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How much do I need to revise to get a C in GCSE Maths?

I don't know what my current grade is but I'm guessing E, D at best. The highest grade I've managed to get in the past is a D, a few years ago. I need a C to meet my Warwick offer (I'm retaking Maths at college lol). My exams are in May and June. Would it be impossible for me to get up to a C by May?! There's a lot of stuff I can't do due to lack of practice/revision rather than it being beyond my ability. E.g. I relearnt what a prism is the other day! I put in a few hours this week (not sure how many) and I'm definitely improving but I'm not sure if I'm setting myself up for failure by leaving improving my Maths so late? I was kind of hoping they wouldn't ask me for a grade C tbh (and I've been very busy with other work), but I got my offer on the 29th of Jan... 'Conditional upon obtaining Grade C in GCSE Mathematics'. :colondollar: I have offers from other unis that don't want Maths. Should I even bother?!

Edit: My teacher reckons I should do Foundation, so I'll need about 70% on each paper for a C I think. Also relevant info: I only have Maths lessons one day a week for three hours, and I don't absorb a great deal as they're in the evening when I'm tired out and our class has teenagers who chat constantly and distract me :angry:
(edited 8 years ago)

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Reply 1
Original post by redinthegrey
I don't know what my current grade is but I'm guessing E, D at best. The highest grade I've managed to get in the past is a D, a few years ago. I need a C to meet my Warwick offer (I'm retaking Maths at college lol). My exams are in May and June. Would it be impossible for me to get up to a C by May?! There's a lot of stuff I can't do due to lack of practice/revision rather than it being beyond my ability. E.g. I relearnt what a prism is the other day! I put in a few hours this week (not sure how many) and I'm definitely improving but I'm not sure if I'm setting myself up for failure by leaving improving my Maths so late? I was kind of hoping they wouldn't ask me for a grade C tbh (and I've been very busy with other work), but I got my offer on the 29th of Jan... 'Conditional upon obtaining Grade C in GCSE Mathematics'. :colondollar: I have offers from other unis that don't want Maths. Should I even bother?!



That generally depends in your abilities.

Just go to ExamSolutions, watch EVERY video for your exam board, and do LOTS of past papers. You are guaranteed at least a B if you do this, and keep practicing over and over again.
Btw I'm considering getting a tutor but I don't want my family to waste their money if I'm aiming for the impossible
Not to brag or anything but I did 0 revision and got an A*.
Depends on how talented you are at maths though. Shouldn't need to revise much for a C mind you.
Reply 4
You don't. You just need two brain cells.
Reply 5
2 x 45 minute sessions a week
a tutor might help
Reply 6
The CGP revision guides are great, very useful. They cover the vast majority of stuff you need to know in a very straightforward way. They are also very inexpensive (I'd expect to pay less than £5) and can be bought at most bookstores (Smiths, Waterstones, etc) I highly recommend them.
Original post by Adeel Ali
Not to brag or anything but I did 0 revision and got an A*.
Depends on how talented you are at maths though. Shouldn't need to revise much for a C mind you.


Haha, I think I'm dyscalculic and I doubt I'd get A* if I revised 30 hours a week for a year. XD But I don't think C is beyond my ability.
The problem is the amount of time I have to achieve it. At school where I got my D I didn't do much work outside class and my attendance was bad. My GCSE grades in general were horrible
Original post by Adeel Ali
Not to brag or anything but I did 0 revision and got an A*.
Depends on how talented you are at maths though. Shouldn't need to revise much for a C mind you.


Typical TSR answer. And not very helpful.

OP it really does depend how long it takes you to understand things, if maths isn't your strongest subject you'll need to put more effort into it.

To reiterate what someone has already said, examsolutions is awesome. Work your way through past papers and refer to it when you need guidance, it makes everything very clear. Good luck!
Original post by dean01234
Typical TSR answer. And not very helpful.

OP it really does depend how long it takes you to understand things, if maths isn't your strongest subject you'll need to put more effort into it.

To reiterate what someone has already said, examsolutions is awesome. Work your way through past papers and refer to it when you need guidance, it makes everything very clear. Good luck!


Thanks :biggrin::biggrin:
Original post by redinthegrey
Haha, I think I'm dyscalculic and I doubt I'd get A* if I revised 30 hours a week for a year. XD But I don't think C is beyond my ability.
The problem is the amount of time I have to achieve it. At school where I got my D I didn't do much work outside class and my attendance was bad. My GCSE grades in general were horrible


Sorry, You should have said. Just go over past papers honestly, after a while it will become a memory game than anything else!
I would say you need to put in a bit more than a few hours a week, if you're are finding that you are having to completely relearn things rather than just refresh your memory. Try maybe an hour a day? That's 7 hours a week then (plus 3 hours teaching, which you said isn't helping much), and an hour isn't very much.
I wouldn't say you need a tutor as there are a lot of resources out there for GCSE maths. Also, I feel like you must have a friend or a family member who could help you - maybe even just assist you when you find that you still cant understand something even after looking at different resources online?
I would suggest buying a GCSE maths book, and going through it completely and making notes on everything you find important. Then go over these notes and over them again, then try some past papers. With GCSE maths it is just a matter of being able to memorise things, so just keep going over and over it until you remember it. (Maybe make revision cards?! These always helped me!)

Anyway good luck, I'm sure you'll manage it in the end!
And even if you don't need it for uni specifically, GCSE maths does give you some simple and useful maths skills which you will probably need in the future regardless - e.g. percentages.
Reply 12
Mathswatch, you need Mathswatch.

Honestly it helps sooooooooo much

good luck I hope you achieve what you want :smile:
Original post by zanner
Mathswatch, you need Mathswatch.

Honestly it helps sooooooooo much

good luck I hope you achieve what you want :smile:


Thanks :smile: Can you explain what Mathswatch is? I Googled it and it seems to be several things
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by LiquidGold
I would say you need to put in a bit more than a few hours a week, if you're are finding that you are having to completely relearn things rather than just refresh your memory. Try maybe an hour a day? That's 7 hours a week then (plus 3 hours teaching, which you said isn't helping much), and an hour isn't very much.
I wouldn't say you need a tutor as there are a lot of resources out there for GCSE maths. Also, I feel like you must have a friend or a family member who could help you - maybe even just assist you when you find that you still cant understand something even after looking at different resources online?
I would suggest buying a GCSE maths book, and going through it completely and making notes on everything you find important. Then go over these notes and over them again, then try some past papers. With GCSE maths it is just a matter of being able to memorise things, so just keep going over and over it until you remember it. (Maybe make revision cards?! These always helped me!)

Anyway good luck, I'm sure you'll manage it in the end!
And even if you don't need it for uni specifically, GCSE maths does give you some simple and useful maths skills which you will probably need in the future regardless - e.g. percentages.


Yeah I agree with you re: time; I think I need at least an hour a day, which I can fit in. I spend at least an hour a day on college days on buses, and during that time I do Maths if I feel up to it. Obviously a bus isn't the best place to do Maths but if that's the only free time I have in my day, I can use it. :smile: Thanks.
I would recommend doing past papers and watching exam solution videos. As for how long you need to revise to get a c it depends on your ability. Quite a lot of people on here would say they wouldn't need to do any revising to get a c but thats not helpful and they usually do it at a level.

I wouldn't get a tutor. Maybe around 2 hours a week.
Reply 16
Mathswatch and MyMaths are brilliant websites for revision, what helped me the most was doing past maths paper and revise sections that I didn't get right on the paper
Original post by VSeymour
Mathswatch and MyMaths are brilliant websites for revision, what helped me the most was doing past maths paper and revise sections that I didn't get right on the paper


Re: MyMaths, I'm not at school...
honestly? not hard
Original post by shawtyb
honestly? not hard


:smile:

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