Predict your GCSE grades 2017!

Yep, FM is similar to C1-C2 and a bit of FP1. It has the easier content of C1-C2 and one topic from FP1 if I recall correctly (matrices).

Don't revise D1 - Decision Maths has been abolished. New spec is Pure, Mechanics, Statistics (a paper each for AS and A2 for Edexcel).

Getting a 9 in Maths is hard and easy at the same time. Easy because the content is simplistic but hard as we don't know grade boundaries thus to SECURE a 9, you should always aim for 78+. Anyhow, what I did for GCSE Maths (which helped me get 79/80 in each paper):

For every topic:
- watch Mathswatch video on it
- watch examsolutions video on it
- watch random videos on YouTube to learn advanced examples of it
- go to CGP revision guide page for that topic and do the questions on there (the example and the ones on the bottom)
- go to the CGP workbook page for that topic and complete all questions for that topic (check your answers)
- go to the CGP Grade 9 workbook pages for that topic and complete all questions for that topic (some questions are quite fun)
- go to mathsgenie and do their worksheets for that topic
- go to justmaths and do their worksheets for that topic

- repeat for EVERY topic in Maths GCSE

- sit every since GCSE past paper (~past 7 papers) for (AQA, Edexcel, OCR; all 3)
- sit the CGP 9-1 practice papers (buy them)
- sit the Churchill 9-1 papers
- sit the CrashMaths papers
- sit the specimen papers
- sit all the practice set papers (and previous mocks)

I assure you, if you do this all properly - you will have NO trouble achieving 100%. This may actually be overdoing this but in doing this, you will master every topic and understand it to the fullest. Also, doing all the past 7 papers for all 3 exam boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR) is very useful (even though the board may differ for you and it's the old spec; you should still do it). Completing the CGP papers and marking it will give you the grade you're working at (they have their own boundaries). CrashMath and Churchill papers are harder than normal papers therefore if you practice them, it's quite useful.

Also, was your mock an actual GCSE practice paper for higher? If so, dropping 4 (76) is a 9.

Wow, thanks for your tips, they are really good
I did the CGP mock set yesterday and got 78, 72, 79.

The mock set we did in maths was the Edexcel mocks Autumn 2016.
My result was 78, 78, 80.

Did you think the CGP papers were harder or easier than the real exams?
Hopefully the 2017 papers will become available before the 2018 exams.
I will take a look at the Churchill and CrashMath papers. Did any unexpected topics come up this year?

Congratulations on your maths exam marks. You deserve a grade 9
Thanks for the tips!

I think the CGP papers are quite similar to the exam in difficulty - I'd say around the same though I'm not entirely sure. Also, thanks

I have access to paper 1 if you would like to try it out. Message me and I'll send it then you can mark it and get a grade (I would say anything above 77 is a definitive 9).

Overall the questions that came up on the GCSE this year, iirc:

- exact values of trig combined with rationalizing the denominator
- volume of cone, frustum and similarity to find missing dimensions for volume (non-calc)
- circle theorems with regular angle postulates e.g. vertically opposite
- instantaneous gradient e.g. tangent
- combinations, probability and tree diagrams
- completing the square mixed with finding the equation from a quadratic given it passes through 2 given points
- quadratic sequences
- angles
- geometric progressions, arithmetic sequences, cosine rule mixed with 1/2 ab Sin c and area of sector (proof question)
- regular trig, area of circle etc
- ratio problem solving
- miles as a function of kilometres
- equation of tangent to circle
- expanding 3 brackets (that has 2 variables)
- more problem solving on ratios and algebra
- transformations
- simple indices/surds (i.e. simplify root 12 1/4)
- cumultive frequency
- simple inequalities, standard form, simultaneous equations
- density, speed, etc
- averages from a grouped table

I think the CGP papers are quite similar to the exam in difficulty - I'd say around the same though I'm not entirely sure. Also, thanks

I have access to paper 1 if you would like to try it out. Message me and I'll send it then you can mark it and get a grade (I would say anything above 77 is a definitive 9).

Overall the questions that came up on the GCSE this year, iirc:

- exact values of trig combined with rationalizing the denominator
- volume of cone, frustum and similarity to find missing dimensions for volume (non-calc)
- circle theorems with regular angle postulates e.g. vertically opposite
- instantaneous gradient e.g. tangent
- combinations, probability and tree diagrams
- completing the square mixed with finding the equation from a quadratic given it passes through 2 given points
- quadratic sequences
- angles
- geometric progressions, arithmetic sequences, cosine rule mixed with 1/2 ab Sin c and area of sector (proof question)
- regular trig, area of circle etc
- ratio problem solving
- miles as a function of kilometres
- equation of tangent to circle
- expanding 3 brackets (that has 2 variables)
- more problem solving on ratios and algebra
- transformations
- simple indices/surds (i.e. simplify root 12 1/4)
- cumultive frequency
- simple inequalities, standard form, simultaneous equations
- density, speed, etc
- averages from a grouped table
- proving f(x) > 0 (f(x) = x^2 + x +1))

The last question was interesting. You can prove that function is always positive for all real x in 2 ways:

1) completing the squares gives you minimum value to be 3/4 thus always positive
2) discriminant < 0 i.e. no real roots for that function i.e. it never hits 0 or below (always above the x axis) thus always positive

I swear the stuff about f(x) > 0 is C1? I wish I'd done the new spec; iGCSE maths was so boring.

Predictions, in order of confidence:

I swear the stuff about f(x) > 0 is C1? I wish I'd done the new spec; iGCSE maths was so boring.

Predictions, in order of confidence:

It is. The discriminant approach is C1. The completing the square to evaluate a positive minimum value is GCSE. But both methods were used for the GCSE. Also you should do FM regardless - you're great at Maths!

Oh, completing the square wasn't on the iGCSE syllabus; that explains it. Thanks! It's just that I sucked until some point this year when everything clicked, and I (and my parents) still doubt myself sometimes. I should meet the full UMS condition though...I hope. I did OCR RS :/ I hate that subject

It's nice to see you around here again what A-levels are you planning on taking? (Maths, FM, physics and chemistry by any chance? ^_^)

Ah, that's the same with me. I was terrible in Maths then I realized how it works together and it's a turning point (no pun intended for that completing the square question xD).

Ah you did OCR RS. I did Edexcel - I hate RE. xD Should've revised it more tbh

For A levels I haven't decided yet since I'm moving into y11 but I'll hopefully sit Maths and FM next year with enough work xD This summer I've been grinding examsolutions.net and solomon papers and madAS papers. They're great

Yeah, before I didn't understand the function of maths and I was so bad at deriving how I should work through each question, but I've always been decent at linguistic reasoning and with a bit of analysis I realised that this type of skill is actually integral to maths (I'll get my coat).

Same, I left the whole syllabus for the weekend before the first exam. It was too boring but OCR RS, at least, was very easily BSable.

Maths and FM along with your other GCSEs? Wow :O that's a good idea though, you'll be able to spend practically all of sixth form on STEP/MAT/BMO, I wish I were as motivated as you; I wanted to do that but I've just not been working as hard as I should. Maybe I should start my A-level GYG to motivate myself.

I hate linguistic reasoning - I've always been bad at English, I just don't find it interesting xD Shakespeare is so boring. Anyways, I'm going off a tangent (ayy). But that's good - you're good at both stuff so that's a win-win.

Oh my days, the exact same for me haha xD I only revised the weekend before so 2 days for both my RE exams and I ended up doing Maths during RS revision xD. But likewise it's easy to BS in RE exams - just throw in 'Jesus golden rule 'the decalogue' 'love thy neighbour' and BAM xD

Yeah that's the idea - finish the foundations of Maths in Y11 then attempt BMO and STEP in year 12 xD. Also, it's not too late - you're great at Maths. If you were to revise and GRIND this summer you can finish all of Maths A Level and then spend next year revising other subjects. Just gotta be on that GRIND xDDD

The kind of linguistic reasoning done at GCSE is totally banal, though. It is to language analysis what old spec GCSE maths was to maths. I quite like Shakespeare, though; not that much of a fan of his tragedies (I prefer classical tragedies) but I love his comedies and poetry. But yeah, I'd say I'm equally good at English and maths at this point. That was part of my dilemma - school isn't letting me do 5 A-levels so I have to drop English to do FM

Haha, that grade 9 questions thread was the death of me! I always used it to procrastinate revising for my other subjects (the excuse being "I am working, I'm doing maths!". It was such a good thread though ^.^ literally, that's how to do an RS exam! I have a theory that the RS essay questions are machine-generated; they alternate topics and are essentially the same questions rephrased every time.

Well I hope I'll see you at Cambridge then :P (no pressure!) I'll tryyy, I just need to be more organised. I have a Croatian exam at the end of August as well and I've done nothing for it so far, so I'm ******** myself :s

That's true and quite a great comparasion haha xD But in my opinion, that's really biased, you did the right choice! FM > English xD. But if you really wanted to - you can do another A level. I.e. you can take Maths, Phys, Chem and English in school and self-teach yourself the new spec further maths at home then sit the exam but that's quite the workload.

LOL same instead of revising RE, I was doing some cheeky questions from that grade 9 thread. It was an amazing thread tbh - a lot of amazing fun questions and it helped me to meet some new people.

Haha that's actually a good theory and it may be true o_0 each question is literally the same with one or 2 changed words xD. But it's good that we're not sitting new spec RS. That would would've been a killer and too borring

I would love to go Cambridge but I figured since Imperial is really local for me I may just go there, have you considered Imperial? NO you don't TRY you HAVE TO DO GRINDDD the maths. xD You can do Maths and revise for your Croatian exam simultaneously (no pun intended) but the first may take priority for you

I was intending to do that at first, but I do a lot of music, drama, writing etc. and I think it would be really hard to juggle that along with five A-levels and some semblance of a social life! Oh I'm actually taking maths, FM, French and Latin now. Maths, FM, phys & chem is what I was guessing you would take ^.^ I imagine you'll stay as far away from essay subjects as you can?

I love the little maths community we created there! It seems like a lot of people in my year on TSR, and maybe your year too are taking A-level maths and even FM, so I hope we can keep it going. The maths forum will be so lively next year! I feel like the new spec has absolutely destroyed a lot of the essay subjects. Even as someone who will probably go into something STEMish, I really resent how the humanities are demoted and just plain ruined by the education system >_<

Omg I think we might live quite close to each other :O Imperial is just a short Tube journey from me. I'd love to go there; I visited for this maths event with some others from school and really liked it, but for some reason they don't offer linguistics not enough unis do scientific linguistics degrees. The only certain ones I'm applying to are Cambridge, UCL and York (for straight linguistics, experimental linguistics and maths & linguistics respectively). Where else have you considered?

Wow, our puns are on point today! You know what, now I'm motivated. I'm going to make my GYG tomorrow

Did anyone else here do AQA Further Maths GCSE? Do you think the boundaries will be higher or lower than previous years?

I did it and thought this years exam was a little harder then the mocks I did. Paper 2 was actually decent so that might be similar but I found the non-calculator pretty bad. I'm hoping for an A^ so praying the boundaries will be a bit lower than usual, how did you find the papers? Do you think they were harder than previous years?

I was the opposite. I found paper 1 easier than usual and paper 2 harder than usual, probably because there was more algebra on paper 1 which I prefer. I think the boundaries will be slightly lower than usual. What mark do you think you got, if you don't mind me asking, and what do you think the A^ boundary will be? I think I got between 144 and 147, but considering the best and worst case scenarios, it could be between 141 and 155. I'm really hoping it's enough for A^, but I feel like I'm going to be 1 mark away from it or something lol. I analysed the boundaries for previous papers and looked at the examiner reports for them to find the difficulty level of each question type. I think the A^ boundary will be between 142 and 145.