GCSE Archives - Total Maths Tutoring

How to Revise GCSE Maths Effectively and Boost Exam Results

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 19:05:51 +0000

We’re coming up to a vitally important time now for Year 11 students, where the last 5 years of their education is coming to a head, and their final exams are on the horizon.

Revision is probably well underway already for most subjects, but students can find it hard to figure out how to revise maths effectively and efficiently.

Over the next few weeks, we will be outlining a tried and tested system for revising maths effectively, which parents can help their child implement without spending a penny. We know this system works as its what our tutors use with their students every year, helping them achieve some great results. This system should help students work smarter, making better use of the time that they put into their revision

Stage one – Assessing current strengths and weaknesses

Maths is a wide ranging subject, with hundreds of topics tested on the GCSE, which are all interlinked. It may sound a bit backwards, but in our experience, without the right intervention, students tend to revise their strengths a lot more than their weaknesses. Areas of weakness make them feel uncomfortable and inadequate, so they tend to avoid these and instead, reinforce their knowledge of topics they are already reasonably confident in. Over time, this leads to big gaps in knowledge which just don’t get addressed.

Students can also be unaware of the weighting of each topic in their exams, making it hard to know which topics are the most important. Foundation tier focuses on ratio, proportion and “real life” maths, whereas higher tier is far more Algebra focused, working students towards the skills they need to take Maths & Science further at A-Level. Revision time should be tailored accordingly.

So how can students assess their current knowledge?

For a full, in depth analysis of strengths and weaknesses, students should use a set of past papers or mock papers, which are freely available online. These don’t need to be completed in exam conditions, students could just go through the questions and give them a RAG rating; Green if they are very confident in the question, amber if they are a bit unsure, or red if they have no clue. Over the course of a set of 3 papers, every topic from the syllabus will be tested, so students should get a really comprehensive revision list from this. They may also notice that they struggle with particular question types. Questions where students have to explain their mathematical working, or analyse the work of others, can be troublesome, as well as the “problem solving” questions, which may use multiple branches of maths in one question.

At Total Maths Tutoring, we offer a free mock marking service, where one of our expert tutors will mark a student’s mock exam for free and provide them with their top three topics for revision. Please contact us if you’d like to take advantage of this service

Completing a whole set of papers may seem a bit overwhelming at first, so if you want to help your child get the ball rolling, why not get them to try our free GCSE quick assessment tool

This multiple choice quiz should only take 15 minutes and is designed to quickly assess students’ knowledge on the key topics for their tier, giving them a good starting point.

Higher tier quiz https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevGWAlqTCxBRlGCrunOaGewCoKkvwsqBqeeSJJp7j8mT9RKQ/viewform?usp=header

Foundation tier quiz

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZdg2yRGKfAiLJHZ_8tQFEqjrESoHZUusEKIinjgex16aKOg/viewform?usp=header

Once they complete the quiz, one of our tutors will provide them feedback and some topics to start their revision, free of charge

The next blog in this series will look into using these assessments to guide their study, as well as looking at some of the most efficient and effective ways to revise.

The post How to Revise GCSE Maths Effectively and Boost Exam Results appeared first on Total Maths Tutoring.

GCSE and A Level grading: A teacher’s insight

Total Maths Tutoring — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 15:59:16 +0000

You are probably aware that an announcement was made by the government yesterday, that GCSE and A level grades for this year will be decided by teacher judgement, rather than by formal exams or last year’s disastrous algorithms!

As a teacher myself, who works with Year 11 students, I wanted to pass on some of the information I have about how this will all work.

Firstly, we won’t see teachers handing out high grades like confetti to their favourite students. This would be unethical, and would undermine the whole exam system, as well as the teacher’s integrity. There is likely to be a lot of regulation of the grades by schools, and possibly by the exam boards too, so buying your teacher a bottle of wine and some chocolates probably isn’t going to get the job done!

The key here is evidence. The teacher needs to have evidence that they are justified giving students a particular grade. This evidence will come from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to; Coursework, classwork, mock exams, work completed during lockdown, exams set by the exam board but not undertaken in invigilated exam conditions. So its never been more important for students to apply themselves, show the teacher they want the grade, and prepare well for the exams they take.

A phrase used in the announcement was “grading what’s been taught, rather than what’s been missed”. This means that teachers should not be teaching new material when schools go back, to try and “catch students up”, but instead spend their time making them masters of the topics they’ve learnt up until now. In maths, this may mean that some more advanced topics such as surds and function notation on higher tier, or trigonometry on foundation, are not taught at all. It is really the school’s call which topics they assess based on their own teaching.

To achieve the highest results they can, students should try and do the following:

Get working hard – If they have spent most of lockdown doing the bare minimum, or nothing at all, their teacher now has a 3 month gap with no evidence of how they’re working, and very little time to gather that evidence. They need to go back into school ready to work very hard for the next few months.
Find out what content will be tested when they sit mock exams and assessments. Schools should be happy to give this information so parents can take the lead with this and email their teacher (this shows how much you care too, which can’t be a bad thing).
Get some help catching up. If tutoring is an option financially, now is a great time to get some extra help. We have expert GCSE and A level tutors available ready to start straight away. If this isn’t an option, perhaps a sibling or family friend can lend a hand, or even mum and dad!
Be positive. The GCSE and A level exam period is usually one of the most stressful in any student’s life. Your youngsters have an opportunity to work hard, apply themselves and achieve a good grade, without the horrific pressure pot of taking formal exams. If they can apply themselves and show their teacher what they are capable of, they will leave school with good grades and ready for their next step.

If you want to talk any of this through further or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email Craig at craigpatterson@totalmathstutoring.com or call him on 07884296450.

Good luck and be positive!

The post GCSE and A Level grading: A teacher’s insight appeared first on Total Maths Tutoring.

Top 5 Research-Based Revision Strategies

Total Maths Tutoring — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 21:48:01 +0000

It may feel like the GCSEs are still a world of time away and revising for them may seem like something to consider much closer to the time. However, contrary to common practice by students, it is not advisable to leave revision until the days or even weeks before the exam. Numerous studies have shown that it is prudent for students to allow themselves a substantial period of time (months) to effectively revise for formal examinations. ‘Cramming’ information immediately before the exam has only been shown to slightly improve a student’s short term recall and has little effect on long-term retention, therefore it is usually ineffective before GCSE exams due to the volume of information a student is required to retain.

A study by Professor John Dunlovksy of Kent State University, reviewed a range of revision techniques and assessed their overall effectiveness based on a range of factors (the full study can be found here). Common practices such as highlighting and underlining were found to have little effect in aiding students’ retention of information and were, in some cases detrimental (Glover, Zimmer, Fibeck, & Plake, 1980).

We have put together our top 5 revision strategies based on this research:

Elaborative interrogation

This is a highly effective method of revision whereby students are asked ‘why’ questions, in order to generate their own explanations to support facts. It was found that students who were prompted by tutors to answer ‘why’ questions substantially improved their accuracy in recalling information (72%) when compared to those who had not (37%) (Seifert, 1993). This technique enhances learning by supporting the integration of new information with existing knowledge and has proven to be most effective when the student is supported by an expert (e.g. a tutor or teacher) rather than a peer.

Self-explanation

This requires a student to verbalise aspects of their processing while learning and has been shown to have a high impact in solving logical reasoning and mathematical problems (Wong, Lawson, & Keeves, 2002). It is also very useful in helping teachers to aid students in overcoming misconceptions as it helps the teacher to identify. It is worth noting here that this is easier for teachers to achieve in a one to one setting over a regular classroom due to the time demands associated.

Distributed practice (retrieval practice)

Distributed practice encourages students to revisit learning material numerous times over a prolonged period while leaving a period of time between each encounter. This can be through simply reviewing notes or attempting questions on topics that have not been recently learned. This technique has been found to be highly effective across a range of students of all ages (Carpenter, Pashler, & Cepeda, 2009) when practiced over a substantial time period (so more than the week before the exam).

Re-reading

Rothkopf (1968) found that recall steadily improved dependent on the number of times a texts was re-read with ‘spaced’ re-reading having the most significant effect. This practice works on similar principles as distributed practice and suggests that familiarity with information alone increases recall.

Practice testing

Despite its undeniable unpopularity among students, there is 100 years of research supporting the supposition that testing improves learning (Roediger & Butler, 2011). This practice is often associated with giving students graded, summative, end of topic assessments however which is not what were are talking about here. As a revision method, it is far more effective for students to engage in ‘low-stakes’ testing (formative tests where the idea is to learn and improve based on your results). This has proven to be universally effective across a range of ages and for a multitude of subjects.

Whatever the method a student chooses, one thing is true of them all – start now to ensure the best chance of exam success.

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How to Get the Most From Mock Exams This January

Total Maths Tutoring — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 15:58:01 +0000

Mock exams are an important time of year for any student working towards their exams in the summer. They are quite often used to make decisions about what tier students should sit for the real thing, and in extreme cases can be used to help decide a student’s grade, should they be ill when they are due to sit their summer exams. It can be a real wake up call for students who have been dragging their heels with revision up until now, and if students are to get the most out of the experience, they need to approach them in the right way. Here’s our top three tips to make the most of mocks:

Treat it like a dress rehearsal – The exam season in June and July is a tiring, grueling time for most students. The relentlessness for some students of taking up to 30 different exams, with up to three being taken on the same day, should not be underestimated. Students need to take these mock exams as seriously as they can. It is their only opportunity to practice and experience what this situation feels like. This means practice being organized, practice being prepared with the right equipment etc, and practice at being resilient when it’s tough and they’re tired out. The parent who allows their child to stay off school and miss mocks because of tiredness, or because they have a sniffle, is really not preparing them well for what’s ahead in the summer. Would they be allowed to miss the real thing for this same reason?

Revise in moderation – Revision is important and should be done well in advance. We all know that last minute cramming on the night before (or day of) an exam doesn’t work and increases stress. Get started with revision early, and once exams start, a bit of last minute flicking through revision cards is great, but not staying up til 1am stressing out! Being awake and well rested is far more important than revision.

Look after yourself – The body and brain need to be fueled properly to perform well in exams. Nobody is suggesting for a moment that when revising, students are not going to be snacking on biscuits and sweets. So long as this is in moderation, no harm is done. Energy drinks and caffeine based drinks as a way of keeping going and studying late can have catastrophic consequences, as any fans of the inbetweeners will be only too aware of! In general try and eat slow release energy foods such as oats and pulses, with plenty of fruit and vegetables at meal time to get those vitamins in. Avoid too much sugar if you can. Flapjacks can make a good revision treat. On top of this, your brain does not function properly if it is dehydrated,so plenty of water, and plenty of sleep too if you can! On the morning of exams, no rolling out of bed at 8:00 for an 8:30 exam. Get up early, wake up and feel prepared!

Once the mocks are done, remember that they are formative exams. The idea of them is to learn from the experience, and identify topics to work on. Students who do this effectively are giving themselves a great headstart for their revision for the real thing. Now is a great time to do an inventory of strengths and weaknesses, and make a plan for what should be prioritized when revising for the summer exams. It might be a good idea for students to write a short piece about how the exam period made them feel, what went well and what could be improved next time. You can then refer back to this as a start point for the summer exams, and how to get the most out of them.

The post How to Get the Most From Mock Exams This January appeared first on Total Maths Tutoring.

Why have Maths tuition?

Total Maths Tutoring — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 13:11:36 +0000

As a parent, you always want the best for your child. You want them to succeed and reach their full potential, if they have a problem you want to help them solve it.

For some students, maths is a real problem. It is a subject that can make them feel stupid, inferior and hopeless. A good maths education is a real keystone for education and career prospects, opening so many doors for college course and apprenticeships, which only adds to the pressure and inferiority students can feel. The fact you are reading this blog means you have probably already decided that you want to help your child improve their maths in some way, considering whether extra maths tuition is the way to go, how it all works and what the benefits will be to your son/daughter. Extra tutoring is a significant investment in your child’s future, and you need to be sure it is going to make a real difference. So just what is it that makes extra maths tuition so beneficial to students?

The stats.

Research shows that regular maths tutoring will improve results by at least a grade, and in some cases by up to three grades.
Total Maths Tutoring had a pass rate of 96% for GCSE in the last academic year, compared with the national average of 67%.
Our students give us feedback on their sessions periodically. They report feeling more confident, more relaxed and more able to tackle the pressure of exams.

What do students gain from having extra maths tuition

Confidence – This seems obvious, but there is more to it than just the confidence they gain from improving their knowledge. Our tutors are experts at nurturing and fostering self-esteem in students who are struggling, making them see that they are capable of succeeding if they apply themselves. As well as this, they now feel like they have a supportive team behind them. They have a parent who believes in them enough to spend money on extra tuition, and a tutor who really believes they can do it. Suddenly they are no longer alone and feeling so helpless.

Understanding – I liken this to making a cup of tea. We can all make a cup of tea, and understand the process that goes into it. If we make a cup of tea and it is stone cold, we know that the thing that has gone wrong in the process is the kettle didn’t boil. If the tea is black, we forgot the milk. Mathematical processes can be thought of in the same way. Students might be capable of following a process to get an answer, but if they don’t understand the process, they don’t know if their “tea” looks or tastes like it should, and if their “tea” is cold they have no idea why. Total maths tutors teach for understanding, ensuring our students don’t just know the “what”, but they know the “how” and “why” too. This leaves them well equipped to self-assess and spot their own mistakes.

Good study habits – Young people these days have busy lives, and it is very easy to neglect study. We can also have a tendency to shy away from things we find difficult, so students can quite often spend maths “revision” time practicing lots of skills they already know. A tutor will help them with those difficult topics in a safe, supportive environment, encouraging them to tackle their difficulties head on. They also know that if they are finding something difficult when working on their own, they will have an opportunity to ask the tutor for some support soon, so they are less likely to panic or give up.

Exam skills – Many students perform well in lessons, but when it comes to a test they struggle to bring out their A game. In a lesson, students know that every question in the lesson is going to involve that topic in some way or another, whereas in a test, the question could be on any one of 100+ topics, or a combination of these. Deciding which branch of knowledge a question involves, and which skills to apply to that question is tough, but with practice and the right guidance, students can learn how to do this effectively, and reach their full potential in exams.

For younger students, a lot of the points above may not apply. They may be a long way away from sitting their GCSE exams. Tutoring is equally beneficial for these students however, and if they receive the right help now, they will feel the benefit of this for the whole of their school life and beyond. Our highest attaining students tend to be those who start having tutoring earlier, even if they only have a session every couple of weeks. This regular tuition helps keep them ticking over, and ensures their confidence and self-esteem stays high for the duration of their maths education.

There can be no doubting that regular extra maths tuition provides great benefits to the student, which they will continue to feel for the whole of their mathematical education and beyond.

Decided additional tutoring is the way forward? Contact us today!

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How best to support your child with their GCSE Maths Revision

Total Maths Tutoring — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:37:25 +0000

GCSE Maths is an important qualification to gain, no matter what your next steps are going to be. For some students, a top grade is important to do an A-level in Maths or Science. For others the grade may be important to gain access to a certain college or sixth form. There is also added pressure for some students, with the prospect of repeating their Maths GCSE post sixteen if they don’t achieve a grade 4.

This can potentially make year 11 a very stressful time for students and their parents or carers. Some students already find Maths difficult, with the added stress of potential failure and exam pressure only increasing this difficulty.

An interested, enthusiastic and positive support network can be the thing that makes the real difference for students; however a lot of parents and carers can shy away from helping students with their Maths. One of the most common things we hear as tutors is “I was never any good at Maths”, or “it’s all changed since I was in school”. There is a lot of truth in these statements; however there are still plenty of things that can be done to help, without needing to be the world’s best mathematician. But what sort of things can we do to help students, without appearing too intrusive and “naggy”?

Make sure they have a workspace – A good workspace should provide an area for them to keep their books, it needs to be warm, quiet and most importantly, free of distractions. A bedroom isn’t the best place for this, with all their stuff in there, privacy and distractions, it is too easy to avoid study. If the bedroom is the only place they have, operate an open door policy when studying so you can keep an eye on them.

Communicate with school – As a parent, you generally only meet the maths teacher once a year, with the odd phone call in between for particularly low or high achieving students, or those presenting behavioural problems in class. The student, who goes in to class, does what they’ve been asked to and achieves in the middle academically, generally doesn’t get much contact from the teacher. Be proactive in overcoming this. Email the school and ask how they are progressing; is there anything extra they could be doing at home, are there particular things they need to focus on? This email highlights to the school that you are a supportive parent, keen to help your child improve, which opens a line of communication with the teacher that wasn’t previously there. If there are any small issues from now on, you are much more likely to get contact from the teacher with this line of communication in place.

Help them get organised – Teenagers (and lots of adults too) can have a tendency to procrastinate, and put things off, not working as productively as they could do. As a parent you can help with this.

Make a timetable of a typical week, add all of their other commitments in, and identify the times in that week that are available to study. Be realistic with this and If there is no time within the week to study, you need to have a conversation about what they can change to make that time. Aim to try and find time slots of an hour each, with 50 minutes study, followed by a 10 minute break. Encourage them to put their phone away in the 50 minutes, doing all of their socialising in the 10 minute break if possible. The sooner students make this timetable and organise their time, the greater the benefit will be when exam season comes around. Display the timetable and make sure the student is sticking to it as much as possible to begin with. Life happens and things do come up, the timetable won’t get stuck to every week, but working towards this ideal is a massive help.

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Incentivise them – We all like a reward for working hard. That might be a physical reward such as a sweet treat, or something more personal such as control of the TV remote or being let off dishwasher duties. You know your child best and what works for them, but try and reward them for their effort, rather than their results. Maybe they have a chart where hours they have spent studying get logged, with rewards tied in with it. Giving them a reward for performing well in a test doesn’t tend to have the same effect, however rewarding positive behaviour and effort is shown to increase a student’s motivation to do more.

Learn along with them – If your maths is not up to speed look at this as an opportunity to brush up on your maths skills. Get a revision guide, read up on topics and then start asking about them. If they can explain key concepts and facts to you, this displays a much higher level of understanding and helps cement knowledge. If there are certain topics you don’t feel comfortable with, or perhaps the student is doing higher tier, you could look into some private tutoring to help with this.

Put up basic formulae on flash cards around the house and test the student regularly– There are a dozen or so formulae that students need to memorise for their exams. Pop them up in the bathroom or on the fridge and give them a quiz on them whenever you can. If you’d like to take this further, there are revision cards available from Corbett Maths with lots of topics reduced into a flash card to help revision.

Making these changes, and making them early will really help your student to succeed. By doing this you are reducing the loneliness and helplessness some students can experience in maths, showing that you care about their success and that you are working through it together.

In need of further support? Book a tutoring session today

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The parents guide to preventing holiday learning loss

Total Maths Tutoring — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 12:10:43 +0000

The parents guide to preventing holiday learning loss

Holiday learning loss has been a topic of hot discussion over the last few years and there is a growing concern among educators as to how students are being impacted.

Some research, conducted by John Hopkin’s University, found that two thirds of the Year 10 reading gap can be accounted for by holiday learning loss. A Review of Educational Research has also found that, on average, students show no academic growth over the school holidays and that it is mathematics that suffers the most.

Here are our top tips to combating the effects of summer learning loss.

1. Make a plan

Sit down at the start of the holidays and plan some time for educational activities. Try to encourage your child to read a book or play a family game that promotes learning. If you know that there is a particular area that your child is struggling in academically, it may be worth them having some private tuition to prevent them falling behind their peers. You could also try to incorporate educational trips into your holiday such as a museum, library or cultural sites to make learning fun.

2. Embrace real world learning opportunities

Education is about preparing children for the real world and the new exam reforms (especially in mathematics) are actively promoting the use of problem solving skills for real world problems. You could encourage your child to create a budget for how they will spend their holiday pocket money or set out a savings plan for something they aspire to own. The National Literacy Trust showed that children who read daily outside of school are five times more likely to read above expected levels for their age – so try to encourage them to take the time to read information posters, the newspaper headlines, instructions or recipes.

3. Stay healthy

As a result of extensive research, it has been widely accepted that good physical health positively correlates to good academic achievement. So, while you can still have the odd holiday treat, promoting a balanced diet and plenty of physical exercise will help keep children on the right track for educational success.

4. Manage screen time

The blue light emitted from electronic devices can stop melatonin (sleep hormone) production making it more difficult to fall asleep. Lack of sleep reduces brain functionally which has a huge impact on your child’s ability to learn. Try introducing a digital cut off point in the evenings before bed to limit the impact of this on your child.

5. Maintain a routine

Good routines can be essential in forming good habits such as taking regular exercise, eating well and getting enough sleep, as mentioned above. Although the temptation is for children to spend the holidays treating themselves to late nights, sweet treats and video game marathons, this can have a detrimental impact when the time comes to return to school. Try to encourage them to maintain their usual routines as much as possible to ease this transition.

In need of further support? Book a tutoring session today

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How to achieve the best results at GCSE Maths- Foundation Tier

Total Maths Tutoring — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 12:10:15 +0000

How to achieve the best results at GCSE Maths- Foundation Tier

The foundation tier at GCSE Maths is intended to equip students with a good solid knowledge of “real world” Mathematics, that they can use successfully in their future careers. Therefore this tier focuses far more on the basic maths that students will need to do well in the world of work, as well as in their personal lives. So what is the make up of the foundation tier course at GCSE?

Students generally need between 50 and 55% to pass with a grade 4 (the equivalent to the old C grade), and between 65 and 70% to achieve a grade 5.

What does this mean for students?

Essentially it means students need to be extremely well skilled at working with numbers and proportion. A real understanding of how to work with fractions, percentages, ratios, decimals is vital. Students can’t get by just knowing the processes that they use to work with these concepts, they need to really understand the links between them, working with them fluently and interchangeably.

There isn’t a big focus on using Algebra, but students need to be skilled at using numerical examples to solve problems, and explain their maths competently and clearly.

Students need to be thorough, and can’t afford to make many mistakes. This puts a real emphasis on mathematical literacy; Being able to read a long worded question & translate it into a mathematical concept they can make sense of Is a real skill, and one of the biggest criticisms of the new GCSE system. There is a strong feeling within education that this reliance on literacy excludes some students who are mathematically proficient, but who’s literacy isn’t up to the level that it should be.

3 top tips to do well at foundation tier

Focus on numeracy and proportion – Revise it, revise it, then revise it some more. If you still don’t understand certain topics, get some help from your teacher or get private maths tutoring.
Know what you don’t know – Take an inventory of your GCSE topics. Find those knowledge gaps and fill them in.
Develop an exam routine – This will help you be thorough, avoid mistakes and deal with the stress and anxiety of your final exams. Not sure what makes a good routine? Work with one of our expert tutors to develop your perfect routine.

Looking for a maths tutor to support you?

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The new GCSE grading system

Total Maths Tutoring — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 12:08:44 +0000

The new GCSE grading system explained

The new GCSE grading system has been a source of huge confusion over the last couple of years, as parents and students get used to 9-1 grading rather than the old letter based system. To add to this, some subjects have been using the new system, with others still yet to migrate over. In 2019, you should find pretty much all subjects are now using the new system, so how is this new system different in maths and what does each grade mean? The changes can be understood a little more easily using a diagram:

Broadly speaking, the lettered system wasn’t providing enough differentiation. There was too wide a range of ability in students achieving B and C grades. Someone achieving a low grade C could have just scraped through, possessing a reasonably poor level of knowledge. Someone achieving a high scoring grade C would be significantly better mathematically, but on paper these two students would achieve the same result. The same argument could be made of students achieving a grade B.

The new system splits Grades B and C into students achieving a Grade 4, 5, or 6, allowing employers and further education providers more accurate information on a students mathematical ability:

Grade 4

(*Marks required per paper: Higher tier 17/80, foundation tier 46/80)

Known as a standard pass, this means a student possesses the basic level of maths required to get by in most employment, and to access college courses which don’t possess a great deal of mathematical content. Sixth form colleges will typically accept this grade as an entry requirement, but it won’t usually allow access to A levels in science based subjects or maths. If a student does not achieve a grade 4, they will be required to resit GCSE maths, whatever choice they make post sixteen.

Grade 5

(*Marks required per paper: Higher tier 27/80 Foundation tier 56/80)

Known as a good pass, this tells an employer or further education provider that a student possesses a good solid mathematical knowledge. The student will either have achieved a high percentage on the foundation tier, indicating that they are thorough in their work and make few mistakes, or have studied the higher tier and learnt some high level topics at a basic level. This grade opens a lot more doors post sixteen. Sixth forms generally still do not allow students achieving a grade 5 onto A level courses in science or maths as a rule, although if somebody scores a high grade 5 they may make exceptions.

Grade 6

(*Marks required per paper: Higher tier 37/80 Foundation tier unachievable)

This grade is equivalent to a strong grade B. This can’t be achieved on foundation tier and is an entry requirement for a lot of sixth form colleges, should students want to study for a science A-Level. If your child is studying foundation tier but wants to do a science based A-Level, you need to start addressing this early in year 10. The topics studied at higher tier are quite different to those on foundation tier now, so by the start of year 11 it is very difficult to switch tiers. Regular private tutoring, together with a good amount of effort on the part of the student should make the difference between a 4 and a 6, if we start working with a student early enough. Schools are usually fairly open to a change of tier if a student shows willing and is scoring highly on internal testing early in Year 10.

Grade 7

(*Marks required per paper: Higher tier 47/80)

The equivalent to the old A grade. Required for A Level mathematics at many sixth form colleges. This may seem quite a high entry requirement but past years have shown that students achieving below this will struggle to keep up with the demands of A Level maths. Again, a commitment to regular private tutoring will help students to bridge this gap if the sixth form are willing to accept a grade 6.

Grade 8 & Grade 9

(*Marks required per paper: Grade 8: Higher tier 57/80, Grade 9 Higher Tier 68/80)

The equivalent to the old A* grade. Students achieving these grades are solid mathematically and more than capable of achieving and succeeding at A Level maths and further maths. This is the other real change to the exam grading system, with A* now covering two grades. On the old system, it was difficult to differentiate between the large amount of students achieving A*. The new system allows further education providers to identify those exceptional students who have achieved almost full marks.

* Marks per paper taken from the June 2018 Edexcel GCSE grade boundaries. Other exam board grade boundaries may vary by a few marks per paper.

As you can see, it is important to know what grade your child needs in order to access the further education option they want to pursue. So why have tutoring?It has been shown that regular tutoring can make the difference of an extra 1-2 grades, if we start working with your child early enough. Students can always resit the GCSE exam, so if they haven’t achieved the grade they need this year, working with a private tutor to identify and improve their weak areas could make the difference and allow them to pursue the path they wish to in the future. Sixth form colleges will often allow entry onto A-Level courses on the condition the required grade is achieved in a resitting of the exam.

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5 tips on how to pass your maths GCSE

Total Maths Tutoring — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 12:07:53 +0000

5 tips on how to pass your maths GCSE

Take Notes

Notes you have made yourself will make more sense to you when revising for your final exams than any revision guide. Books don’t need to be a work of art, just try and do the following:

Highlight key diagrams and information to help you find them quickly when revising.
Leave page one blank in your exercise book, and build your own contents page as you go.
Write questions, full working and answers. When revising you now have the solution and the full working to use as a model.
Use your books to create your own revisions cards with keywords and formula.

If your books haven’t been great up until now, and you’re in year 11, this tip is probably coming too late. Your options here are a good revision guide, or even better, a pre made set of revision cards. We recommend the ones from Corbettmaths. These are well made, and available for higher tier and foundation tier. They also have QR codes on the back containing links to videos, exam questions and answers on that particular topic. Well worth a tenner! Please note there are A LOT of cards, you’re going to want to separate them into number, Algebra etc and buy some envelopes to keep them ordered and tidy.

Sleep, eat and drink well

The easiest of these tips to achieve but probably the one that will make the most difference to performance, both in school and in final exams.

Your brain doesn’t work properly and retain information when you’re tired, dehydrated or badly nourished. You need to be aware of the relationship between what you eat/drink and the connotations of this, so you can make more informed decisions and better understand why some days you “just don’t get it”

Get exam trained

Answering the GCSE exam is a skill, sometimes even understanding what the question is asking you is a skill! These are skills which can be learnt and improved through focused practice and gaining an understanding of the different challenges that the GCSE now poses. Potentially consider private tutoring where you have the time to learn these skills and develop them in a controlled and comfortable environment.

Know what you dont know

It is human nature to shy away from our weaknesses and focus on our strengths. It makes us happy to do things we can do. It makes us sad when we can’t do things, unless we have worked hard to develop a growth mindset.

It is important in maths to assess these strengths and weaknesses periodically, and tackle them head on, it makes a massive difference to student progress.

Planning is crucial

Use a weekly plan to add commitments which you have at the same time every week, you should try and have one day at the weekend where you do no schoolwork at all. Upon finding out from each teacher when HW is set and collected, slot this into your timetable on a certain day. Ideally each piece of HW is completed on the day it is set, but if this isn’t possible it should never be left until the night before it is due.

This is about developing good routines and reducing stress. When you move closer to exam season, the HW will be replaced with revision but you already have your week plan in place, its just a case of finding a slot for each subject.

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The post 5 tips on how to pass your maths GCSE appeared first on Total Maths Tutoring.