GCSE Statistics

OP

Ye so no coursework for AQA? fab 😀

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 3

Jmoney9

2

Edexcel used to have coursework now they don’t

Reply 4

OP

So which one is slightly easier? I have about a year to learn the content? Is that comfortable? I am generally quite competent at maths, I've done BMO1, and have UKMT medals.

Reply 5

Beehee_1

Original post by NotRike

So which one is slightly easier? I have about a year to learn the content? Is that comfortable? I am generally quite competent at maths, I've done BMO1, and have UKMT medals.

which gcse exam board are you doing for maths? I'm doing edexcel maths and so also edexcel stats (externally too)

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 6

OP

Original post by Beehee_1

which gcse exam board are you doing for maths? I'm doing edexcel maths and so also edexcel stats (externally too)

I'm currently deciding between AQA or EdExcel, or whether to do GCSE stats at all tbh. I've already got quite a lot on my plate and I would rather do one less GCSE to get straight 9s than do an extra one and risk getting an 8.

Reply 7

Puslane

5

Original post by NotRike

So which one is slightly easier? I have about a year to learn the content? Is that comfortable? I am generally quite competent at maths, I've done BMO1, and have UKMT medals.

I do GCSE Edexcel statistics within maths lessons and it's not to difficult, it's a lot of crossover with maths and we have covered it in about a year in maths lessons (we have also been doing noal maths too) there is a lot of crossover with maths so if you are confident with maths already you should be fine.

This is the book we use in class and I use to study with at home:
Amazon.co.uk

Reply 8

Beehee_1

Original post by NotRike

I'm currently deciding between AQA or EdExcel, or whether to do GCSE stats at all tbh. I've already got quite a lot on my plate and I would rather do one less GCSE to get straight 9s than do an extra one and risk getting an 8.

well i was in the same dilemma, i literally decided to do it like a month before having to register for the exam, its not hard at all to self-teach and the grade boundaries are low and its just an easy additional 9. its around 75-77% for a 9 which is considerably lower compared to other subjects. I'm also doing further math as an additional self-taught gcse and I think in the end if you believe you can't get a 9 in the subject then there's no point wasting valuable time which could be put to good use in perfecting other subjects. But its up to you and your capabilities.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by Puslane

I do GCSE Edexcel statistics within maths lessons and it's not to difficult, it's a lot of crossover with maths and we have covered it in about a year in maths lessons (we have also been doing noal maths too) there is a lot of crossover with maths so if you are confident with maths already you should be fine.
This is the book we use in class and I use to study with at home:
Amazon.co.uk

Cheers!

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Beehee_1

well i was in the same dilemma, i literally decided to do it like a month before having to register for the exam, its not hard at all to self-teach and the grade boundaries are low and its just an easy additional 9. its around 75-77% for a 9 which is considerably lower compared to other subjects. I'm also doing further math as an additional self-taught gcse and I think in the end if you believe you can't get a 9 in the subject then there's no point wasting valuable time which could be put to good use in perfecting other subjects. But its up to you and your capabilities.

Yeah I'll see... what would you say is the main hurdle to cross when it comes to learning/perfecting the content? Memorization?

Reply 11

Original post by NotRike

Just want to quickly check something.
I wish to do GCSE statistics externally, as a private candidate.
I am picking board between EdExcel and AQA, and I understand that EdExcel (apparently) has coursework, but I am unsure whether AQA does or does not? On their website it says that they don't but a few people who have said they did it with AQA said there was coursework.
Please could someone clarify this.
I would prefer a board with coursework (personally) but idm.

Edexcel is 2 paper's no course and I recommend higher

Reply 12

Original post by NotRike

Just want to quickly check something.
I wish to do GCSE statistics externally, as a private candidate.
I am picking board between EdExcel and AQA, and I understand that EdExcel (apparently) has coursework, but I am unsure whether AQA does or does not? On their website it says that they don't but a few people who have said they did it with AQA said there was coursework.
Please could someone clarify this.
I would prefer a board with coursework (personally) but idm.

Aqa are liars never trust a 3rd party website also its harder on aqa I recommend edexcel

Reply 13

gotta-study

6

Original post by NotRike

Yeah I'll see... what would you say is the main hurdle to cross when it comes to learning/perfecting the content? Memorization?

hi, i do edexcel and actually just did paper 1 today lol :; i think its important to understand all the equations, not just memorize them, as in the exam you often need to rearrange them and then interpret your answer. I wrote all the definitions & equations to learn in a separate book, which was really helpful.
Other than that, the best thing to do is just practice. Even if you learn everything in the textbook and revision guide by heart, there'll be things you'll only come across in exam papers. The biggest example of this is explaining patterns or trends. Maybe you are given a time series graph for chocolate sales over 3 years (might sound complicated but it just means time is on the x axis), and you can see from the graph that the number of chocolate sales is highest in the 2nd quarter each year, but why? (2nd quarter=months April, May, & June, it is easter in April, so people will be buying chocolate easter eggs) It's not that hard really, but practice can help so much with these kind of questions.

Some of it is explaining why you do/don't do something. Like why use a pilot survey? Why use a histogram to show this data, and not a bar chart? Why should/shouldn't you keep outliers? There was a question on today's paper where you had to assess the use of comparative pie charts (again, explain why) and there is usually a 6 marker where you assess how someone else collects/processes/represents their data, explain why their methods were appropriate/inappropriate.
Overall the actual content isn't too difficult, I've heard that the hardest topics are probability, distributions etc. but it's just learning equations and reasons for why something is suitable/unsuitable. I think you'll be fine :biggrin:

ps sorry if I wrote a lot loll my brain was too full of stats stuff after that exam

Reply 14

bethmack07

4

Original post by NotRike

Just want to quickly check something.
I wish to do GCSE statistics externally, as a private candidate.
I am picking board between EdExcel and AQA, and I understand that EdExcel (apparently) has coursework, but I am unsure whether AQA does or does not? On their website it says that they don't but a few people who have said they did it with AQA said there was coursework.
Please could someone clarify this.
I would prefer a board with coursework (personally) but idm.

Hello. So I did my GCSE paper 1 Higher AQA Statistics yesterday. The AQA exam board don’t require a coursework but I’m not sure about Edexcel. My teacher told me that AQA used to require a coursework but I think they've stopped doing it from 2019 ish. I have just checked the Edexcel Stats and I didn’t see that it requires a coursework. So I think Stats is a good option to choose in my opinion. 😊

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 15

OP

Great. Thanks everyone. I'll probably choose Edexcel tbh. As I am self-learning this, plus I've got quite a lot of ECs and other olympiads to prepare for simultaneously (and currently going through EOYs :/) how much time would you recommend I structure learning the content. I've got <1 year, and only a bit of extra time everyday. What should I prioritize? I will have more time during holidays so that's nice I suppose.

Reply 16

TheHhhhhhh

8

Original post by NotRike

Just want to quickly check something.
I wish to do GCSE statistics externally, as a private candidate.
I am picking board between EdExcel and AQA, and I understand that EdExcel (apparently) has coursework, but I am unsure whether AQA does or does not? On their website it says that they don't but a few people who have said they did it with AQA said there was coursework.
Please could someone clarify this.
I would prefer a board with coursework (personally) but idm.

Edexcel doesn't have coursework,unless my school is incompetent

Reply 17

Aqa has a lower attainment rate than edexcel if you check archives 2019 results should be your baseline

Reply 18

OP

Original post by tie55555

Aqa has a lower attainment rate than edexcel if you check archives 2019 results should be your baseline

I'm assuming you mean grade boundaries by attainment rate? And surely lower grade boundaries show that an exam is more difficult, if anything ...

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 19