Should ds do further maths GCSE?

[coffeerevelsrule]

School are offering it via fortnightly after school sessions and are especially aiming it at those doing A level - ds is Y11 btw.

He's top set but up until Y10 was always towards the lower quartile of top set. Once GCSE started he seemed to flourish in the subject and was getting 8s and 9s is assessments/papers. Teacher said he was in the top 5 in the class. Just before Christmas they did their mocks and Ds got all 9s, which he was of course very pleased about. However, his real passions and forte are history/ English and French, and they will be his A levels.

Since the mocks he is determined to repeat the achievement in the summer and I am worried he is going to disappointed. He'd obviously very able and works hard as well but you never know what will happen with grade boundaries or a rogue question coming up. I'm trying to be supportive while reminding him that 8s and 7s are also excellent grades etc.

While revising maths or practising recently he quite often seems to come across questions he really can't do, and this leads to him being very upset and angry. It's almost to the point where I dread him saying he's doing some maths work. These are just the hard questions and he keeps saying he's going to fail - by which he means not get a 9. They did another paper last week and the teacher keeps saying there are some shocks and not everyone got 9s who usually does, which is annoying too.

I have found out ds is doing further maths just because most other people/his friends in top set are and he thinks he would look stupid not to be doing it. I think it's the last thing he needs and he should just focus on the maths he has to do and accept he may well not get the very top grade in that rather than thinking he's going to get it in FM as well.

I'm thinking of contacting the his maths teachers but wondered what people here think.

Do you mean just one session a fortnight after school? That doesn't sound like enough.

I don't necessarily think the issue here is maths as such, but more likely perfectionism.

In English and history, there won't be questions to get wrong in quite the same way as maths, they are much more essay based subjects.

I think if you stop the further maths, then it's very likely that the issues will transfer to something else.

What does he say about the idea of dropping it?

I agree with @Postapocalypticcowgirl that the issue is not FM but the need for the toppest marks.

It's not easy to achieve all 9s (whatever you read on MN) and students can get very stressed about it. Schools IMHO don't help either.

But the FM with one lesson a fortnight after school, at this stage of yr 11, sounds like a nightmare and unlikey to lead to a great result.

What does he say when you suggest dropping it? Surely better to focus on other subjects esp if planning humanities A levels.

If he is planning on doing A level Maths/Chemistry/Physics he should definitely do Further Maths if it is offered as it really helps at A level.

If he isn't planning on doing any of them at A level then its not imperative.

Not sure why they are offering it so late. They start this in Year 10 at DDs school (as an extra - 18 of them started it and now there are 6 left who will actually take the exam)