AQA Maths help

[Henrysmycat]

Hello. After a long illness my DD14, Y9, was dropped from her top set in Maths at her school as she didn't perform on the level her school wanted in exams.


Her school after half term has started KS4/GCSE maths and her teacher mentioned that the level they teach on her current set, a grade 5 would be the best they can aim for. I know she can do better as she had aced her 11+ and done very well after that until the illness.

I'm looking what to do to support as her school seem to have put her in a box with no indication of upward mobility between teaching sets if she improves over time.


While I studied here, (funnily enough I have a PhD in Engineering Maths from Imperial College) I did my secondary education overseas so I'm not familiar with the system here.

I'm looking for resources, paid or free, so I could help her improve. And while, I have a list of the curriculum I don't know where to go to find what each subject includes. Her school don't seem that interested tbh.

I did some search but they are many websites and not sure of their quality so any books, websites, advice or even teaching tools for me would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Notcontent]

Here are my favourite materials for GCSE maths:

Corbetts maths - online worksheets and answers

DR Frost full coverage sheets (more advanced, so that’s for later)

CGP books

My top tip for maths is to do lots of it!

[BotCrossHuns]

You need to go through the exam that she sat and work out why she didn't perform better - was it many small careless errors that added up, or was it some questions that she just didn't know how to do at all? Was she better on practical, worded problems, or more abstract questions? If she is generally good at maths, and understands the higher level/abstract problems, doesn't mind working out what to do, etc, then she might be able to start in the higher set and if she continues to struggle, move down to the lower one. In my experience, schools are more reluctant to move a foundation set student up to a higher one once they have started, as there is a lot of content to catch up on. On the other hand, spending too long in a higher set where she isn't following at all might mean that she's missing out on consolidating the foundation work, or spending inordinate amounts of time on maths that could be spent on other subjects.

There are lots of past papers for higher and foundation level GCSE online, and you could look through those to see what she needs to do, and how much she's prepared to work. Some students up to about Year 8 or 9 are still working the way they did in primary school ,where with common sense, you can figure out a lot of maths, and once you've understood it, you don't need to do a lot of revision. Then when they get to secondary, and there are a lot more topics in maths, they do sometimes need to do some revision on these - actually learning the names of angle rules, properties of shapes, terms in statistics, what words like factorise mean, etc etc., and if they are still just assuming that they will remember everything after being taught it, they can be in for a surprise. Luckily those situation can be quite easily fixed, with some decent revision, learning what the instructions to different questions might say, how different topics could be tested - all of these take practice, but can be learned.

But if the problems are more that she isn't understanding the more abstract material, or can't cope with the longer, multi-step problems ,etc, then she might be happier in the foundation class. It is still challenging, goes up to grade 5, which is perfectly decent for going to sixth form, getting jobs etc, if you don't want to continue in maths.

worth looking at the information available, looking at past papers and revision guides, looking at her exams and work, talking to her to see how much work she is prepared to put in, considering whether she is likeliy to want to do any course that needs a 6 in maths, and talking to the teacher/head of dept to see what the possibilities are of starting in one set and switching later. Many schools don't make a final decision on which tier until Year 11, but that does rely on students being in a set that is being taught at least some of the higher content all along.

[TeenPlusCat]

For maths there are 2 tiers of papers.
Foundation which gets you grades 1-5,
and Higher which gets you grades 3-9.

If she really is now in a set that won't be taught any higher tier material (which seems surprising if she 'aced 11+' - is that grammar or independent?), then she will be limited to a grade 5.

Sets for the school shouldn't be set in stone in y9 though so I would check whether if she does well in the next tests she has a chance to move up again. At DD's school they didn't decide for borderline pupils until y11.

There isn't really KS4/GCSE maths in the same way there is for eg History or Eng Lit, it's a cumulative program from Reception really.

[lanthanum]

If she was that able at year 6, then it sounds as if her absences have meant that she's missed some key building blocks. Gaps in maths often don't really make their presence felt until a bit further on, when incomplete understanding makes the next stages difficult to master.

I would be asking to speak to the head of maths. Her target grade, if she did well in year 6, is likely to be high, so they ought to be aware that she should be capable of more. In most schools, sets are not permanent, and movement is still possible - check whether that is the case, and ask when they will next be reviewed. If they don't seem interested in giving her any individual help to find where the problems are, then if you can afford a tutor, do. A good tutor should be able to find out what she's not grasped and get things sorted out. They may find it helpful to see her recent exam paper as a starting point.

If a tutor isn't an option, perhaps use a KS3 book to try and pinpoint which topics she struggles with. I would start with KS3 as it's more important to plug any gaps in the work she's already covered than to get ahead on things she hasn't done yet.

If you take action now, then hopefully the next time they review the setting, she'll move up.

[noblegiraffe]

How long was the illness? Going from top set to a foundation group is a bit dramatic (unless it's a tiny school with 2 groups).

So she was a high-flier and did well in maths until she was ill, then came back to school, did badly in some exams (which you'd expect if she had missed a lot of school) and the school then moved her down?

If she did badly in the exams due to having missed a lot of school, then she would have the ability to catch up in the next couple of years. I would contact the school, say that you think she has the ability to sit the higher paper, having been successful in top set up until her illness and ask what she needs to do to catch up the work missed when absent, and how to be moved back up to a Higher tier group.

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

The final decisions on papers aren't made right until the last minute - there's plenty of time for her to be moved back up once she's caught up and then put forward for the higher paper; loads of kids move up and down in sets during Year 10. She just wouldn't be able to cope with top set at this moment - doing the lower set work will enable her to fill in the gaps in her knowledge.


The Head of Maths should be able to provide a Scheme of Work for both tiers and likely some level of assessment that highlights the concepts she has not yet become confident with. It's to their advantage to support that, as frequently they are keen to ensure that everybody at least meets projected grades in accordance with their assessments at age 11.


In short, don't panic. Talk to the HoM and her HoY (as perhaps there are other subjects where she has missed significant amounts? If she's still achieving at the same level int hose, that could also give weight to the idea she returns to the higher set.

[SeasonFinale]

blutick.com/

would be my recommendation for top up at home

[KarrotKake]

Is it mainly Y9 she has missed?
I'd be tempted to get a Y9 maths book from CGP and work through the whole year (better yet, get some info from school about what topics she has missed teaching for).
You need to fill in the gaps if you can, before trying to move forwards.

[rnsaslkih]

i would get the GCSE spec and go through it methodically either yourself or have a tutor do it. Even if you are capable, it may be more effective for a tutor to do it as they’d be familiar with the course/pace etc.

[Henrysmycat]

Thank you for the replies and the information. To answer some questions. She was put in the lowest set for Higher and for what I understood a 5 is the best she could aim at her current level.
She did 11+ and got into an independent school but for various reasons we had to move and she was put in the local school until we found what to do next. Then the illness kept her away from end of year 8 and until pretty much now which is end-ish of Y9. She’s not mathematically inclined, she’s good in English and languages. Her good 11+ was because of lots of revision and hard work but it seems like such a long time back and things have change since then.
thanks again.

[TeenPlusCat]

A 5 would be 'good enough' unless she wants to do science A levels.

[Alsoplayspiccolo]

My DS has gone up from 5s throughout year 11 to now getting 7s and 8s (he’s in the middle of GCSEs right now).

The best resources he’s used are CGP book and flash cards, Corbett Maths, Maths Genie, and GCSE Maths Tutor on YouTube.

As has been said, simply doing maths - as opposed to reading books on it - has been instrumental in his huge improvement.
His teacher stressed the importance of really getting to grips with the basics before looking at anything remotely challenging.

There are lots of walk-through videos on YouTube and lots of questions with mark schemes that really help see each step required in more complex questions.

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

Her ability with language is the key to being able to get the higher grades - because she'll be able to understand the questions and what they are wanting her to demonstrate; she's in a stronger position precisely because of that, it's just the actual filling in the gaps in mathematical knowledge she needs.

There's often an element of 'I'm good at English, which means I can't do Maths'. It's bollocks. I heard that throughout my childhood. Finding out that I could actually do astrophysics and engineering level equations, working out for myself the way to combine formulae in order to get to the data I needed, made me realise that actually, no, I'm actually very good at Mathematics - and I now spend a lot of my week handling data (with a side order of the skills in language and communication meaning anything I present is a thing of beauty, wonder and very easily understandable to others).

She's had her confidence knocked due to absence. She can and will get it back.