Switching to foundation paper in Maths and Science

[AmyPeralta]

Hi,
My dd is in Y11. She is feeling completely overwhelmed re GSCEs and I'm worried she will struggle to complete the year - she has ADHD and mental health issues to the extent where getting through the school day is often a real struggle. She is currently due to take the higher papers for Maths and Science, but wants to do the Arts for A level. My instinct is that she should do foundation in these subjects to take the pressure off. Is anyone in / has been in a similar situation and did taking foundation level help? The school is academic, and it may be a struggle to persuade them. Thanks in advance.

Hi @AmyPeralta(great username!) not maths but MFL (my subject) a student I know who was probs capable of a 6 made a pragmatic decision to switch to F for French as an easy (for him) win and a safe 5. No intention of taking it further and it took pressure off for him so he could focus on other subjects.

F paper is a lot more straightforward. You need to score highly to get a 5 but the level is lower IYSWIM. What grades is she getting or predicted atm? A student who could gain a 5/6 will be unable to access a lot of the H paper content which can be daunting, and can put them off answering what they do know.

School should be happy to consider a request surely. They must have students sitting F unless it’s a selective school.

btw the grade just appears as 4 or 5 or whatever in the certificate- it doesn’t say if you took F or H.

One thing to bear in mind is that there are some unis that ask for grade 6 in English and maths as a standard requirement for all courses. UCL is one and I think there are others so that’s worth a consideration.

Similar sounding DD switched to foundation maths for similar reasons - school were still happy for her to sit higher right up until exam final deadline but she just needed the pressure off. She comfortably scored a high five which is all she needed and was so relived not to have all the extra content. Carried on with higher science and scored 7/6 despite being terrible at chemistry.

what does your DD think? I followed mine on this as it was her sense of control and what was possible that was important.

We had this dilemma last year.

DD worked at around an 8 in maths in class - and then did consistently badly in all Y10 and Autumn of Y11 mock exams. (Getting a 3 type results).

We brought in a tutor in December, maths teacher did lots of extra with her. She sat endless Foundation and Higher papers... by the time we had to make the decision, she was consistently getting a high 5 on Foundation and a high 5/6 on Higher and edging towards a 7 on a really good day.

So we opted for Higher.

Then she had 3 pigs of papers in the actual exams and ended up getting a high 4.

If I could rewind I would put her in for Foundation as she would almost certainly have got the 5 (and then be stressing now that we should have done Higher and hoped for the 6).

If they are consistently 5 and 6 on a really good day on Higher, then I would reduce stress and just go for Foundation and spend more time on the other subjects.

The deadline for tier changes is around April.
So if it's easier to kick the decision to later in the years, do so.

The other route is to ask for the next set of mocks to be done as Foundation papers, and see how she goes.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. @clary - good point about certain unis requiring a 6 in English and maths - I hadn't realised that.
She is predicted a 7 or 8 in maths, but got a 4 in the mock paper and a 6/7 in combined science.
@Thesoundofmusic23 she wants to do the higher paper for both, so will have to play by ear for now. I just feel that it would really reduce the stress on her to do some foundation papers, and her mental health is the priority. It might help her to know she has the option to change if it becomes too much

Anyway it's really helpful to have all your experiences - definite food for thought - thank you : )

Moving to foundation means likely moving to a lower set. Can mean being in a different timetable block and have knock on effect of meaning other classes change too. Behaviour can be more disruptive in lower sets too. Worth considering.

yes good point about moving sets or moving timetable. What would it mean if she switched to F? Would she be able to be in the same group?

I wonder if she might stick with H maths (predicted a 7 or 8 is a clear indicator of strong ability to take on H paper) which would also hopefully give her the possible 6 for (some) unis; and drop the science to F? Shame it's combined as it obvs all has to be F or all H. I might discuss it with her as an option later in the year if it becomes too much to cope with.

She's in the top set for combined science. I think there are students within the set taking foundation, but yes would need to look into that