The Student Room Group

Very desperate to pass GCSE math this year, any more advice?

Hi, so I am a year 13 student that still hasn't passed GCSE math yet as I struggle with math a lot. I am going to Uni next year and am quite worried about not passing it, I have two tutors helping me and I do revision at home (past papers, practice questions, worksheets). I also use websites such as, Dr. Frost, Maths Genie and Corbettmaths. I really want to pass it this year and it would take weight off my shoulders. Does anyone else have any more advice to help me? Thanks.
Reply 1
Original post by jgabrielg06
Hi, so I am a year 13 student that still hasn't passed GCSE math yet as I struggle with math a lot. I am going to Uni next year and am quite worried about not passing it, I have two tutors helping me and I do revision at home (past papers, practice questions, worksheets). I also use websites such as, Dr. Frost, Maths Genie and Corbettmaths. I really want to pass it this year and it would take weight off my shoulders. Does anyone else have any more advice to help me? Thanks.

What are your tutors saying? They know your work and with a month to go, its probably better to follow some sound advice rather than having lots of different ideas.
Reply 2
Original post by mqb2766
What are your tutors saying? They know your work and with a month to go, its probably better to follow some sound advice rather than having lots of different ideas.

That's true tbh, I am just on here to see if anyone else has any other advice. They pretty much said what I've put down on that post.
Original post by jgabrielg06
Hi, so I am a year 13 student that still hasn't passed GCSE math yet as I struggle with math a lot. I am going to Uni next year and am quite worried about not passing it, I have two tutors helping me and I do revision at home (past papers, practice questions, worksheets). I also use websites such as, Dr. Frost, Maths Genie and Corbettmaths. I really want to pass it this year and it would take weight off my shoulders. Does anyone else have any more advice to help me? Thanks.


Know your topics and there are skills that are embedded in the topic that aren’t always discussed by teachers, so look out for any skills!
Reply 4
Original post by jgabrielg06
That's true tbh, I am just on here to see if anyone else has any other advice. They pretty much said what I've put down on that post.

There are things like
https://www.missbsresources.com/teaching-and-learning/mathspassports
https://m4ths.com/uploads/3/5/2/1/35219558/lite_book_-_free_copy.pdf
as well as the stuff youve listed, but they should supplement what youre doing with your tutor and exam practice and ... not replace them.
(edited 10 months ago)
Hi, check out the YouTubers TL maths, the gcse maths tutor and Mitchell dye!
Reply 6
Original post by mqb2766
There are things like
https://www.missbsresources.com/teaching-and-learning/mathspassports
https://m4ths.com/uploads/3/5/2/1/35219558/lite_book_-_free_copy.pdf
as well as the stuff youve listed, but they should supplement what youre doing with your tutor and exam practice and ... not replace them.

thank you so much :smile:
Reply 7
Original post by kitty15
Hi, check out the YouTubers TL maths, the gcse maths tutor and Mitchell dye!

I will start doing that tomorrow, thank you :smile:
Are you doing higher or foundation? it is good that you good a tutor as it is really helpful. My suggestion is to watch videos on topics you struggle with and topics which you haven't studied yet. After doing this practice questions for the topic. I would recommend the website called "maths genie", it has all the topics according to grades with videos and practice questions. Also watch videos from "GCSE maths tutor" - really useful- it has playlists for all topics need for certain grade like grade 6-7 series, grade 8-9 series etc. After knowing most topics, if you do higher then you should know grade 1 to grade 6 topics and then try to learn harder topics later after finishing learning grade 1 to grade 6 topics.

After doing all that, watching videos, practicing questions. then you should start doing past papers. Key thing is to practice as much maths as you can. If you struggle with any questions from any past paper or any topic questions you should get help from your tutor and understand it well that you will be able to solve similar questions. Ask you tutor to explain the question to you. Ask for how she or he did get to that step or answer? and also ask why you do that? Make sure you understand it and not just follow the steps they are doing, first understand then see how to do it.

I hope it helps.
Reply 9
Original post by Harman Kaur
Are you doing higher or foundation? it is good that you good a tutor as it is really helpful. My suggestion is to watch videos on topics you struggle with and topics which you haven't studied yet. After doing this practice questions for the topic. I would recommend the website called "maths genie", it has all the topics according to grades with videos and practice questions. Also watch videos from "GCSE maths tutor" - really useful- it has playlists for all topics need for certain grade like grade 6-7 series, grade 8-9 series etc. After knowing most topics, if you do higher then you should know grade 1 to grade 6 topics and then try to learn harder topics later after finishing learning grade 1 to grade 6 topics.
After doing all that, watching videos, practicing questions. then you should start doing past papers. Key thing is to practice as much maths as you can. If you struggle with any questions from any past paper or any topic questions you should get help from your tutor and understand it well that you will be able to solve similar questions. Ask you tutor to explain the question to you. Ask for how she or he did get to that step or answer? and also ask why you do that? Make sure you understand it and not just follow the steps they are doing, first understand then see how to do it.
I hope it helps.

I am doing foundation and I am aware it may be easy for most people, but in general I struggle with math a lot, but I will start doing that, thank you :smile:
Original post by jgabrielg06
I am doing foundation and I am aware it may be easy for most people, but in general I struggle with math a lot, but I will start doing that, thank you :smile:

Oh ok, I didn't know. To understand maths you need to understand how the particular method or technique we use to work out the answer of the question and why we use it. You should not only look at the method and use it but the important thing is that you understand its meaning like actually how we do what we do to solve the problem and why we do it.
For example: I am going to holiday for two days and I have 1000 pound saved. It will cost 15 pound for food each day. I want to save and don't want to spend 500 pound for others things. How much money should I spend each day on holiday. Will I have extra money to do shopping on holidays?

1000 - 500 = 500 I can only spend 500 pound on holidays.
It will cost 30 pound for food for each day. because 2 days times by 15pound is 30 pound.
500/2days = 250 pounds to spend each day.
Total money on holidays that I can send is 500 pound. For food I will spend 30 pound so I do have extra money left to spend on shopping because 500(money I can spend on holidays) - 30(money will be used for food) = 470.
I will have 470pounds extra to spend on shopping or other things on holidays.

I just made the questions randomly to just explain you that you should know how you need to understand why we use the methods we use.
I hope it helps. If you found this confusing pls let me know I will try to make it clear to you and explain it again.
Hopefully you will do well.

Quick Reply