Beyond Grade 9 Standard

I have a grade 9 targeted exam practice workbook, its challenging (I'm probably of similar ability to you, predicted a 9) and my teacher lets me use it in class if the normal work is easy. They aren't available for all exam boards, but if you are on AQA, there is one.

So I’m good at maths. I’m predicted a 9 in my upcoming maths GCSE and I’m always top of my class in every test we do (scoring almost full marks in each one).

I’ve done so much revision for maths over the past several months(about 5 hours a day).

However I’ve always felt like I’ve been held back and not been able to fulfil my potential. I’ve always been good at maths but I am always looking to improve.

Everything I learn in lesson is too easy for me and I already understand it all. None of the questions I am faced with in a test stand out to me as being unable to do (although some may take me longer to do than others). Whilst I will admit there will be an odd question that will arise that I cannot do, for the majority I am fine with.

I was wondering, is there anyway I can learn/teach myself beyond grade 9 standard whilst still remaining GCSE? I’m only talking about this because I feel happy with myself that I’m good at maths but when I come across a difficult maths question that I cannot do, it really demotivates me that I know I can’t do it because perhaps I’m not as good as I thought or perhaps I haven’t been taught it (being held back).

Is there any way I can teach myself even harder maths - the pinnacle of GCSE maths? Thanks for any feedback

Yes
If you really want to challenge yourself, look at UKMT maths challenges and olympiads. The stuff they do is all set to focus on interesting problem solving using basic concepts.

So I’m good at maths. I’m predicted a 9 in my upcoming maths GCSE and I’m always top of my class in every test we do (scoring almost full marks in each one).

I’ve done so much revision for maths over the past several months(about 5 hours a day).

However I’ve always felt like I’ve been held back and not been able to fulfil my potential. I’ve always been good at maths but I am always looking to improve.

Everything I learn in lesson is too easy for me and I already understand it all. None of the questions I am faced with in a test stand out to me as being unable to do (although some may take me longer to do than others). Whilst I will admit there will be an odd question that will arise that I cannot do, for the majority I am fine with.

I was wondering, is there anyway I can learn/teach myself beyond grade 9 standard whilst still remaining GCSE? I’m only talking about this because I feel happy with myself that I’m good at maths but when I come across a difficult maths question that I cannot do, it really demotivates me that I know I can’t do it because perhaps I’m not as good as I thought or perhaps I haven’t been taught it (being held back).

Is there any way I can teach myself even harder maths - the pinnacle of GCSE maths? Thanks for any feedback

Some schools give students the option to study something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Additional-Mathematics-OCR-Val-Hanrahan/dp/0340869607/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519680029&sr=1-2&keywords=ocr+additional+maths+hanrahan

Even if your school won't enter you for it, the book is quite cheap and will certainly take you beyond GCSE.

I am AQA, do you have a link to where I can buy one? Thanks

Thank you very much. Does it not matter that I do AQA then?

have you used this book?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-Targeted-Practice-Workbook-Revision/dp/178294415X/ref=pd_sim_14_27?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MH57551363BHGC0HM3W0
or the aqa one
if you have, or if you havent but just a general question, how on earth do you learn how to do hard questions like these? the cgp revision guide doesnt go into as much depth as you need to answer these, it turns grade 3 questions into grade 9, how did toy learn how to do these types of questions?

have you used this book?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-Targeted-Practice-Workbook-Revision/dp/178294415X/ref=pd_sim_14_27?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MH57551363BHGC0HM3W0
or the aqa one
if you have, or if you havent but just a general question, how on earth do you learn how to do hard questions like these? the cgp revision guide doesnt go into as much depth as you need to answer these, it turns grade 3 questions into grade 9, how did toy learn how to do these types of questions?

It doesn't matter. But another option is Level 2 further maths which is also aimed at extending GCSE students and prepares you for A Level. This qualification is more popular so you may find more resources.

Of course only start learning this stuff if you're sure you're going to get a 9. If you are confident then you could even start looking at A Level maths and ignore GCSE further maths (it's a subset of A Level anyway). Self-teaching some of A Level before learning it in school often leads to very good results and it's very common in the TSR maths forum!

Just search 'AQA Maths Grade 9 Targeted Workbook' on Amazon. it's about £5 from what I remember. Has answers with it as well.

So I’m good at maths. I’m predicted a 9 in my upcoming maths GCSE and I’m always top of my class in every test we do (scoring almost full marks in each one).

I’ve done so much revision for maths over the past several months(about 5 hours a day).

However I’ve always felt like I’ve been held back and not been able to fulfil my potential. I’ve always been good at maths but I am always looking to improve.

Everything I learn in lesson is too easy for me and I already understand it all. None of the questions I am faced with in a test stand out to me as being unable to do (although some may take me longer to do than others). Whilst I will admit there will be an odd question that will arise that I cannot do, for the majority I am fine with.

I was wondering, is there anyway I can learn/teach myself beyond grade 9 standard whilst still remaining GCSE? I’m only talking about this because I feel happy with myself that I’m good at maths but when I come across a difficult maths question that I cannot do, it really demotivates me that I know I can’t do it because perhaps I’m not as good as I thought or perhaps I haven’t been taught it (being held back).

Is there any way I can teach myself even harder maths - the pinnacle of GCSE maths? Thanks for any feedback

No I haven’t and thats also what I want to find out haha. I want to be able to look at any of the questions and know how to answer them instead of being like how on earth do I do this? What does it mean?

You could try to learn GCSE Further Maths because you sound very confident. Another sugggestion is that you could start learning AS Maths which would benefit you later on as you’ll be ahead. Also I don’t think you’ll find AS Maths that hard.

Thank you very much. I plan to learn what is on my AS syllabus during the holidays so when we return to school I am already familiar with the lessons and therefore can work on harder stuff related to the topics

what resources do you use so that when a big wordy grade 9 question comes up you know exactly what to do?