Functional Skills Maths Advice!

Spender£

I have been practicing for Level-2 Maths test in Functional Skills but the person i have been practising with has failed it by 7 marks, he seemed really good compared to me always getting the right answers so i'm now worried about my chances.
I know Pearson have introduced a new mental part to the exam and i have been looking at old papers etc, i can do long division and multiplication etc so i'm not concerned about the mental part but in the calculator section so many of the questions keep catching me out mainly because their is so many different calculations to learn, my mate took a piece of paper into the exam with examples of how to do each calculation written down to jog his memory but it was took off him he said by the staff.
This is i think ed excel which i heard was easier than city and guilds or ncfe and the pass mark is between 32-37 marks whatever that means.
I understand the practice is key but anyone else out there have any advice for nailing this!

AskAsk

found this link, which seems to indicate that you could get training for free if you qualify

https://www.thinkemployment.com/courses/functional-skills-maths-level-2/

for me, maths is not about practise but understanding what is going on.  so unless you understand, practise won't actually help.

eamon

Just had a quick look and go at this one. There are quite a few things that I would need to swot up on before attempting this level for real, e.g. trigonometry and ratios. 

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-functional-skills/maths-2019.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category/Specification-and-sample-assessments

There is a lot to get your head around. I agree with AskAsk I think you need to find somebody to help with your understanding and to mark your practice papers. I suspect that your friend may have failed for not showing adequate workings. Are you employed? May be worth your while asking if they will pay/sponsor you.

Spender£

AskAsk said:

found this link, which seems to indicate that you could get training for free if you qualify

https://www.thinkemployment.com/courses/functional-skills-maths-level-2/

for me, maths is not about practise but understanding what is going on.  so unless you understand, practise won't actually help.

Thanks for the advice, despite the fact i'm on furlough i was allowed to do this course for free so no financial loss if i fail thankfully.

Spender£

eamon said:

Just had a quick look and go at this one. There are quite a few things that I would need to swot up on before attempting this level for real, e.g. trigonometry and ratios. 

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-functional-skills/maths-2019.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category/Specification-and-sample-assessments

There is a lot to get your head around. I agree with AskAsk I think you need to find somebody to help with your understanding and to mark your practice papers. I suspect that your friend may have failed for not showing adequate workings. Are you employed? May be worth your while asking if they will pay/sponsor you.

eamon said:

Just had a quick look and go at this one. There are quite a few things that I would need to swot up on before attempting this level for real, e.g. trigonometry and ratios. 

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-functional-skills/maths-2019.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category/Specification-and-sample-assessments

There is a lot to get your head around. I agree with AskAsk I think you need to find somebody to help with your understanding and to mark your practice papers. I suspect that your friend may have failed for not showing adequate workings. Are you employed? May be worth your while asking if they will pay/sponsor you.

Thank's, thankfully this is a free course in my postcode for for furlough i think although distance due to covid19 so all the classes are at home but the exam at a local test centre, my mate told me to look out because the software is awkward trying to show your working out on pc without paper, he might of been doing something wrong but he claimed it was click and drag but the symbols kept flying back to the start position or something, although he might be saying this as an excuse.

ElefantEd

You might need to find a tutor or someone else who can explain the maths to you - it can be hard to pick up just from reading a book.

John_

As above, to do well in maths you really need understanding, note rote learning. What is the question really about. Is it similar to any other questions that you are familiar with, is it a re-wording of something simpler, and so on.

Have you any examples of the sort of questions that you are struggling with?

NBLondon

eamon said:

 I suspect that your friend may have failed for not showing adequate workings. 

The other possibility is that he lost marks for not doing it in the same way as the mark sheet said it should be done.  I have seen a few of these and they did require specific steps to be shown to get full marks - even when the answer is correct.   This would explain the online issue - if the software expects steps to be done in a certain order; you can't complete the question using a different technique (even if that would get you to the correct answer).

getmore4less

I looked at one paper from that link 
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Functional-skills/Mathematics/2019/specification-and-sample-assessments/Functional-Skills-Mathematics-Entry-Level-3-Practice-paper-SecB-Sept-2019.pdf

Q9. fraction of what
Q14   ambiguous

Penguin_

getmore4less said:

I looked at one paper from that link 
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Functional-skills/Mathematics/2019/specification-and-sample-assessments/Functional-Skills-Mathematics-Entry-Level-3-Practice-paper-SecB-Sept-2019.pdf

Q9. fraction of what
Q14   ambiguous

Q9. Needs to rotate 180 degrees which as a fraction is 1/2
Q14 15:10

AskAsk

Penguin_ said:

getmore4less said:

I looked at one paper from that link 
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Functional-skills/Mathematics/2019/specification-and-sample-assessments/Functional-Skills-Mathematics-Entry-Level-3-Practice-paper-SecB-Sept-2019.pdf

Q9. fraction of what
Q14   ambiguous

Q9. Needs to rotate 180 degrees which as a fraction is 1/2
Q14 15:10

question 14 doesn't state what the time format is though?
this is also level 3 and the OP is asking about level 2.