How to go from 7 (A) to 8 (A*) in my maths gcse?

So I'm currently in Year 11 and I'm in top set for maths and predicted an 7, I got an 7 in my year 10 mocks (79 percent overall, I actually got 84 percent in my non-calc paper but unfortunately my calc paper always brings my grades down :/).

My Year 11 mocks are coming up and I desperately want to achieve an 8 minimum as I'd like to study further maths at A level (I'd like to do a degree in either physics/ astrophysics or aerospace engineering so taking further maths would be helpful) but my sixth form require atleast an 8 to be allowed to take it and so I need to do really well in order to get my predicted maths grade pulled up.

Does anyone have any tips? With maths, I stuggle most with recognising what I need to apply to solve the question, especially if it's like a multi step question and worth a lot of marks.

Also, I'm actually afraid of talking to my maths teacher about wanting to do A level maths and further maths because I'm scared she'll think I'm being ridiculous and laugh about the fact that I think I'll be able to get the grades as I've never done better than a 7 and my teacher doesn't really know me well at all. I'm willing to put in the extra work, I just regret not trying harder in year 10 to get better grades.

Also do you think my sixth form will allow me to take further maths if my predicted grade is a 7 but I end up getting an 8 in the actual exam? Because I know they base it on what you're predicted grades are on whether you get accepted or not. (my sixth form is a very high achieving one and you really need to get good grades to be accepted ).

Reply 1

VioletPhillippo

17

Original post by randomteenx

So I'm currently in Year 11 and I'm in top set for maths and predicted an 7, I got an 7 in my year 10 mocks (79 percent overall, I actually got 84 percent in my non-calc paper but unfortunately my calc paper always brings my grades down :/).

My Year 11 mocks are coming up and I desperately want to achieve an 8 minimum as I'd like to study further maths at A level (I'd like to do a degree in either physics/ astrophysics or aerospace engineering so taking further maths would be helpful) but my sixth form require atleast an 8 to be allowed to take it and so I need to do really well in order to get my predicted maths grade pulled up.

Does anyone have any tips? With maths, I stuggle most with recognising what I need to apply to solve the question, especially if it's like a multi step question and worth a lot of marks.

Also, I'm actually afraid of talking to my maths teacher about wanting to do A level maths and further maths because I'm scared she'll think I'm being ridiculous and laugh about the fact that I think I'll be able to get the grades as I've never done better than a 7 and my teacher doesn't really know me well at all. I'm willing to put in the extra work, I just regret not trying harder in year 10 to get better grades.

Also do you think my sixth form will allow me to take further maths if my predicted grade is a 7 but I end up getting an 8 in the actual exam? Because I know they base it on what you're predicted grades are on whether you get accepted or not. (my sixth form is a very high achieving one and you really need to get good grades to be accepted ).

Hiya,

Don't worry about what you get in your mocks, use it as a really good practice for the real thing. Maths can be a bit unpredictable where sometimes you can have a good day, sometimes a bad day for no particular reason.

I went from an A at the beginning of year 11 ( I got an A in my mock) but I worked really hard and got an A* in the end. I do A level maths and I've learnt to appreciate that you don't have to be the best at maths to get the best results but it's the effort that you put in to improving your technique. Different ways work for different people but in general you will improve by doing as many practice questions you can from as many different exam boards and books as possible. Use a mark scheme to mark them critically and highlight mistakes so that you can identify patterns in thr mistakes that you're making. What I did while I was practising questions was I would write down a model method for each type of question that I could follow every time and I learnt this for the real exam.

Don't be scared to ask your teacher, they are there to help especially if it's a subject that you want to persue further. :smile:

Original post by randomteenx

So I'm currently in Year 11 and I'm in top set for maths and predicted an 7, I got an 7 in my year 10 mocks (79 percent overall, I actually got 84 percent in my non-calc paper but unfortunately my calc paper always brings my grades down :/).

My Year 11 mocks are coming up and I desperately want to achieve an 8 minimum as I'd like to study further maths at A level (I'd like to do a degree in either physics/ astrophysics or aerospace engineering so taking further maths would be helpful) but my sixth form require atleast an 8 to be allowed to take it and so I need to do really well in order to get my predicted maths grade pulled up.

Does anyone have any tips? With maths, I stuggle most with recognising what I need to apply to solve the question, especially if it's like a multi step question and worth a lot of marks.

Also, I'm actually afraid of talking to my maths teacher about wanting to do A level maths and further maths because I'm scared she'll think I'm being ridiculous and laugh about the fact that I think I'll be able to get the grades as I've never done better than a 7 and my teacher doesn't really know me well at all. I'm willing to put in the extra work, I just regret not trying harder in year 10 to get better grades.

Also do you think my sixth form will allow me to take further maths if my predicted grade is a 7 but I end up getting an 8 in the actual exam? Because I know they base it on what you're predicted grades are on whether you get accepted or not. (my sixth form is a very high achieving one and you really need to get good grades to be accepted ).

I don't think they'll "laugh you off". Teachers will recognise that if you're on a 7 now, if you work, you have a decent chance of getting an 8, in the end. I think you should note where you're going wrong, by looking at the papers, whether it be method, silly mistakes, or simply not reading the questions properly.

How to go from 7 (A) to 8 (A*) in my maths gcse?

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