Minimum GCSE Grade needed to do well at A Level

Hi, in my school there are some Year 11's who feel that they really want to do A Kevel Maths next year. They work hard and I am in no doubt they they can do well if they put their minds to it at A Level. The only issue is, one is working at a B Grade at GCSE ant the other a C, meaning that their knowledge of trig/simultaneous equations etc. will be limited, if not non existent. So should I encourage them to take Maths A Level? In reality, are their grades and understanding at GCSE enought to get them a pass at A Level let alone a the grade which they want to achieve at A Level (B/A)? If not, what would be the minimum GCSE Grade required to realistically having a chance of getting a B/A at A Level?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Reply 1

uberteknik

21

No easy answer to that.

Some are late developers and perhaps lacked motivation or had a bad school experience but were perfectly capable.

A friend of mine had an awful experience of school and left with only 2 GCSE's but then went to college which he clicked with.
At age 25 he graduated with a 1st in engineering from Manchester.

I also know students who left school with B's in Maths and Physics at A-level but were absolutely slaughtered when they went to university to study engineering.

Getting say a B or C at GCSE is not an absolute predictor of A-level performance, but logic tells you that on the balance of probability, they will have a much harder time of it simply because they appear to be struggling now - either with understanding or have lacked the motivation to apply themselves to the necessary workload.

They will be playing catch-up as well as learning new harder concepts which they won't get straight off the bat exactly because they are playing catch up.

Soooooo........what would be different at A-level?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2

ThatPerson

18

I would say that someone who was lazy and got a B at GCSE is capable of getting a decent grade at A-Level if they worked hard. If they only got a B/C and worked hard then I don't think the A-Level is for them, because if you don't understand the basics you're going to struggle with harder maths.

Reply 3

im7

2

This one is hard to say - I know people who got A* at GCSE and are getting C grades in the modules, yet there are people who got B at GCSE and are on track for an A grade.
It depends on how quickly you can grasp concepts in maths and how much work you put in!
But having done A level maths, I would say that if you got less than a B at GCSE, then A Level Maths is probably not a good idea as it is well known for being one of the hardest A Levels. If you get a B, then you will probably need to invest a lot of time (which is required anyway)

EDIT: In general, I would say that it is extremely unlikely that you will get a better grade at A level maths than you get for GCSE. There have been cases where this has happened before, but they are rare. Sorry to be harsh about it, but unfortunately that is the case. To get an A/B at A Level, I would say that you should be looking at an A grade at GCSE to be aiming for that kind of level.

(edited 11 years ago)

Original post by 002

Hi, in my school there are some Year 11's who feel that they really want to do A Kevel Maths next year. They work hard and I am in no doubt they they can do well if they put their minds to it at A Level. The only issue is, one is working at a B Grade at GCSE ant the other a C, meaning that their knowledge of trig/simultaneous equations etc. will be limited, if not non existent. So should I encourage them to take Maths A Level? In reality, are their grades and understanding at GCSE enought to get them a pass at A Level let alone a the grade which they want to achieve at A Level (B/A)? If not, what would be the minimum GCSE Grade required to realistically having a chance of getting a B/A at A Level?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Why does it fall to you to give them advice?

The C student is unlikely to grade at A Level and the B student will probably attain a low grade.

Many sixth forms insist on a minimum of an A grade at GCSE to avoid disappointment later on.

Reply 5

Robbie242

I'd say give the B student a go, I got a B after two D's on the foundation paper and then a B on the higher tier paper, but came out with 98ums on c1; they need to work hard though

Original post by Robbie242

I'd say give the B student a go, I got a B after two D's on the foundation paper and then a B on the higher tier paper, but came out with 98ums on c1; they need to work hard though

This is an extremely unusual (and impressive) outcome however.

Reply 7

Robbie242

Original post by Mr M

This is an extremely unusual (and impressive) outcome however.

Agreed, I have a deep interest in maths and how it works, hence I did every question around and did 1 pastpaper a day in the run up to the exam. For someone who is less interested in maths, I've seen many of my peers, specifically A/B grade people who don't revise fall short. It really depends on the individual

Reply 8

Syedishtyaq

Maths is not for everyone, I got an grade A in year nine so basically when i was 14,
I tried AS maths when I hit year 11 so i was 16, I failed got U, So that should shape it up a bit, It depends on the individual, In year 12 I will be redoing AS maths and work hard, I got my A at GCSE without even bothering

Reply 9

SillyEddy

18

There's no clear way to tell, although I was always told that there was an average grade drop of one grade from GCSE to AS and from AS to A2. Does that means that an A* GCSE student will always get a B at A2? No, certainly not.

Some people put in more effort, some put in less. For some they understand the content better and others don't.

Reply 10

kilner

10

Some people are better suited to the a-level style questions than the GCSE (I know personally I find that.) Perhaps tell them to learn up further maths stuff over the summer so they have a rough idea whether they can cope with that style (and enjoy it enough to be motivated). In general I'd say no, but if they work hard then possible.

Reply 11

mathcool

9

The problem with GCSE maths is that it will not acurately predict natural mathematical abiity or talent, where as A Level Maths do need some level of natural mathematical talent.

The new 9-1 GCSE maths grade will be increasingly predict natural mathematical abiity with far more accuracy. However, it will be still difficult to predict how a student would fare A Level Maths.

I say natural talent, because students can be developed and trained to a significant extent for A level maths, and I think to reach independent, high level Pure (and/or Applied) Mathematical thought process, one has to be naturally talented.This is my opinion.

However, if they can do some sort of mind imagination for explaining mathematical concepts, the it may well be a good indicator.

So, why do not they get some AS level books and try by themselves?

Hope tis helps.

Reply 12

mathcool

9

I was looking Math related stuff and came across this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8697772

Have a little scroll down and you will see relatively large piece of text starting with

I absolutely, positively second the recommendation of "Real Mathematical Analysis".

If you cannot stand with that even in the form of text, then I think you might want to give second thoughts (may be third) for the choice of Maths in A levels.

Minimum GCSE Grade needed to do well at A Level

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