I’m stressed about dds GCSEs

[WaffleDogg20]

She’s predicted 4-5s in most things, but she’s just had her mock maths back and she got a 3.

im so stressed for her. She’s desperate to get into do a levels and they have offered ber a place based on her predicted grades. I don’t know what to do for her. She’s always struggled with maths though. Every time we say something she always has an excuse like the teacher hasn’t taught them that yet etc.

argh 😩

I'm sorry to be that person but she is going to really really struggle with A Levels if she's predicted 4-5s.

Do you have a back-up plan in place OP?
4s and 5s at GCSE does mean that it will be "touch and go" to manage A levels.
Some sixth forms do allow pupils to resit GCSE Maths alongside level 3 or A level qualifications. Does this apply at the sixth form your dd wants to attend.
Don't pass on your concerns to your dd, but doing a bit of research into back-up plans may be a good idea.

I think you've just got to go with it now. Apart from a lot of last minute cramming it's too late for any kind of major intervention.
Work as hard as she is willing for the next two months and feel that she's done what she could - and then you can deal with the fallout, be it good or bad, on results day.
A-levels may not be the right path for someone who is getting 4s and 5s at best.

My son wants to do A level maths and I've been told that he shouldn't do it unless he gets at least an 8 or 9 in gcse as it's so much harder at A level standard.
So with 4s and 5s she would really struggle with A levels unless there is a reason she is getting those grades eg she hasn't done any work yet but she will work really hard for A levels.

What does she want to study at A-level OP? Presumably it isnt 3 sciences and maths - is it that she wont get the grades in her A-Level subjects or the 5's she needs in the core subjects? Is tutoring an option?

Maths is one of those subjects that she needs to work little and often. Get her practising maths daily for 20 minutes or so.
Maths and physics tutor is a good site and there are resources on YouTube.
Bbcbitesize is also good but practising questions now is the most important thing so get hold of as many as you can.

Yes agree, daily practice will help her improve her maths. She must have covered it all by now. I assume she is sitting F tier?

Agree also that grades of 4 and 5 are not a great prep for A levels. What subjects does she want to take? Are there other options she might consider?

Yeah, this exactly. A Levels aren't the solution for everyone, and if she's worked for these mocks and only managed a 3, A Levels would be an absolutely soul destroying nightmare for her.

Either a good quality online tutor for 2 lessons a week until the exams. Or if she's overwhelmed already, don't overload her now and plan tutor support for re-take.

With maths, once she's revised each area it's all about going through those practice papers - identify the topic area that each question is asking for, and knowing how to approach each type of question. If shows her working and attempts the question, even if the end answer is wrong, she will still pick up marks - you start really dropping grades if you don't even attempt questions so making sure she can at least have a crack at every question.

The other part of this is the timing - leave some complete practice papers to practice doing to time to make sure she gets to the end of the exam - again, because if you don't even attempt the questions, you can't pick up any marks at all. Getting used to reading the paper first, identifying which questions might struggle with. It's a good idea to answer a few easy ones first to get into the exam, but making sure that you've got enough time to deal with the ones that are harder but often have more marks available if you can have a good attempt at them. It's a good idea to try to have 5-10 minutes spare at the end to go back over the paper - check have answered everything (make sure you turned over the paper at the end and it says that it's the end - the number of people who miss the last question of exams because they didn't turn over the page!), check working on the tougher questions, check there aren't any silly mistakes on easy questions.

Getting the foundations of maths right is also important for some of the physics and chemistry questions on the science papers, so it's worth spending some particular time on the areas that overlap both exams in particular to try and collect those marks on both papers.

"Maths genie" is free, online and goes through every aspect of maths and is specific to each exam board. It has been invaluable to my older children during GCSE and A levels. I would say continue to practise questions and become really secure in understanding of all topics. Even if the level 9 questions aren't attempted, doing really well in all other questions can give you a level 6. Practise and application is so important in maths.

Re other subjects I would make sure you and your dd know the boards for each and all the spec. "Mr Bruff", also free and online, was amazing for my children for english. Get your dd to clock up as many revision hours as possible, it will be hard and quite stressful but revising smart and using good resources can really help grades go up. I also agree with previous posters, A levels are tough, perhaps a combination of A levels and btechs would suit? Best wishes.

Here's something I put together that describes how to make maths easier to understand:

https://thinkskills.net/learning/maths/perspective.html

Give me a shout if you have any questions.

She may really struggle at A level. I knew my daughter would as she got similar grades and has done btecs instead, is thriving and should be going to uni in September if she passes as predicted

A bit of daily practice with past papers. There's definitely still time to bump a 3 up. Also my DD has found maths genie good. She says you can work on questions aimed at different grades. She started on grade 5 level questions and has worked upwards from there. She also prefers the maths genie videos to the Corbett maths ones. She listens/watches whilst doing her makeup 😂
Good luck to your DD. It's a really stressful time for them and us!
Also, I got the equivalent of 4s and 5s in my GCSEs (I was v unhappy at school and young for my age). I scraped through to A-levels (at a new school) and loved them. It was v hard work but I ended up AAB.

Best advice, look at that maths paper to try to work out why she got a 3. Depending on the paper they used the mark scheme may or may not be online. They should hopefully go over it in class and her corrections will be in a different pen colour. Where is she going wrong? Can you identify specifically what it is?

Ds's school had a matrix for the maths mock papers that showed each question and what they got completely right in highlighted in green, some of it right in amber and completely wrong in red. This then linked each question they got wrong to a Corbett maths link walking them through whatever concept they were not quite getting. Brilliant focused revision. Now obviously not every school does this but it really helped students identify their weakness and work on it.

I think you need to manage her expectations by looking at alternatives to A level. My son did BTech and intermediate, then advanced and that was the route to university. A levels may not be the best choice for her.

She wants to be a norland nanny. She needs 4 above to be able to get into it and either a levels or level 3 childcare etc.

last night she applied for an apprenticeship with a local nursery that will train to a level 3.

it’s so difficult where we live because all colleges are an hour and half transport away unless I drive her every day which isn’t possible :(

Would state boarding school be possible? Much cheaper than private?

Nothing helpful to add OP except to say DD is very similar. She's working her arse off and had managed to push grade up from 2 to 3 since last winters mock but I'm bracing myself getting to a 4 over next few weeks is unlikely. And she needs a 5 to stay on for 6th form We're throwing everything at it including the kitchen sink and she's seeing a tutor every week (if I'm honest I've my doubts how effective they are but it's too close now to get a new one).

So yea - wanted to give some solidarity as it's highly, highly stressful x

She is finding Corbett maths very helpful I must say. Lord he talks fast though

Maths is quite a special case though. My daughter's college requires an 8 to do double maths but a 4 to do English.

However if Norland will take her with a childcare qualification that sounds a much more robust route than taking A Levels for the sake of it. She's much more likely to fly doing something she loves. Colleges should offer childcare courses where she can resit Maths alongside if needed.

GCSEs are such a nerve-racking time but she can still achieve a lot in the time she has left. Whatever she can manage - an hour a day, half an hour a day - all adds up. I think we added at least a grade to DD's Graphics results in one concentrated weekend. It felt painfully slow and ineffectual at the time though.

The advice I read was to abandon any topics she really doesn't get - they'll only spook her and slow her down - but concentrate on topics she feels she's an "amber" on. So much of revision is about having the confidence to start and persist, if they are anxious.