Should I retake maths GCSE alongside my A levels?

Wait you’re doing two a levels?
And I’m doing my three a levels while retaking eng Lang

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 2

OP

Original post by Sannah 21

Wait you’re doing two a levels?
And I’m doing my three a levels while retaking eng Lang

Hi,
No I as well be doing 3 a levels. I didn't mention it to avoid any confusion but my third subject will be psychology. However that doesnt need any grade in maths. I just wanted to know peoples opinion because A levels are definitely hard (at least that's what I've heard) so I was wondering if it's the best idea to resit while doing my a levels or take a year out of college or something like that?

Reply 3

Plain1

16

I did an access course which is A level equivalent plus higher maths gcse in the same year. Foundation maths would have been much easier with the other subjects. I'd have gotten a much higher grade if I didn't do it alongside my level 3s. I'd say it depends what you want to do at uni and if that needs your maths gcse at a grade b.

Reply 4

Resit during a levels
We can be in it together except u do Maths and I do English 😂
The exams we do in November

Reply 5

ChemicalWaylien

11

I just finished my A Levels and can confirm they will only be a nightmare if you mess around in Y12. I would strongly support a decision to resit maths if it means you can pursue the subjects you want. Furthermore, if you wanted to pursue sciences at uni, it would definitely not hurt you to have a 6 as some scientific courses require a 6 in GCSE maths. It is entirely doable to resit alongside starting your A Level courses provided you actually do the work :smile:

Reply 6

OP

Original post by ChemicalWaylien

I just finished my A Levels and can confirm they will only be a nightmare if you mess around in Y12. I would strongly support a decision to resit maths if it means you can pursue the subjects you want. Furthermore, if you wanted to pursue sciences at uni, it would definitely not hurt you to have a 6 as some scientific courses require a 6 in GCSE maths. It is entirely doable to resit alongside starting your A Level courses provided you actually do the work :smile:

In my GCSE I did foundation maths therefore I couldn't get a 6 either way, so that means I would have to learn the higher spec for maths basically in a year (not even that) alongside my A levels. Some of my friends are also retaking science and maths but they are taking a year out of college. They suggested I should also take a year out but honestly speaking they are retaking 2 possibly 3 subjects. Whereas for me I dont think it is worth taking a precious year away just for one subject. On the other hand, I don't how hard A levels are yet, so is it worth it to take a year out?

Reply 7

OP

Original post by plainjayne1

I did an access course which is A level equivalent plus higher maths gcse in the same year. Foundation maths would have been much easier with the other subjects. I'd have gotten a much higher grade if I didn't do it alongside my level 3s. I'd say it depends what you want to do at uni and if that needs your maths gcse at a grade b.

I'm kind of in the same situation as you, In my GCSEs I did foundation maths so i couldn't get a 6 either way. But of course for medical the unis require a 6 in maths that means I will have to learn the whole higher spec in less than a year while doing my A levels. Do you think it is worth it to take a year out of college just for one subject?

Reply 8

ChemicalWaylien

11

Original post by pubjesusVB

In my GCSE I did foundation maths therefore I couldn't get a 6 either way, so that means I would have to learn the higher spec for maths basically in a year (not even that) alongside my A levels. Some of my friends are also retaking science and maths but they are taking a year out of college. They suggested I should also take a year out but honestly speaking they are retaking 2 possibly 3 subjects. Whereas for me I dont think it is worth taking a precious year away just for one subject. On the other hand, I don't how hard A levels are yet, so is it worth it to take a year out?

I don't think it's worth it at all. Taking years out tend to have a bad affect on people's work ethic, I honestly think you're better off staying where you are and resitting. Also, on foundation (I did foundation and got a 5 too), you need to get nearly full marks for the 5 as that is the highest grade - on higher, 5/6 is not the highest grade so you don't have to worry about understanding the entire spec if that makes sense. A Levels are hard, and academically are a huge leap. It can take a term or two to adjust to them, but as I said, as long as you do the work, you can make up that time.

Think about it this way - you would be taking a whole year out to go up a single grade in a single subject.

Reply 9

Bandanadude

14

You could ring up colleges and sixth forms and ask them if they’ll accept you. My friend got a 5 in Maths and he still did A level Physics anyway even though he needed a 6.

What grade did you get in Maths?

Reply 10

Plain1

16

Original post by pubjesusVB

I'm kind of in the same situation as you, In my GCSEs I did foundation maths so i couldn't get a 6 either way. But of course for medical the unis require a 6 in maths that means I will have to learn the whole higher spec in less than a year while doing my A levels. Do you think it is worth it to take a year out of college just for one subject?

If I was younger and if I could go back and do higher maths separately I would. It's nothing like foundation so there is a lot more to learn to get that 6. If you was just doing foundation I'd say do it alongside the A levels because it's not that difficult. If having a 6 is that important then you should put so much time and effort into it. This is just my opinion though.

Reply 11

If u k ur gonna retake maths then start revising now!
Ur guaranteed that 6 or maybe higher 😌🤞🏻 in November!
Use MathGenie, Corbett Maths, Mathsbot, all of that and use all their past papers topic papers, watch all the videos and make notes or something
Yh make tiny notes like flashcards so u know roughly wat each topic is about and then do questions and answers

I’m talking about higher btw

Reply 12

OP

Original post by Bandanadude

You could ring up colleges and sixth forms and ask them if they’ll accept you. My friend got a 5 in Maths and he still did A level Physics anyway even though he needed a 6.

What grade did you get in Maths?

I achieved a 4 in maths, and I rang up colleges and asked if I could still be accepted and do the course I want to do and they said yes. However, that aside I still want to retake maths because since I wanna do medical, the unis require a 6.

Reply 13

OP

Original post by Sannah 21

If u k ur gonna retake maths then start revising now!
Ur guaranteed that 6 or maybe higher 😌🤞🏻 in November!
Use MathGenie, Corbett Maths, Mathsbot, all of that and use all their past papers topic papers, watch all the videos and make notes or something
Yh make tiny notes like flashcards so u know roughly wat each topic is about and then do questions and answers

I’m talking about higher btw

That was my primary thought, to retake maths in November but then I thought hold on I also have an option to retake it next year alongside my A levels even though the pressure is going to be much higher at the end due to A level exams. I don't know what to do yet, I'm considering every possibility. Moving from foundation to higher is a big step because I've sat higher tier before and I had no idea what the hell was going on (but it's possibly because I didn't have time to revise it was when GCSEs were about to begin)

Reply 14

Original post by pubjesusVB

I achieved a 4 in maths, and I rang up colleges and asked if I could still be accepted and do the course I want to do and they said yes. However, that aside I still want to retake maths because since I wanna do medical, the unis require a 6.

That’s like me but with a 4 in Eng Lang and I don’t wanna do medicine 😌😌
But my enrolement date is on Wednesday and I’ll see if they accept me coz I one of the subjects requires 5 in eng Lang sooo hopefully they accept me for my courses, be lenient
And let me retake even tho I passed

Another thing, do all colleges let u retake even tho u passed?

Reply 15

Conscious9

7

That is a good idea. I’m not sure how this would go down though because you will basically be entering a level maths 1 year later. This would probably mean that you will finish your other a levels and have to still go to sixth form/college to finish your other year of maths.

Please let me know if I’m right

Reply 16

OP

Original post by plainjayne1

If I was younger and if I could go back and do higher maths separately I would. It's nothing like foundation so there is a lot more to learn to get that 6. If you was just doing foundation I'd say do it alongside the A levels because it's not that difficult. If having a 6 is that important then you should put so much time and effort into it. This is just my opinion though.

tbh I have sat higher tier before, it was when GCSEs were about to begin and I had no idea what I was doing possibly because I didn't have time to revise for higher spec. And if I mess up in the first year of college while retaking thats just gonna make things harder for me in future. And if I am getting it right, you are suggesting I should take a year out of college?

Reply 17

Plain1

16

Yes I am, sorry I'm a bit messy in my writing sometimes. Do it after your A levels as a night class and put all your time and effort into it. When I did my level 3s I had 3 exams in 2 days. The 2nd maths paper was at that time and I only managed to get 26/80 which is dire. I was under that much stress that I just didn't have enough time to revise for it. I know people can cope with more stress and workload than I can but when it's that important that your future career depends on it, one more year won't matter.

Reply 18

OP