Grade C to A... possible?

I've got two GCSEs in November 2008, so roughly 9/10 months to go. :smile:

Today I dad a Mathematics past-paper with my tutor, and got a (low) C. Bear in mind that this was on no revision, and I wasn't prepared for the paper.

Now, I’m the first to admit, I’m not terrific at Maths. It is my worst subject, and I find it quite stressful. However, I wouldn’t like my otherwise faultless exam record to be ruined by one subject. In the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted an A. It looks better on the UCAS form, and I’d like to do it to prove to myself that I can.

The only problem is, after I took the paper… my Maths tutor said that I shouldn’t be aiming for anything more than a B/C, as I’m simply not good enough. It’s a fair comment, but I felt slightly insulted.

I’ve had about six months of formal Mathematics education in my entire life. Five years ago I couldn’t even add to numbers together (due to a neurological problem I have). So, in my opinion, getting up to grade B/C is relatively good considering I’m self-taught. It just seemed a bit unfair to write me off like that.

Is it possible to move up two grades by November? Has anyone on here ever achieved that?

Replies appreciated. :smile:

Reply 1

laura-rad

2

Well, I'm in Scotland so I haven't done GCSEs...
However, last year I was doing my Highers (the year after GCSEs) and I pulled my Maths grade up from an F to a B just by doing lots of past papers.

So if I can do it I'm pretty sure anyone can with just the right amount of work.

Goodluck :]

Reply 2

Flubi

1

I'm really not a natural at maths and I was pretty much at the bottom of my maths classes getting mostly Cs and Ds at GCSE, but then I bought a couple of workbooks and did a half an hour a day for several months. I came out with an A which was quite an achievement for me, and shows its perfectly possible :smile:

Reply 3

Coco.

12

Sure is, if you work at it. Most of my mock exam results were c's/b's. It is pretty good if you are getting that with no revision at all :smile:

Reply 4

Rubix

20%. not to difficult.

Reply 5

dumbdunc

Not quite the same but its probably the same amount of work: I went from a VERY low C to an A in art from January to May. So...4 months. I had to start over basically and do two years worth in that time. Baring in mind I am in no way artistic I think doing the same for maths in 10 months is certainly possible. It'll take a fair bit of work though.

Reply 6

billet-doux

14

Of course you can! Be positive.
I think maths is one of the things you need to work at constantly, so i would advise you to do around one hours work a day, just tackling a variety of problems, and see if that helps you!
I wasn't very comfortable with maths when i was in year 10, but i revised about 3 weeks before my mock, just doing around 30 mins a day, and i got 93%! So it is possible, trust me :smile:

Reply 7

jakdax77

mate, the day before my CI mock, i got 40% in a practice test :frown:

Next day did test, i got 84%, its probably was a one off, i found when ur in exam type conditions you tend to perform better then you do at home
Good Luck mate!

Reply 8

andiroo

I was predicted EE for ICT Dual Award, because i basically had no course work! So 4 weeks before the deadline i worked solidly for a week and well i got an AA in the end.

easy

Im in pretty much the same situation, moving a C to an A... see my other thread. You think soooo much like me its damn scary

EDIT:

Just checked the mark scheme, if you are doing OCR drop me a PM and i can explain it all.. Luckily my teachers entering 3 of us for the unit that targets us for an A (out of 4, only two get sent off, two of mine are **** and two i havent done so i have time to improve on it)

I think my teacher secretly knows some of us have high ability for a B/A but is keeping hush hush about it

Reply 11

GemmyMonster

15

It's possible.

Don't necessarily just try and answer all the harder questions though - it's surprising how many marks people lose by not showing working etc. Likewise, remember you can get marks for workings, even if you get a question wrong - so if you blank completely on how to do it, don't just not bother.

Reply 12

Car Expert

10

It can be done. Not related to Maths, but I got an E in the English Literature mock exam in November. Took the real exam in May, and got an A.

Reply 13

chbutterfly

2

The Nightingale

I've got two GCSEs in November 2008, so roughly 9/10 months to go. :smile:

Today I dad a Mathematics past-paper with my tutor, and got a (low) C. Bear in mind that this was on no revision, and I wasn't prepared for the paper.

Now, I’m the first to admit, I’m not terrific at Maths. It is my worst subject, and I find it quite stressful. However, I wouldn’t like my otherwise faultless exam record to be ruined by one subject. In the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted an A. It looks better on the UCAS form, and I’d like to do it to prove to myself that I can.

The only problem is, after I took the paper… my Maths tutor said that I shouldn’t be aiming for anything more than a B/C, as I’m simply not good enough. It’s a fair comment, but I felt slightly insulted.

I’ve had about six months of formal Mathematics education in my entire life. Five years ago I couldn’t even add to numbers together (due to a neurological problem I have). So, in my opinion, getting up to grade B/C is relatively good considering I’m self-taught. It just seemed a bit unfair to write me off like that.

Is it possible to move up two grades by November? Has anyone on here ever achieved that?

Replies appreciated. :smile:

are you taking this early?

dont worry at all, and it was wrong to be told not to be expecting higher than a b/c

i did my maths gcse a year early and in my mocs a few months before i was getting c's and i came out with an A*

just do lots of practic papers, going through the answers is most important, i found this really helped me improve

then just revise topics you need,

can you get past papers from anyone, as often the questioins are very similar

good luck hope this helped

xx :smile:

Reply 14

evilmoo

A girl in my year was predicted C's and a few B's.

She got 2 A*'s 4 A's and 4 B's.

That pissed off some of the teachers who didn't like her XD

Seriously though, it can be done. It requires you to WANT it really badly, but it sounds to me like you're motivated enough, so go for it :biggrin:

Reply 15

trance addict

18

It will only be done if shes doing a specific board that only takes certain modulars into account. So realisticly if youve scored crap on modulars that WILL be sent into the board, and if your not doing the modules that allow you to get an A, it wont be possible.

Grade C to A... possible?

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