Are we heading for maths resit GCSE? ,

[Thereisalwayshope81]

Latest June mock results, year 10. Grade 2

Paper 1:32/80. 7 marks from a 3. Grade 1

Paper 2: 5/80. 13 marks from a 3 according to teacher. Maybe she meant 13 marks for a 2?

DC needs 4 GCSE at 4 for next stage, or 4 GCSE at 3 for one year course.

Other GCSE are ok/passing.

A bit concerned as according to mumsnet there is no future in England if you don’t pass English and Maths

Your DC still has a year to get their grade up. Do they work hard? Can you afford a tutor?
Are you able to support their learning? If it were me I would sit down with DC six days a week until GCSE exams, for 20 minutes, to work through BBC bite size or a GCSE revision book. Unless your DC has a SEN they should be able to achieve a 4 if they put the work in.

It certainly is ideal to pass maths and English with at least a grade 4, as otherwise a) you’ll need to keep retaking and b) you’ll struggle to get an apprenticeship or a job.

There are other options including functional skills – my DS has L2 FS in English and it is equivalent to a GCSE pass. Trouble is you need to jump the GCSE hoop a few times (take it and retake it) before it’s offered, IME at least (tho things may be improving there).

Does DC have any SEN? I see their other mock marks are OK – what kinds of grades? Were these maths mocks actual GCSE papers as mocks? 5/80 if that's correct is a very low mark for a paper 2. Can you get the paper or a photo of it and go through it with them? If you yourself have reasonable maths skills you should be able to see where they are going wrong tbh, as certainly the first tranche of questions are fairly basic.

Practice is the key to success in GCSE maths. What’s the story there? Does DC do a lot of practice questions? Do they access an online offer? So many questions sorry, but if they are able enough to gets 4s and 5s in other subjects they must be able to read well enough to access the paper in that way, so I would wonder what the issue is. Is an experienced GCSE tutor a possibility?

DC has a tutor, started recently; don’t do a lot of work outside tutor or school hours. 2 was the average in their class, foundation maths, said they don’t understand current teacher.

I am encouraging 20min maths per day, but it takes lots of reminders, encouragement. I even offered money for doing tutor homework.

I am Accountant but some of this maths go over my head I have to admit.

Other mocks are between 4 and 5. I really wonder what the issue in maths is; probably lack of practice?

No panic with Maths resit. Both my eldest 2 failed Maths (one level 2 and one level 3) one rebook and got a 4, the other had to try 3 more resists and finally got a 5!! Don't give up. The Maths lessons after failing are much better.

It’s great that this was your experience but sadly it’s far from universal. IME and from reading MN threads, the retake lessons offered in college destinations often are not the best.

Much better to get the grade you need in school where there should be good support plus everyone taking maths GCSE. Obvs if retake is necessary then it is, but deffo worth aiming for a 4 in year 11 and then it’s done.

@Thereisalwayshope81 seen your update - genuinely the maths in the F paper surely cannot be over your head? I just looked at a paper 2 and I am sure you could easily do the first 20 questions.

This kind of thing for example:

Thank you. This is great to hear. We will try our best this year; otherwise DC will have to keep resitting until they pass.

Not sure; I didn’t study in the UK. I either forgot or did not learn it and here I am with a stable career and good salary. I think the methodology is different.

argh image didn;'t upload - try again

I mean I did maths O level a long time ago but knowing that in 10.23 the "3" is 3/100 is straightforward whatever maths you did.

Yes, I can definitely do some of the questions but not all; anyway DC doesn’t work as well with family than with an external person/tutor

Paper 2 is the calculator paper.

does she have the calculator that school recommend and know how to use it?

general advice:
get a tutor
school will send home a red/amber/green analysis of what she can do. Pass this straight to the tutor. In general green is the topics she got totally right, amber is some marks and red is totally wrong. Focus on the amber topics first.

the papers go from easier to harder so when you’ve worked through the amber topics start with the red ones from the beginning of the paper.

Corbett 5 a day is good. Use the numeracy ones.

https://corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/

Lots of schools and various maths teachers publish booklets of questions by grade eg here.

https://www.mymathscloud.com/modules/gcse-igcse-o-level/practice-papers/edexcel

start with the grade 1 and work up to the grade 2.

if you google there are lots more.

it’s not the end of the world if she has to resit but there is a lot you can do to get her grade up

Good luck. Mine both went onto uni after the resits.

I passed mine as an adult (took me 4 yrs to pass lol)

Good advice; thank you

Thanks. 🙏 we will try our best but I can’t really force them to past this year.

How do resits work? How often? Do you book yourself? How much? Is there a limit of resits? If it comes to that they will have to keep trying

Can you commit to doing the maths GCSE at the same time? Lead by example and all that. Especially if you’re an accountant.

My son went from a 3 to a 6, I worked with the tutor and learnt alongside him. We concentrated on getting the easy bits right. Used Corbett Maths - 5 questions every night to reinforce. I felt like I had to learn the methods so I could support him. Rewards for practice were key - gone onto uni and now talking about doing accountancy exams! Good luck

Usually the post-16 setting will organise resits. What is the plan? I imagine a college course or apprenticeship rather than A levels with grades of 4/5.

Apprenticeship as I say will probably require the grade 4+ in maths. College will be fine tho. No charge for resits. I cannot stress enough what a pain it is for DC to resit something they didn’t like at school. Agree the will to pass needs to come from them though.

Next stage is college. They need 4 GCSE passes at 4 for a 2 year course or 4 GCSE passes at 3 for one year course.

I think DC is a late developer and needs a bit more maturity to see the bigger picture

No way. I didnt grow up here; came in my 30s. I have done my bit of studies. 5 years accounting degree back home, MBA in the UK, And then ACCA which took me 10 years due to having young children at the same time as working and having a husband with a demanding busy job.

I am done with studies; counting years for retirement 😅

I would have a look at Functional Skills L2, which can be taken online at any time.

Well with that attitude 😂😂😂😂😂

I’m a maths tutor, and there definitely is a future if you don’t pass. Life is easier if you have GCSE English and Maths, and a resit is a great option. Every resit student I’ve taught has passed second time - but just in case they don’t I always make parents aware of other options like functional skills. I work in Scotland now, so it’s a bit different but please don’t let mumsnet (where every child is apparently oxbridge bound and in the top percentile for height) make you think a resit is the end of the world.

If he does have to resit I would look at some additional things outside the actual maths skills:

• exam technique - timing, doing the easy questions first, checking your work ect.
• revision tactics - find out what works for him, how long can he actually study for in one go and retain information? For me it’s 40 min chunks and then a short break, but DH can only focus for 20.
• his confidence will be knocked, so work on rebuilding that. Even grade 9 students have had wobbles and ended up having to resist.