GCSE Maths help

SiliconChip

Savvy_Sue said:

Thomas_Holding said:

LightFlare said:

One hurdle you may encounter, is having obtained an A yourself, you either have a natural ability and/or a good understanding of the various facets.

That won’t necessarily translate into being able tutor someone who struggles with these as you won’t always have the ability to break down concepts and explain in different ways.

As suggested, find out which board it is and there’s plenty of books around - also some good stuff on YT

I wasn't that good I got a D first time because I messed up my coursework but the first time I was allowed to enter the higher level I got an A - which upset my teacher as he had said I wasn't good enough.
(I don't understand why everyone can't just have the option to get top grades the first time)

We encountered that issue with DS3, who found himself unable to apply himself to anything he didn't care about. There was a serious risk of a very able student 'failing' English Language so we were sent home for Easter with a few previous papers at both Foundation and Higher level. If he did a couple of each, school would decide which level he should be entered for. 

I think what it boils down to is not wanting less able students to 'fail', but when the highest grade you could get on Foundation was a C, that worried me. I looked at the schemes, and pointed out to DS3 that if he took a Foundation paper, he'd have to get something like 85% to get that C, whereas if he took Higher, he'd only have to get 60%. OK, the Higher paper might be more difficult (actually I wasn't sure how much harder it was!) but getting the C grade should be easier. 

He dutifully did a couple of Higher papers over the holidays and proved he was capable - he'd just have to write some answers during the bl**dy exam instead of daydreaming and switching off! And I had reminded him that until he got that C, he'd be re-taking English Language in the 6th form! 

I don't know if the current system still has Foundation and Higher papers. 

There's certainly Foundation and Higher for maths, and I expect it's the same for English. While your method may well be OK for English I think for maths it could be counter productive to attempt Higher if you're really a Foundation level student as the hard questions might be so off-putting that the easier questions may not be answered properly too.

For the adult education class I took every applicant did an online assessment first to determine what the correct level of study should be, although we did have one person in the class who started off doing Foundation but switched to doing Higher when they found Foundation to not be challenging enough.

Thomas_Holding

Savvy_Sue said:

Thomas_Holding said:

LightFlare said:

One hurdle you may encounter, is having obtained an A yourself, you either have a natural ability and/or a good understanding of the various facets.

That won’t necessarily translate into being able tutor someone who struggles with these as you won’t always have the ability to break down concepts and explain in different ways.

As suggested, find out which board it is and there’s plenty of books around - also some good stuff on YT

I wasn't that good I got a D first time because I messed up my coursework but the first time I was allowed to enter the higher level I got an A - which upset my teacher as he had said I wasn't good enough.
(I don't understand why everyone can't just have the option to get top grades the first time)

We encountered that issue with DS3, who found himself unable to apply himself to anything he didn't care about. There was a serious risk of a very able student 'failing' English Language so we were sent home for Easter with a few previous papers at both Foundation and Higher level. If he did a couple of each, school would decide which level he should be entered for. 

I think what it boils down to is not wanting less able students to 'fail', but when the highest grade you could get on Foundation was a C, that worried me. I looked at the schemes, and pointed out to DS3 that if he took a Foundation paper, he'd have to get something like 85% to get that C, whereas if he took Higher, he'd only have to get 60%. OK, the Higher paper might be more difficult (actually I wasn't sure how much harder it was!) but getting the C grade should be easier. 

He dutifully did a couple of Higher papers over the holidays and proved he was capable - he'd just have to write some answers during the bl**dy exam instead of daydreaming and switching off! And I had reminded him that until he got that C, he'd be re-taking English Language in the 6th form! 

I don't know if the current system still has Foundation and Higher papers. 

With hindsight I should have asked my parents to enter me privately.  Teachers make mistakes when judging peoples ability - they're not super human - why not remove the ability to make mistakes.
Your DS3 was very lucky that he had supportive parents and flexible teachers - my school was not like that.