Maths A-Level. Just scrapping a 7 with parents and teachers screaming at him to revise isn't going to work. He actually needs to show that he likes studying the subject, not be forced to.

As for Further Maths, its out of his league.

@Teachermaths yes the school doesn't predict 9s. But the teacher has apparently predicted most of the class the same grade they got on a past paper in May in year 10.

Key word there is apparently.

What are these predictions even used for?

I can guarantee the teacher will not be measured from their own predictions. Accountability doesn't work like that. The school (and sometimes teacher) will be "judged" by the progress the class have made since their year 6 SATS. If she's lucky she'll be "judged" on the progress they have made in the time she has taught them.

I think it’s it’s just about getting his head down and doing more maths tbh but would agree that further maths A level would be a big ask for someone currently at 5/6 level.
Dc got a 7 in year 10 maths mock and an 8 in yr 11 mock. Their predicted grade for gcse in the summer was an 8 and they scraped a 9 . They were told by a teacher who they respected at the start of year 11 that “ you can’t revise it- you get better by doing it” and this turned out to be excellent advice for dc. They worked their socks off using past papers / videos and getting more papers and one-off tricky questions from teachers
They are now doing A level maths which they are enjoying and working hard at but it is by no means easy for them. Further maths wasn’t even considered as they do not see themselves in that league.

Great advice @Johnathonripples , thanks! More practice papers etc it is then. We'll review the Maths A level plan after the next lot of mocks, we had a chat last night and he's got a few other good ideas

I agree with the comments above that practising questions from papers is really important. Here you can search for questions by topic:

justmaths.co.uk/2015/12/21/9-1-exam-questions-by-topic-higher-tier/

I also like Hegarty maths. However in order to decide where to focus my son’s efforts I decided he needed supervision. I managed to find a maths teacher who my son actually likes. His teacher at school is terrible! There are so many companies to choose from in London but we found our maths tutor Dmitri vía Renaissance Tutors:

www.renaissancetutors.com/

Don’t worry, there is still plenty time until the exams :)

We’ve been around 6 sixth forms this year and one of the most helpful comments was from a Maths teacher at one where FM Is a fourth subject. DS asked about it and she said if you take FM then half your timetable is Maths and you have to really love it. Was really helpful as made DS clarify his thinking on what he enjoys and what he wants.

Sounds sensible to have other ideas at this point and review as things go on.

Totally agree with @PostNotInHaste, Ds is at sixth form studying maths, further maths, physics (massive overlap with maths) and computer science.

He absolutely loves maths. And yes, half the timetable is maths for him. He isn't doing an EPQ as the sixth form don't recommend it for his choice of subjects and where he sees himself university wise.

But he pulled himself up by the boot straps to get to where he did maths wise because he lacked confidence which only came out by the end of year 9. He worked incredibly hard doing maths problems daily and achieved a 9 very comfortably. But you have to want it and apply yourself.