Maths Y10 Grade 6

[jennylamb1]

My son wants to do computer science at university, the local sixth form college stipulates a grade 7 at maths GCSE in order to study maths at A level. He's taking his maths GCSE early in November and will then do further maths next year.
Having not been any good at maths myself I wanted to get opinions on whether he is on course to get a 7 in November. He sat a GCSE level assessment last week and got a 6.

I'm surprised they only require a 7 to do A level as the step up in maths is large - maths A level is very hard if you don't get top grades at GCSE.

All the 6th forms, including selectives, we are looking at only require 7 in Maths GCSE to do A/L maths.

I'm not sure whether you are in Wales/Northern Ireland or your son is at an independent school.

Early entry is unusual in the state system in England.
Most schools that do further maths gcse will teach the content for both until the end of year 11 and then sit both.

Further maths GCSE is harder than maths gcse and is a good bridge to a level for higher ability students.

Most 6th forms want a 7 at gcse maths to do a level maths. GCSE further will obviously help convince them he is capable.

I am slightly concerned that the doing the maths gcse a year early might not be best for him - in schools where this is done it's usually only the "definitely going to get a grade 9" students that do it.

Yes, he is in a private school in England, about 30% of their students take GCSE maths in November of Y11 and then sit FM GCSE in the summer. He has a 7 as his predicted grade for the end of Y10. He was predicted an 8 for maths, however I don't know if that applied to sitting it in November or in the summer.

It would be crazy to sit it early if they didn't think he was a shoe in for at least a 7....

It depends whether the 6 was based on the full curriculum, some of which they are yet to cover, or material taught so far. Why take it early if a good grade is not guaranteed and so important.

It seems very odd to sit maths early unless an excellent pass is almost guaranteed.

A 6 or 7 is a good grade but surely doing the course for 1 more year, as intended, would increase the chances of getting higher than a 7.

It seems like the school policy to sit maths in year 10 is more a marketing gimmick rather than actually being in the best interests of pupils.

In all honesty I would say it would be better to sit both the maths and further maths in the same sitting in the summer of his year 11. It gives him at least 6 extra months nailing maths which will be helped with further maths. As it is only 30% of the school doing the early maths it means he is in with the majority if requested.

Noble is a respected teacher on here who posted this thread about maths GCSE to A level grades, there is a table for all grades, not just the 6-7 in the thread. Definitely worth looking at.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4007205-How-maths-GCSE-result-predicts-A-level-maths-result-important-for-grade-6-7

He could spend this summer at the end of year 10 working out where he is potentially lacking in his maths knowledge which will show on the end of year exam papers for all subjects.

The other thing is his grade profile overall for GCSE, what subjects he is looking to take at A level and the universities he thinks he might be aiming for. Further maths A level isn't usually stipulated as required for university because not all sixth forms offer it however a lot of computer science applicants for the top unis will have further maths and this can disadvantage an applicant who hasn't got it. Some computer science courses are very maths heavy, others further down the rankings are not.

Is this iGCSE Maths?
The November sitting for GCSEs is only for retake candidates.

I agree with others, it seems odd to enter a candidate early for any subject unless they were stuck on to get the best or at any rate a very high grade early.

A 6 in maths is great of course; but if someone is looking at A level maths and maybe FM (probably a good idea for a CS degree) they would hope to be going into it with a better grasp of it than a grade 6 indicates.

Better surely to continue to study GCSE maths and FM until the summer to keep up and improve his maths knowledge.

Btw yes I assume that it is IGCSE as that can be sat in November by anyone.

If school does insist on the early sitting though, there is a good chunk of time for him to work on improving his grade between now and then, so I might make that a priority.

Yes, it's an IGCSE, I'd expect that he'd be looking at a 7 or 8 by November if he's achieved a 6 grade now in January. He does do some Mathswatch homework over the holidays to keep things ticking over as well.