When is the best time to get a tutor for GCSEs

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My ds is I think slightly above average educationally and has got by in secondary school with almost no homework and still managed to do ok at school.

We have been talking about GCSEs and he's had a couple of career sessions at school and he thinks he wants to go to uni to do a subject that needs a AAB in a levels including maths and physics.

He likes these subjects and we always said as we sent him to a state school we would pay for a tutor if needed. I don't know whether we should try and find a tutor now to help him pass his GCSEs and get good grades to help him with his alevels or should we wait until yr 10 ?

Thanks

What year is he in now?

I am a tutor (not maths or physics so I am not touting for business!) and I mostly work with students in year 11 who realise they need some support, or from year 10 but in a less intensive way - more general help and revision.

Sorry posted too soon - I meant to add, maybe wait until this time of year in year 10, when teachers may be able to give you a better idea of where is his in the key subjects - if he is on target for 7/8/9 for example then you won't need a tutor.

Year 9 at the moment. The annoying thing ja I could probably tutor him myself but we argue so much when I try to help him with homework.

He really needs to get As in GCSEs maths and science

We started January year 10 for DS1. At that point we knew his target grades, and his working at grades. He basically went from a grade 5 to a 9 (english) so it was worth it for us.

it's not A/B/C at GCSE any more, it's 9-1. I would get a tutor now as I think it's going to be a big ask for someone "slightly above average" to get those grades at A Level. Maths is notoriously difficult.

Does he want a tutor? We got DS a tutor around March of Year 10, but that was specifically at his request. There would have been no point getting one earlier as he just wouldn't have engaged. Does your DS realise he needs to up his game if he's aiming for academic courses?

it's not A/B/C at GCSE any more, it's 9-1 true for England but I believe Wales is still A/B/C.

My son is doing both maths and physics A levels but he is self motivated and achieved 9s at GCSE for these. Although a sixth form will have a minimum grade for taking maths or science at A level, in Ds's case a 7 for maths and a 6 for physics you really need to take into account the progression of those grades from GCSE to A level.

It usually comes down, I know noble is a very helpful maths teacher on here has provided a table with actual Edexcel GCSE to A level results for maths which is shocking when you see a grade 7 which is an A at GCSE drops a few grades down for A level. So to achieve an A at A level, he really needs to be looking at 9s or 8s I believe.

So basically your son needs to start putting leg work in now to push himself. I wouldn't bother with a tutor until year 10 really, Ds2 is in year 10 now.

We started beginning of year 9. Now year 10 and will carry on until GCSEs in 18 months

Depends on your school. Do they think he can achieve an 8/9 in maths and physics?
I'd wait until Y10 or even Y11. My daughter is in Y11 now and she is going to have math tutor after Christmas. It's her weakest subject and she is predicted a 7, which would be great, but I think a tutor will just help her feel more confident. She will also have a tutor for english, but closer to Easter time. She is also predicted a 7, but I think her problem there is exam technique, as she tends to overwrite and run out of time.
The thing is, if you think he needs a tutor from y9, unless his school is particularly poor, I'd wonder if these are good choices for him.

Thanks for the responses.

My DS has never known what he has wanted to study, however he's been getting B's in science tests at GCSE level and doing well in maths with almost minimal homework.

I did maths and physics A levels and actually disagree they are harder, they are just a different skill set. He seems to genuinely enjoy science does well at it when he stops messing around.

And yes his school is particularly bad, inner city school only 40% of students achieved English and maths grade 5 and above last year

OP if your old enough to have a year 9 child, it's safe to say the exams are completely different to when you took them (no offence intended, I'm in the same boat - although I did Maths & Further Maths at A level). There was a thread on here a few weeks ago about children taking Maths A Level and in reality, not likely to do well unless they are genuinely smashing it at GCSE level.

*you're

As a teacher of GCSE english, I would say halfway through year 10 is a good time to get a tutor.

Have they started the science syllabus yet? (DD's school started science in y9 though they didn't start option subjects until y10).

It is unclear to me from your post whether his 'almost no homework' is because the school doesn't set it or he can't be bothered to do it? That might make a difference, as doing the work set by the school should be the starting point.

Then you need to think what you are trying to get out of the tutoring. Does he need help understanding the subject, or just help on question answering technique? Help on understanding would be needed earlier than answering technique for Science. No point starting until they have started the syllabus either way though.

Maths he could be pushed with whenever so you could happily start now if you think the school isn't up to getting him high grades.