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Secondary education

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Maths A level dilemma - advice needed

51 replies

AMatterOfInfiniteHope · 13/08/2026 18:28

Looking for some advice. In previous years I’ve seen posts about only taking a level maths if you’re one of the top students.

DD really not sure what A Levels to take. Around the time of the time of the GCSE’s she started to think she’d like to take maths A level. She’s not been keen before.

She started secondary school with a target/predicted grade of a 4, but has worked incredibly hard and her teacher in year 11 has said she should be aiming for a 7 or 8. Mock exams were usually a 7 or 8. I still think there’s a chance she’ll come out with a 6; she thinks the exams were very hard but reckons no one else did, so also thinks it might be a 6. ( I will advise against maths if that’s the case).

She was very cross with herself for not answering all the questions on one of the papers and I have a theory that she only wants to do A level so she can prove to herself (and others) that she can do it. When she was in KS3 she was convinced her lower set classes (she was in the lowest sets at first) had already been written off and she was upset at the injustice of it all. Her teacher thinks she has the mindset for the A level because she works so hard. I’m not so sure.

OP posts:
Glittertwins · 17/08/2026 08:37

DemonsandMosquitoes · 15/08/2026 08:30

DS1 got a 7 in maths and a B at A level. But had a tutor for the last several months. It was tough going, and almost to the detriment of his other subjects.

Same here and it was a comfortable B. Didn’t have a tutor per se, he did uplearn and went to every single after school maths class. I’d also say that this was to the detriment of his 3rd subject but he needed that maths grade.

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