From 5 to 7 maths independently. Impossible?

[mumsandaunties]

DD did foundation maths in Y11, and got a 5. I felt at the time she could have achieved more in higher but the school put her in foundation and weren’t keen to change.

She wants to do a niche degree that requires a 7. So this year she studied at home with my help in the evening and resat higher in June. Sadly, she got another 5.

is it madness to try again in November? I could/would sort out a tutor this time as the school have been no help at all, and clearly my help isn’t enough.

When she got her result on Thursday she said she didn’t want to do it again, but she’s just come to say she’s changed her mind.

I feel that I’ve really let her down, first by not pushing school to move her to higher in y11, then because studying with my support hasn’t been enough.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions about how to approach this? She’ll also be doing her A-levels so I really don’t want her to get super stressed.

November might be a bit too soon if she hasn't covered sufficient grade 7+ content, as she will need time.to practise exam technique as well.

Not at all impossible for her to go from a 5 to a 7 within the academic year as long as she has the right support, and she puts in the work.

Is there a higher tier class for post GCSE learners? Enrol her on that in the first instance. Get her to find out whether there are extra maths support workshops at her college. She will need intervention to begin with until she is confident.

Firstly you are not to blame, we all put way too much mum guilt on ourselves, but at the end of the day you aren't psychic and didnt know your daughter needed that grade and the school may well have refused to budge.

I would say let your daughter decide what to do. She sounds bright and to have the ability to make the decision. 1:1 tutoring may well help her identify and understand the parts she has been dropping the marks on which could push her grades up.

You sound like a fantastic mum and that your daughter has the support she needs.

Oh, and don't blame yourself for not doing enough, as it is clear to me you have tried what you can to support your dd.

I would recommend a tutor too, but encourage your dd to be proactive. If your dd wants it enough, she will eventually become more independent and responsible for her learning which is key to achievement at this stage.

I think it depends on her natural ability and how hard she's prepared to work - and how hard she worked to get here.

What else is she doing? I'm just wondering if she does this, will other things drop?

Ds went from an E in February mock (and D/E all the way through until that point) to a A in the real thing in A-level.
This was the situation for him:

1. He'd only done bare minimum (by his admittance) work before (ever, in any subject. Yes, I know. Grr!)
2. He always misses a certain amount due to illness and so had gaps
3. We had dd at home who had just finished a maths degree and still had a good basis of maths A-levels who was prepared to teach him

So his week on top of other work was approximately:

Monday evening: Doing an exam paper (2 hours)
Tuesday evening: Doing extra questions set by dd using previous weeks' work showing where a weakness were, possibly with help from dd (2 hours)
Wednesday: Going through the exam paper with dd (2-4 hours)
Thursday: Corrections from exam paper (2-3 hours) again with help from dd
Friday: Doing a new subject with dd either from a weakness or something she'd found he'd missed due to illness. (1-3 hours)

So effectively he had private tutoring for about 4 hours a week plus tutor on hand to help on other days. It was at least 10 hours a week just on maths.
Can she do that sort of level of intensity?

I'll also say that after a couple of months, dd was getting very disheartened as he wasn't showing any improvement at all. He was still getting D/E level on the papers. Then he jumped to a consistent C for about 6 weeks. It was only right in the last month that he suddenly shot up marks - in fact she came and asked if he'd just downloaded the answers on the first paper that scored over 60%. In the real thing he scored 72% overall.

I did give him a reward for scoring. I think I said pizza for over 60% and McDs for over 50%. I honestly didn't expect at the point I said that that I'd be paying out for any pizzas, but I did hope it would help as an incentive!

I could have helped him (also a maths graduate) but firstly he listens far better to his sister, and also I'm out of touch with the current methods. I could look at the maths and do it, but not always with the right method, or putting the right information down to get the best marks.

You haven't failed her; if the school was working to foundation she might well not have done enough to get a 5 on higher, so that would have been worse to push her through it. And I don't think in general they study best with "mum". Mum is better as the comfort and encourager to be alongside and maybe help during the week when the tutor isn't there.

I'd suggest you sit her down and have a direct talk with her. Does she want to put this effort in? Can you afford around £100 a week on tutors? Would taking a gap year and resetting then work perhaps? She'd need to keep her maths ticking over for the rest of A-levels, but if she wanted to do that, she could concentrate just on maths after she's finished A-levels and then do it in November.

She did work incredibly hard this last year. From January when she announced she wanted to retake, right up to the exam she did about an hour every night, with videos and printed worksheets. I found it exhausting, as we sat on the sofa together, she did the questions then we worked through the answers together to try and work out where she was going wrong.

Part of me just wants to say “let it go”, but how can I if it means she cannot do the course she has her heart set on.

I did suggest the gap year option. But understandably she’s not keen.