Yearly warning not to take A-level maths with less than a 7 at GCSE

[noblegiraffe]

GCSE results day and therefore A-level sign-up day is coming.

So with that in mind I just thought I'd post the table of conversions from GCSE to A-level results for maths to show that there is a strong correlation. This is because A-level Maths basically starts with a quick review of grade 8/9 GCSE algebra content and then gets more difficult. Students starting with a 7 will have to work very hard to keep up, students with a 6 often flounder.

There are sixth forms and colleges that will accept students with a 6 onto A-level maths, but from many years of experience, this is not a good experience for the student. Many will drop out and switch courses early on (and therefore not appear in the results table), but some will struggle on for 2 years and then come out with a grade that really doesn't help them with university applications.

If you take A-level maths with a 6, even if you manage to complete the course (and a lot won't), about three quarters will get a D or below, with E the most common grade.

This data is from 2019 because obviously more recent data has been screwed up by covid.

If your child is keen to do maths, but gets a 6, please consider Core Maths which is designed to be taken alongside 3 A-levels and provides supportive maths content for A-level sciences and social sciences (e.g. psychology, geography).

If your child is going to do A-level maths (particularly if they are on a 7 but also 8/9), check that they have done summer bridging work so they hit the ground running in September.

Totally agree with this. DD did maths, further maths, chemistry and French - all subjects frequently mentioned as difficult. However for her, I think any other subject would have been harder. (It turned out to be particularly light on essays - at an academic writing workshop she was asked what how long her longest essay was expected to be at A-level. 350 words - unless you count the UCAS personal statement!)

My DS is taking Maths and Further Maths at A level. He got a high 8 in GCSE (4 marks off a 9). He’s strong at maths and enjoys it, but god this thread has me worried, he has a good work ethic most of the time, but this does lapse occasionally. He’s defo not been set any bridging work which is concerning.

DS got a 9 in Maths and Further Maths.

He does want to do them both at A level but he has zero interest in science so Maths, Further Maths and History.

He's not sure what he wants to do at uni or generally.

Can I ask about Core Maths? My dd did gcse foundation maths and got a 5. She wants to do psychology a level and the school are suggesting she does AQA Core Maths to support this. Would a gcse foundation student struggle with this?

No, Core maths is absolutely fine for foundation students. It would be really good alongside psychology.

@noblegiraffe - what is your view on Dr Frost Maths? My DC seem to have used that for free extensively to practise. As well as Seneca for Science. And YouTube videos if they don’t understand a concept. Maths seems to be like music practice, little very often goes a very long way.

If the college have looked at the paper, have they actually found 4 marks that they think should be allocated? Maths mark schemes aren’t that nebulous, I’m surprised that they haven’t said which papers need to be reviewed to get those marks.

Dr Frost is very well-thought of in maths education. I use his PowerPoints to teach A-level quite a lot.

I don’t use his homework platform but I would have thought the resources are decent.

So after it all going a bit Pete Tong, we are now thinking of dropping FM for economics, eSports is totally off the cards.

Maths with a 7 sounds a good plan though.

Thank you.

It's a shame not all schools offer core maths. DS got a secure 7 in maths but doesn't want to take the A Level. I think it's a shame he can't continue maths alongside his other subjects without doing the A Level.

At my DS’ school you cannot do A Level maths unless you get an 8 in GCSE maths.

@noblegiraffe Thank you for replying.
They did put the papers in order of those that they thought would be worth getting reviewed and said that one paper definitely wasn't worth getting reviewed.
Obviously they can't give a guarantee that it will work and it's a lot of money to spend if he's still maybe one mark off at the end of it all, but worth it if he has actually got those points!
We'll think some more on it.
Thanks again for replying.

De-lurking to say thanks so much, especially to @noblegiraffe but also to others for such great insights. You have helped my DC to make the decision, now it is down to the one hour extra for each lesson 😀

@Araminta1003 @noblegiraffe my dd is tutored by Dr F. He is an utterly brilliant teacher. The resources on his platform are also fantastic.

Hi @noblegiraffe where did your conversion data come from, and is it available for other subjects? Thinking particularly about the sciences.

Agree.

I don't know if this is of any help to your DS, but DD2 was in a similar situation a few years back – ie a solid 7, didn't want to do A level, but did want to do other science subjects – so she took a Further Maths GCSE and a Statistics GCSE the following year. She got solid 7s in both of those too, and they did prove beneficial to her science A levels and to her subsequent degrees.

Might your DS's school offer something similar?

Thanks everyone for your reassurances. DS seems quite excited for 6th form now.

We have found a college that will accept ds onto Maths A level and also willing to let him try Further Maths. So much better than the college that was all "Computer says No" to doing any A levels at all.

He's doing Sociology as his third, and if needs to drop FM can pick up geography.

Good new, hope he is happier about this now

Hi
I’m a careers advisor working in school and I’d really like to be able to use this data. Are you able to let me know the source/ where I can find it? It would be super helpful I think

I did a bit of digging! @user1471457495

I posted the table originally in 2020. It was created from data tweeted by EmporiumMaths which was the Edexcel maths twitter account run by Graham Cumming who ran the Edexcel GCSE maths course so was definitely legitimate Pearson data. He left Pearson (Edexcel) and the EmporiumMaths account was deleted and replaced with a bland corporate Pearson one. DrStoneMaths tweeted the % table that I posted, referencing the Pearson data.

https://x.com/drstonemaths/status/1296753174225846272?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

As the Maths Emporium account has been scrubbed, I can't see the original data that the table came from.

Graham Cumming now tweets as https://x.com/mathsnot if you need the original data then he'd be the best person to ask.

Repeating as this has the data re progression gcse to a level grades.
For @user1471457495 Click the top half of the link for some reason.

You need to be very careful with that data though, as it is the old A*-G grade GCSEs and was in the time when students usually took 4 AS levels and then dropped one and progressed 3 of them to A-level.

Lots of students who would previously have dropped maths at the end of Y12 due to poor results now have to drag themselves through Y13 and A-level because there's no option to drop.