Higher paper maths and science

[MegCleary]

DD is doing mock GCSEs this week and is in top set for maths and science and doing the higher papers.
I have said if she is really struggling for the real thing she may need to drop to the lower level. She is more artistic and planning graphic design for the future and an English literature a level.
As this is where her strengths lie I have said do your best and revise but please don’t get too stressed about maths and science (she puts a lot of internal pressure on herself, tracks having OCD to when she did her sats!).
But she says if she does a lower paper the highest she can get is a 5. Is this true? I was educated in a different system, she is my oldest and the system is all new to me.

It's correct that if you take the foundation paper, the highest grade available is a 5.
It's often recommended that borderline children, particularly if they don't need particular maths/science grades for higher study take the foundation paper to be sure of "banking" a 5. The danger of taking the higher paper might be that you end up with no grade at all.

But, unless your DC goes to a particularly small or very non-academic school, I wouldn't expect a top set student to be thinking about foundation papers.

Wait and see how she does in mocks and what her teachers say - they'll usually use mocks results to firm up who is sitting which paper. Is sitting foundation something they have suggested?

No they say she can do higher paper, I just want her less stressed.
Maths forecast grade is 5, target grade 6+
(I question how useful this is from her school report last week)
Biology and chemistry forecast 7, target 7
physics forecast 6, target 7.

Bump

Why the bump - your question has been answered Yes if she sits foundation her max grade will be 5. Doing an easier paper isn't the answer (she'd have to get a much higher number of questions right on a foundation paper) - managing her own stress is. A top set kid shouldn't be doing a foundation paper, don't limit her.

I had this with DS1, we were given the advice by school to take the higher paper, we organised a home tutor a couple of times a week to help our son with the maths he was finding difficult. He passed fine, and got all the passes he needed for the college course he really wanted.

@Roselilly36 Thanks for the tutor idea, we’ll see how the mocks go.
@titchy i bumped to see what others did in a similar situation. Wouldn’t have thought of a tutor not done where I was brought up.

I doubt if a school would be happy with a student who was forecast a 7 taking foundation tbh. I taught MFL where foundation is also an option and would advise it for any student whose realistic best grade was a 5. If they were set for a 6 or a 7 then they should be taking higher for sure.

A tutor might help her with confidence around the exam and technique.

Is she in a low performing school? (not a criticism of the teaching, may reflect the catchment) Odd that a top set child is predicted a 5 in maths.

How have you got to Y11 without knowing about the Foundation / Higher papers and grade boundaries?!

I don’t think you should be limiting her. I also think that the way to deal with stress isn’t always to just “give up” and take an easier paper. Yes, if the Higher paper is beyond her ability or quite risky if she’s borderline and that’s the source of the stress. But if she’s the type to stress about exams per se (like the SATs, which weren’t that important) then you may find she has as much stress whatever paper she does - and what you need to do is guide her in managing stress. You may do her a disservice both in the grade she’s capable of AND in learning to deal with stress if you encourage her to drop a level.

Sounds like she’s doing Triple Science too - again, not the profile of a child that needs to do the Foundation paper. I think you’d risk her feeling that she shouldn’t believe in herself.

I think it’s worth checking - as you didn’t know the grade range for foundation - are you aware that the Higher paper allows for a 9-4?
So although there’s a risk of not passing if you miss the 4, a 4 is actually pretty low for a child achieving 7!
I wonder if you’re mistakenly assuming that Foundation is 1-5 then Higher 6-9?

Why do you think she's struggling?

Unless there's some real problems in the department, following an analysis of her mock performance, the maths dept will advise as to the best paper to sit in order to achieve your daughter's target grade. In some cases it's definitely better to sit the higher paper if you're aiming for a 5. In this summers exams, you needed about 35% to get a 5 on the higher paper. But it's over 70% on foundation. I know foundation is easier, but it doesn't leave much room for mistakes or gaps or lack of revision. And if there's a decent chance of a grade 6, then it has to be the higher paper because it's not available at foundation level.

hmmm I would just add to @Luckycatt’s post that though you need to gain a higher percentage for a 5 in foundation, for MFL for sure (maths too I presume) the paper is A LOT easier and much more accessible for a student who is weaker. But if she is too set maths and targeting a 6 then higher makes more sense really. Unless she totally panics.

top set maths obvs

This is all very helpful thank you. Apologies for not knowing the difference by the time she got to do them. Probably as the teachers haven’t suggested it. This is all coming from me not wanting her stressed, she had CBT and a lot of hell when her OCD in full flow and I thought if maths & science not her thing why make it a trigger. I see. I that’s not how it’s done here, and she’s better just aiming for the higher.

We asked for my daughter to do Combined Science rather than separate sciences (triple science) in a similar situation. She had no interest in Science A levels so no impact there, and still did Higher tier.

If she's in top sets for maths and science she's not struggling though?

Agree that combined (double) rather than triple takes the pressure off a bit.