Summer Maths help? Year 1 of A level

[discoohno]

My son is convinced he’s fine really badly in his internal year 12 maths exam. He finds the maths teachers quite unapproachable and impatient with him. Quite possibly his fault!

Anyway, has anyone done a summer revision course? He can work on it himself in the summer (I have a Maths degree and can help but I’ve forgotten a lot!) but I think some structure would help. He’s dyslexic and has struggled post Covid with low mood and motivation.

Thanks!

Google is your friend!: physicsandmathscourses.com/book-a-course/a-level-maths-revision-courses.html

If no good, you might want to be more specific about location, budget, online/f2f etc.

Getting a tutor may be a sensible option if budget permits.

@redwineofmine yes thanks. I did see that but it’s not in the summer. Shockingly bad website too!

There wasn’t much in the summer over the dates we can do. Fingers crossed someone here has a personal recommendation as they’re very expensive and I’m sure some are a lot better than others!

I used Tutor Doctor for maths for my severely dyslexic DC. It was for GCSEs though not A levels, although they do provide tutoring for A levels. Raised the grade from a 4 (C) to a 7 (A) over the course of a year. Make sure you tell them your DC is dyslexic. I did and they found me a tutor trained in teaching maths to dyslexics.

@redwineofmine yes would prefer a f2f intensive course I think. Location not an issue as we can travel.

@Discovereads thanks- I’ll take a look.

I think a lot of them did badly on the AS level maths - some weren’t taught some of the questions covered in the paper.

Maybe not panicking at the stage.

Tutor doctor is F2F and they come to your home. (Which was essential for us.)

conquermaths covers slightly more than the first half of A level (what used to be core 1 -4) but not stats or mechanics

integral covers the whole thing and you can select exam board.

There are also 2 courses on edx developed by imperial college revising year 12 maths content (and 6 others covering further maths and year 13)

The first two have a subscription fee whereas edx is free. FWIW I think an hour a day throughout the summer would achieve more than a 1 week intensive course

@piisnot3 thank you.

he just seems to have decided he’s not very good (his two best friends are very able/Cambridge/FM etc..) and I think he annoys the teachers so they’re not patient with him.

I agree that a little and often approach is better. However he does need structure and a kick up the bum. He will not do an hour a day himself. Well he’ll start off doing it then I’ll need to be on his case and do you know, I need some time off that as it’s ruining our relationship.

So maybe a tutor who gives him work to do each week might be best. He needs to take ownership. I wish he would do it himself but I’m not sure what will make that happen. In the meantime I think doing better will improve his confidence and his worth ethic (hopefully).

We used Justin Craig for our two. Might be worth a look.

www.justincraig.ac.uk/summer-school/

It's tough when they have friends who "get it" more easily than they do. My DS is extremely able at maths - but has a classmate who is utterly exceptional and we had a careful conversation with his maths teacher to check where his aspirations should be and encourage him it was worth the effort to match those aspirations.

With regards to the dyslexia - there can be a lot to read and keep track of in A level maths. I tutored a friend's son for a bit a few years back who is probably dyslexic, certainly he's always been slower at reading than everything else. I noticed he'd developed a habit of trying to skip to the question rather than reading everything at the start, which then left him floundering without the details he needed, or missing part 1 of a multipart question. We experimented with strategies to focus on finding the information in the question, underlining or highlighting key words or data for example.

Personally I always liked to try to summarise the information in a complex question at the start of my working, writing it down helps me process it. This doesn't need to take up lots of space or writing time if it is done in a consistent fashion; mechanics problems are of course a good example where you need to start drawing a diagramme and so on. Or a differential equation, pull out and jot down any conditions that are mentioned "starts at rest" write down v=0 at t=0

Possibly working on skills of "what is the question?" could be separated from revising "how do I do it?".

Hope you can find a good course / tutor / strategy to help him regain confidence and build his skills over the summer.

I have used mytutor in the past. Most of the tutors are students and some are very experienced. My DCs seemed to find them helpful.

Maybe try Facebook if there is a local group. If you find someone within walking distance he can get himself there.