How to move from 2 to a 5 foundation maths GCSE?

[Thebestthingsinlife]

Is this possible? Realistic? How much work daily will DC have to do from now until exam? How should he be revising daily? We are looking for a tutor but that is only one hour per week. Year 11. Other subjects are ok; maths the weakest one.

Maybe at 4 is more realistic

Only realistic if the child commits to it. Really commits to it. More tutoring if at all possible. Work at it, ideally with support, daily. It's a fine line between doing what is needed and burning them out. Is there a family member they'd work well with? Sometimes a parent isnt the right fit but an aunt/uncle/sibling/cousin has less clashes.

If you can get them support to get their level up more intensely pre-christmas you can get them the grounding to hopefully be able to keep up with new material at the higher level without same level of intervention as you dont want it to impact other subjects.

But even daily tutoring wouldn't work if the child isn't fully committed.

I think 5 is a little ambitious tbh. Aim for the 4. Get a tutor asap.

If the child is genuinely working at a level to get grade 2 then they don't really understand the concept of number at all. "Revising" isn't the correct activity, they need to be actively taught as if for the first time. Is your tutor an experienced maths teacher or just someone who got an A at A-Level and is doing tutoring for extra funds?

Thanks; there is noone in the family that can support apart from emotionally and practical support. We could invest in more than one hour per week for tutoring. He is doing 30min every day but not sure is enough; plus maybe 2 hours private tutoring per week.

Ok; seems like more tutoring per week is needed. He seems committed

At Grade 2 they need actively teaching the basics/groundwork not revision. That's why I suggested family support may be helpful if available. And until they get that grounding they will be behind in the new stuff they're learning this year. More sooner is better to get that understanding up to where revision is helpful.

Sounds like one hour tutoring per week isn’t going to be enough

Lots of good online resources are out there. Have a look on YouTube, BBC website etc and see if those videos are any good for teaching some basics in absence of family support. May take some searching to find a resource that matches learning style.

Does your child learn best through listening/visual/repetition etc.

Visual, repetition

His current teacher at school is not a good fit. He has one hour intervention per week with a good teacher. It sounds like this plus one hour per week tutoring isn’t going to be enough; even if he study on his own. His dibbling used to help him but has gone to university now.

5 is a stretch on foundation.
Is there someone in the house that could mark a past paper - with a mark scheme in front of them?
Id get child to do a full set of papers, and get a parent or teacher to mark. Then work out what topics are causing issues. Find bbc bite-sized / oak academy / Corbett maths videos to talk through the topic, then try the questions again.

2-3 with a bit of work is totally realistic.
2-4 will need effort from DC.
2-5 will need a fundamental shift in attitude and work ethic.

A good teacher to cover very patiently basic maths concepts. Don't even try to cover all GCSE foundation maths. Just let teacher teach and you'll see how it goes. Try to find someone who can show your teenager, how much he knows and reduce panic if that is a problem.
How is school? The child in question would find regular maths lessons in school very boring, complete mystery and waste of time. Maybe even in 'lower' set if school provides that.

Whether this is likely or not is entirely dependent on the reason he is currently at a grade 2. A grade 5 is most likely unachievable.

For grade 4:

Is he reasonably bright and has just arsed around through school, or not attended lessons? In which case, he may be able to catch up if he pulls his finger out, does maths every day (see the corbettmaths website for resources) as well as having the tutor, working hard in lessons and doing all assigned homework.

If, however, the 2 represents his genuine best effort so far, he has been attending school, doing the work and trying, then it seems likely there is some SEND involved which will mean that catching up will be extremely difficult given the short amount of time left till exams. However, he will have resit opportunities so next June isn't the end of it.

Maths has not been his favourite subject; he wasn’t putting much effort until he started year 11.

Sounds like he needs to do more than 30min per day

What does he want the 5 for?

30 mins a day could be highly effective or it could be a complete waste of time depending on what he's doing. I'd get the tutor to assess what his weak areas are and then set homework/come up with a plan for that time rather than just trying to do random stuff.

The issue with resit is that he won’t be able to go to Sixth Form School as they only take them straight after year 11; He will have to go to college? He won’t be able to do A levels or Btecs? Will he have to take a year out? Do a course if he doesn’t get a 4?

One subject he wanted to do at Sixth form school; sounds like this is not very realistic.

Resitting English and Maths GCSE are offered alongside A-levels or BTECs, his sixth form might even offer it.

We have students doing A-levels or BTECs at my school sixth form who are also resitting one or the other (we don't take students who need to resit both because of timetabling).

The whole college / sixthform thing. You need to look at the open days round you, and go speak to them. For us, you absolutely can do A levels at sixth form college. I know other areas are different

But id seriously consider a back up plan incase a grade 5 maths doesn't happen. You can hold several 16-18 offers until August. So why not get an offer with his ideal subjects, plus a back up incase the maths doesn't work out.