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Are we heading for maths resit GCSE? ,

64 replies

Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 08:56

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.

OP posts:
Hairyfairy01 · 08/07/2026 21:23

Does your ds know what he wants to do after school? I found taking my dd to college open days and her realising that she needed the maths for the course she wanted to do really motivated her. Your ds has to want this and work really hard for it.

clary · 08/07/2026 21:28

Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 21:05

It does sound like I may have to do some learning myself to support DC; as every time they start doing some practice they get stuck and give up. I won’t go as far as sitting the GCSE though.

I was certainly not suggesting you took the GCSE! but looking at some of the past papers would give you a steer on what DC needs to know.

A really good way to revise is to explain the work (so for maths, how you would do the problem) to someone else.

Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 21:45

Hairyfairy01 · 08/07/2026 21:23

Does your ds know what he wants to do after school? I found taking my dd to college open days and her realising that she needed the maths for the course she wanted to do really motivated her. Your ds has to want this and work really hard for it.

They only need 4 passes for college including English and Maths

OP posts:
Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 21:48

clary · 08/07/2026 21:28

I was certainly not suggesting you took the GCSE! but looking at some of the past papers would give you a steer on what DC needs to know.

A really good way to revise is to explain the work (so for maths, how you would do the problem) to someone else.

Thank you. was referring to other person who suggested I take the GCSE; but it is becoming clear I do need to revise/learn before I sit with them to practice. Looking at video and answers before hand, having a go first.

OP posts:
Hairyfairy01 · 08/07/2026 22:27

Is that a level 2 course he’s planning to do at college, as 4 passes seems low? Is he excited by the course, is it a course he’s really wants to get onto? I guess what I’m trying to say is you can offer / provide all the help in the world, but the effort and actually wanting that result needs to come from him.

LIZS · 08/07/2026 23:12

Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 21:45

They only need 4 passes for college including English and Maths

To do what course? They may need higher in certain subjects to progress to level 3. That feels a minimum entry requirement.

Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 23:20

Level 3 course. They are excited about the course and would suit them. But hopefully can get more than 4s in other subjects, keeps doors open.

OP posts:
Thereisalwayshope81 · 08/07/2026 23:25

Hairyfairy01 · 08/07/2026 22:27

Is that a level 2 course he’s planning to do at college, as 4 passes seems low? Is he excited by the course, is it a course he’s really wants to get onto? I guess what I’m trying to say is you can offer / provide all the help in the world, but the effort and actually wanting that result needs to come from him.

Agree. The past has to come from them; but I will do my bit, providing tutor, support, encouragement, sitting down to practice with them if needed. I know I can’t force it though; if it comes to resit I know I did my part as a parent. It wont be the end of the world.

OP posts:
Talkingfrog · 09/07/2026 00:53

Our school suggested the GCP guides for the sciences. I ordered the maths guide at the same time. We ordered the GCP English books through the school when they offered them at a discount (I assume for a bulk purchase). You could look for those if you wanted to freshen up your own skills, as well as DC using them. BBC bitesize can be useful for some subjects too. We are in Wales so DC did papers 1-3 for science, maths paper 2 ( non calculator) , and English paper 1 in May/June. They used the GCP book a lot for science revision, but when they wanted to print diagrams to go in revision notes, we found ones on BBC bitesize. There is no harm in looking at the maths to see if that helps.

Ivyy · 10/07/2026 09:53

Octavia64 · 08/07/2026 13:07

Wrong/broken calculator really messes up your maths in the calculator paper.

they’ll give you really hard numbers expecting you to use the calculator. If your dc didn’t have calculator access in the calculator paper I’m not surprised they only got a few marks.

most schools have a few spare to lend out during mocks (or the real thing but at my school we try very very hard to make sure they’ve got one before it gets to that point).

get her the school calculator. If she’s the sort to lose things then most maths teachers will look after it for her (it’s only normally needed in maths or science lessons) O used to have a drawer in my desk for them,

get her to write her name on it in sharpie and tip ex.

if she got a 5 in science her maths can’t be that bad.

Dd has just done her mocks and the school sent out an email a couple of weeks before the exams, asking parents to buy a certain model of a Casio scientific calculator that is the standard one needed for the GCSE calculator exam.

We were a bit confused, as had already had that same email back at the beginning of year 10 in September, so had already bought the Casio model for dd then.

Turns out she hadn’t been taught to use it in year 10 and it’s been sitting in her bag untouched, her old non Casio scientific calculator was still in there and so she’s been using that all year when a calculator was needed!

She’s doing the AQA foundation paper and is in a mixed ability set (the higher set is doing the higher paper). She’s been winging it with the old calculator all year, and it’s only been the last few weeks before the mock that they had any lessons on how to use the Casio model we were told they needed for lessons back in September!

The average grade was a 2 apparently in her class of 32, rather concerning! She just scraped a 3 by a few marks but does have a diagnosis of dyscalculia and we’re looking for a tutor for year 11. Teacher is telling them all not to worry as their grades will go up in the next year, but I’m pretty worried if most students got grades 2-3?!

Thereisalwayshope81 · 10/07/2026 10:56

Ivyy · 10/07/2026 09:53

Dd has just done her mocks and the school sent out an email a couple of weeks before the exams, asking parents to buy a certain model of a Casio scientific calculator that is the standard one needed for the GCSE calculator exam.

We were a bit confused, as had already had that same email back at the beginning of year 10 in September, so had already bought the Casio model for dd then.

Turns out she hadn’t been taught to use it in year 10 and it’s been sitting in her bag untouched, her old non Casio scientific calculator was still in there and so she’s been using that all year when a calculator was needed!

She’s doing the AQA foundation paper and is in a mixed ability set (the higher set is doing the higher paper). She’s been winging it with the old calculator all year, and it’s only been the last few weeks before the mock that they had any lessons on how to use the Casio model we were told they needed for lessons back in September!

The average grade was a 2 apparently in her class of 32, rather concerning! She just scraped a 3 by a few marks but does have a diagnosis of dyscalculia and we’re looking for a tutor for year 11. Teacher is telling them all not to worry as their grades will go up in the next year, but I’m pretty worried if most students got grades 2-3?!

I suggest you find her a tutor; don’t wait for school.

OP posts:
IIdentifyAsAMathsTeacher · 10/07/2026 16:22

@Ivyy, get a tutor who is dyscalculia-trained, if you can. Most are not, and she/he will be able to give your DD targeted strategies to use when answering questions. These might be irrelevant to most students so many Maths teachers may not know about them.

Ivyy · 11/07/2026 21:52

@Thereisalwayshope81and @IIdentifyAsAMathsTeacherthanks yes I agree she needs one to one tuition. Would you suggest looking for someone on the dyscalculia network website? I’ve seen a few on there having had an unsuccessful search online so far for anyone local with dyscalculia experience

IIdentifyAsAMathsTeacher · 11/07/2026 22:40

I don’t know anything about the dyscalculia network, sorry I can’t be very helpful there.

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