Should I take GCSE maths?

Ok bit of a complicated situation:
I'm going in to year 12 in September. My year was the first year with an accelerated group who did the AS in Year 11, like this:
year 9- Learn GCSE, sit SAT
year 10 - finish gcse, sit C1 in june.
year 11 - S1 in jan, C2 in june.
So, I never did a maths gcse. But, now with the abolition of coursework people in the future will be doing this:
year 8 - sats
year 9 - gcse
year 10 + 11 - solely on AS.
So our school has offered the chance for next years year 10s, 11s and 12s to go to an after school club then sit the gcse in June. Now, if I were to do it, I would be doing it alongside the A2 so it will be really easy and a guaranteed A*. Might find it stupidly boring though? Thing is, for the 10s and 11s they'll get the GCSE when they get their others/earlier. But for my year, we'll have it a year after our normal GCSEs. Will unis think I resat it or will they know that it is the first time I sat it? It's a bit of a complicated situation to explain.

So anyway, my question is should I do it or not?

Thanks :s-smilie:

Reply 1

Toiletpaper8

13

That is a really complicated system that you have there lol, and after reading that through... I don't understand why any school would have a system like that. But never mind lol.

I wouldn't bother sitting maths again.... No point. It's not exactly anything you don't already know, so unless it's a university entrance requirement, then there is no point in doing it. I mean, if you ask anyone who's done AS maths to do GCSE, they'll get 100% easily. There is no point, in my opinion. AS maths builds on GCSE knowledge, so if you can do AS, you can do GCSE. It is assumed.

Reply 2

Ukazi-TazZy

12

Do it.
Most uni's say you need atleast a C in english and maths.

Reply 3

moody28028

OP

2

Ukazi-TazZy

Do it.
Most uni's say you need atleast a C in english and maths.

Well they say GCSE or equivalent - and I will have A level which is the equivalent but better.

Reply 4

Toiletpaper8

13

Why don't you give the admissions tutors at the universities you are considering an email?? If they say it's not necessary, then why waste your time :biggrin:

Reply 5

paperclip

18

Well, it'll be easy as you're doing A2 maths so it's a guaranteed A*, why not?

Reply 6

Rob 07

13

Lots of graduate job applications use a filtering system whereby your application will be rejected if you do not have GCSE maths at grade C or above, therefore in my opinion you should definately do the GCSE Maths so you aren't faced with such problems in the future. I'm also surprised that your school doesn't make you do GCSE maths as it now forms part of a seperate league table statistic for how many people achieved 5 gcse's including maths and englsh.

Reply 7

moody28028

OP

2

Rob 07

Lots of graduate job applications use a filtering system whereby your application will be rejected if you do not have GCSE maths at grade C or above, therefore in my opinion you should definately do the GCSE Maths so you aren't faced with such problems in the future. I'm also surprised that your school doesn't make you do GCSE maths as it now forms part of a seperate league table statistic for how many people achieved 5 gcse's including maths and englsh.

Well we already get a ton of applications per place so I don't think they care much about the league tables, but it was brought up by our MP I think. But surely employers will see that I have A level maths. Our school rang up a lot of unis and employers before they began it to see if it would matter and they said no.

And no ones answered the question: will unis/employers think I resat it or will they know it was the first time I sat it? On UCAS do you have to declare if it was a resit?

Thanks

Reply 8

tom_tom_tom

18

Surely as you already have a A level in maths the GCSE is going to be some what just an extra, however as A level is harder then GCSE why dont you just asked to be entered into the exam and then take the exams with out much work as im sure it would be pretty easy compared to waht you are used to now!

Reply 9

DoMakeSayThink

15

moody28028

Well we already get a ton of applications per place so I don't think they care much about the league tables, but it was brought up by our MP I think. But surely employers will see that I have A level maths. Our school rang up a lot of unis and employers before they began it to see if it would matter and they said no.

And no ones answered the question: will unis/employers think I resat it or will they know it was the first time I sat it? On UCAS do you have to declare if it was a resit?

Thanks

Do it, if only to be safe. To be honest, there's maybe 2 hours worth of lessons you'd actually need, on box-plots and cumulative frequency, etc. Everything else you would be able to answer without any trouble at all.

In terms of universities, if they see that you sat your AS before your GCSE they will realise something unusual happened, and they might ask you about it. You've got a perfectly reasonable explanation for it.

Employers will always interview you if you stand the slightest chance, so again, you can explain.

Reply 10

moody28028

OP

2

Ok well it's just an hour a week after school from November - June and they mentioned that there will be absoloutely no homework or anything, and I doubt I'd actually go to many of the lessons. Thing is it could have a negative effect if I have even more exams in the summer, especially if it clashes?

Reply 11

Shask

7

Why do you even need to go to after-school tuition? I'd imagine that an A2er would be able to completely decimate a GCSE maths paper.

Reply 12

Tallon

16

mot worth it. nobody will care because you do A level maths which is just infinitely better so who'd care about GCSE?

Honestly can you see someone saying "wow you have a good grade in A level maths but sorry you don't have GCSE maths so you can't do this maths course" lol

Reply 13

dinkymints

12

I'd do it just because of the automatic filtering systems that someone's already mentioned. If you end up applying for very competitive jobs and get rejected you don't want to be wondering why and I doubt they'd tell you!

Reply 14

Marsha2112

15

You don't need to go to the classes, just sit the exam. It would probably be incredibly easy and it's a pretty important GCSE.

Reply 15

Hedgehunter

12

Rob 07

Lots of graduate job applications use a filtering system whereby your application will be rejected if you do not have GCSE maths at grade C or above, therefore in my opinion you should definately do the GCSE Maths so you aren't faced with such problems in the future. I'm also surprised that your school doesn't make you do GCSE maths as it now forms part of a seperate league table statistic for how many people achieved 5 gcse's including maths and englsh.

Surely its even a government requirement that everyone sites a GCSE maths, english and science?!

Reply 16

v1oXx-

12

Just do the exam... get an A*. Bob's your uncle.

Reply 17

Fiasco

I wouldn't attend lessons, but I would make sure I did a few past papers just to get use to the style of questions. That would probably be quite a problem, especially if you had to do it whilst revising for other A levels. I don't think it's as easy as just going to sit the exam. The maths might be easy but you still have to get used to the questions, timing etc. Also, changes in syllabus and the syllabus itself might involve topics you haven't covered in a while.