The Student Room Group

struggling with a level maths

its been 2 weeks and the jump from gcse to a levels is really hard. One of my teachers is awful and I don't know any good maths resources or tutors to help me understand.

If I practice more will it become easier or is it better to drop it now (however I have no clue on what other subjects to choose)

Scroll to see replies

i know this isn't the most helpful answer but honestly it depends. maths is a really useful subject for most uni courses so unless you know you only want to do humanities then from that view it's best to keep trying it. maybe do some more practice in your own time or work with a friend and see how you get on? are there any other maths teachers that you could talk to maybe?
what did you get at GCSE maths? It normally gets easier after a few weeks in.

What exam board do you do?
Reply 3
Original post by xluminaheart
i know this isn't the most helpful answer but honestly it depends. maths is a really useful subject for most uni courses so unless you know you only want to do humanities then from that view it's best to keep trying it. maybe do some more practice in your own time or work with a friend and see how you get on? are there any other maths teachers that you could talk to maybe?

I've been doing some work with my friends which does help ty however they're smarter than me which kinda makes me feel behind as they have tutors :smile:. I do have a good maths teacher but I don't want to offend my other teacher
Original post by CaptainDuckie
what did you get at GCSE maths? It normally gets easier after a few weeks in.

What exam board do you do?

I got a 7 and I hope so (at least thats what everyone told me)

my exam board is OCR
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by annqbellex
its been 2 weeks and the jump from gcse to a levels is really hard. One of my teachers is awful and I don't know any good maths resources or tutors to help me understand.

If I practice more will it become easier or is it better to drop it now (however I have no clue on what other subjects to choose)

haberdashers maths and TLmaths are amazing. I’d also recommend the textbook that your school gave you but judging by your post, I doubt that they gave you a textbook. Also, imo, context is important here. Why do you find your teacher to be awful? Do they go too fast? Do they teach in a way that’s hard to understand? Are they not open enough to questions asked by students?
Also, what did you get at GCSEs?
Original post by annqbellex
I got a 7 and I hope so (at least thats what everyone told me)

my exam board is OCR



what do you mean that’s what everyone told you?

don’t you know your gcse results....
Original post by 0ptics
haberdashers maths and TLmaths are amazing. I’d also recommend the textbook that your school gave you but judging by your post, I doubt that they gave you a textbook. Also, imo, context is important here. Why do you find your teacher to be awful? Do they go too fast? Do they teach in a way that’s hard to understand? Are they not open enough to questions asked by students?
Also, what did you get at GCSEs?



Haberdashersmaths is irrelevant to OCR specification.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by annqbellex
I've been doing some work with my friends which does help ty however they're smarter than me which kinda makes me feel behind as they have tutors :smile:. I do have a good maths teacher but I don't want to offend my other teacher

I got a 7 and I hope so (at least thats what everyone told me)

my exam board is OCR

I'm glad working with friends helps :smile: it could be that the topic you're doing at the moment is just hard for you? I suggested the other maths teacher as an option since i got the impression you might not want to talk to your current maths teacher for advice/help lol. But talking to teachers will definitely help. Does your school have any options for help outside of lessons? like subject clubs and stuff
Reply 8
Original post by 0ptics
haberdashers maths and TLmaths are amazing. I’d also recommend the textbook that your school gave you but judging by your post, I doubt that they gave you a textbook. Also, imo, context is important here. Why do you find your teacher to be awful? Do they go too fast? Do they teach in a way that’s hard to understand? Are they not open enough to questions asked by students?
Also, what did you get at GCSEs?

thank you!! They did tell us to get a textbook its around £40 so they don't advise we should get it just yet.

She goes very fast and picks people on the spot which is really humiliating and I got a 7
Reply 9
Original post by CaptainDuckie
what do you mean that’s what everyone told you?

don’t you know your gcse results....

oh no I meant everyone told me it will ease down after a few weeks, i definitely know i got a 7 and my teacher said he was close to giving me an 8
Original post by annqbellex
thank you!! They did tell us to get a textbook its around £40 so they don't advise we should get it just yet.

She goes very fast and picks people on the spot which is really humiliating and I got a 7

how many maths classes are there at your school? because if there are multiple you could probably negotiate with someone to switch classes since your current one isn't really working for you. or if multiple people in your class feel the same way about her teaching style then you could probably all band together and ask her to slow down or something
Original post by xluminaheart
how many maths classes are there at your school? because if there are multiple you could probably negotiate with someone to switch classes since your current one isn't really working for you. or if multiple people in your class feel the same way about her teaching style then you could probably all band together and ask her to slow down or something

theres only 1 maths class (its quite a big class) and I'm not sure if anyone else apart from my friend groups feels the same way but I think they don't really understand her either.

We only have her once a week for an 1h and 30 mins and the good teacher for 3 hours which is a relief.
Thank you for your suggestions tho :smile:
Original post by annqbellex
oh no I meant everyone told me it will ease down after a few weeks, i definitely know i got a 7 and my teacher said he was close to giving me an 8



I take that back, you could use TLMaths, however, you cannot use haberdashersmaths.

I suggest you adapt to the difficulty, and try out TLMaths to explain whatever topic you’re struggling on.

Then just do topic assessments from physics and maths tutor until your textbook arrives.
(edited 2 years ago)
Try maths-genie website, thank me later.
Original post by annqbellex
theres only 1 maths class (its quite a big class) and I'm not sure if anyone else apart from my friend groups feels the same way but I think they don't really understand her either.

We only have her once a week for an 1h and 30 mins and the good teacher for 3 hours which is a relief.
Thank you for your suggestions tho :smile:

no problem; still if there's multiple of you i'd say that should be enough to bring up your concerns with her. maybe if you still struggle after a bit consider going to the good teacher for help like after class?
Original post by Maths Fan
Try maths-genie website, thank me later.



Well, that’s just redundant, isn’t it?

They don’t do OCR past papers nor does he cover OCR A level videos.
this should be relevant:

https://alevelmaths.co.uk/ocr/
Original post by annqbellex
its been 2 weeks and the jump from gcse to a levels is really hard. One of my teachers is awful and I don't know any good maths resources or tutors to help me understand.

If I practice more will it become easier or is it better to drop it now (however I have no clue on what other subjects to choose)


Try this website; https://www.drfrostmaths.com/sow.php?year=A%20Level%202017&term=Main

The pure is common to all boards and there are PPTs with worked examples

Were you set any holiday work?
Original post by Muttley79
Try this website; https://www.drfrostmaths.com/sow.php?year=A%20Level%202017&term=Main

The pure is common to all boards and there are PPTs with worked examples

Were you set any holiday work?

thank u but I'm doing ocr examboard

yes we were but it was mainly just a gcse recap
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by annqbellex
thank u but I'm doing ocr examboard and yes we were but it was mainly just a gcse recap with fairly easy questions

As I said the pure is the same so this website is fine for you ...

You are probably VERY rusty - we set quite challenging holiday work and we kept teaching Year 11 until June.

Quick Reply

Latest