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Gcse maths higher aqa

Hi guys,

I’m currently in year 11 with 2 months to go until GCSEs. In November mocks I got a grade 6 now I got a grade 5. I’m so worried because if I don’t get a grade 7 I can’t do science for a level.

I never understand what past papers are asking me to do (I do aqa) and I just don’t know what to do.

Please help.

Reply 1

Shayla Waggie

Original post

by ria.bx

Hi guys,
I’m currently in year 11 with 2 months to go until GCSEs. In November mocks I got a grade 6 now I got a grade 5. I’m so worried because if I don’t get a grade 7 I can’t do science for a level.
I never understand what past papers are asking me to do (I do aqa) and I just don’t know what to do.
Please help.

I don't do the same exam board as you, but I hope I can help - what websites or revision resources are you using right now? And what is it that you don't understand about past papers?

Reply 2

ria.bx

Original post

by Shayla Waggie

I don't do the same exam board as you, but I hope I can help - what websites or revision resources are you using right now? And what is it that you don't understand about past papers?

Thank you so much for your reply. Today, I used 1st class maths to revise and so I did the questions. His questions were fairly straightforward so I moved to past paper questions. But that’s when I get stuck I never know what the question is trying to ask me and the questions with multiple topics in them throw me off. Please help me I just wand a 7.

Reply 3

Muttley79

Original post

by ria.bx

Try revision and worksheets here: https://mmerevise.co.uk/gcse-maths-revision/

Leave the MCQ until last as many people get them wrong.

Reply 4

ria.bx

Original post

by Muttley79

Try revision and worksheets here: https://mmerevise.co.uk/gcse-maths-revision/
Leave the MCQ until last as many people get them wrong.

Hi what is the MCQ?

Reply 5

Muttley79

Original post

by ria.bx

Hi what is the MCQ?

multiple choice

Reply 6

ria.bx

Original post

by Muttley79

multiple choice

Okay thank you do u think there’s anything I can do to get a 7 as there’s no time left

Reply 7

Muttley79

Original post

by ria.bx

Okay thank you do u think there’s anything I can do to get a 7 as there’s no time left

Yes I do - do you know about traffic lighting?

Reply 8

ria.bx

Original post

by Muttley79

Yes I do - do you know about traffic lighting?

No please explain

Reply 9

Muttley79

Original post

by ria.bx

No please explain

When you do a paper or a test ypu go through it question by questions.

Each topic is categorised.

RED - hadn't got a clue- need to relearn or get help from my teacher

AMBER - got some marks - these are the topics to practise for rapid improvement

GREEN - got most or all the marks - keep this topic ticking over.

I do this for my classes so I target common topics in my revision lessons and each student has their own action plan.

Reply 10

Adam.Walker

Original post

by ria.bx

Okay thank you do u think there’s anything I can do to get a 7 as there’s no time left

My son was in the same place last year, he had a great tutor who pushed him from 5/6 to mostly 8/9, maybe getting a tutor would be useful for you, let me know if this is something you would consider and I can send across his details to you : )

Reply 11

Aimee_5

hellooo~ I’m currently doing AQA Maths and I absolutely love and enjoy every aspect of maths (well just 0.00001% less for those annoying graphs..) I’ve always been able to achieve 9s (or equivalent percentage of scores) since like yr 8, but nowadays my scores are fluctuating at around 75/80 due to the silly mistakes I always make (and its driving me nuts)..

Alongside studying maths, I also enjoy explaining maths to ppl since its very satisfying for me to see the improvements they make after understanding it.

Sites that I use to study for maths:

Corbettmaths (brilliant site with banks of questions and videos on each topic)

MathsGenie (amazing site if you want more challenging exam questions based on each topic)

OnMaths (An alternative site you can use to do past papers)

SparxMaths (a site that track your progress and has a bank of questions and videos explaination for every topic)

Firstclassmaths (best site for challenging predicted papers, spicy questions to strech yourself to the next level, list of topic appearance based on exams in the previous years, etc)

thirdspacelearning (my fav site to refresh myself on a topic that Im about to forget, or even to learn a new topic!)

My advice for doing/ studying for Maths:

Always start learning a topic from basic because all the topics are build on the simplest ideas! Just imagine constructing a building, if the base of the building is not stable, it doesn’t matter how perfect the top is, since it’s still inevitably gonna collapse.

Always ask for help straight away if ur stuck on smth bc all things in maths are interconnected. This means if u ignore your misunderstandings on one topic, this will very likely affect ur performance on another topic. Think about a 5 marker never just involve one single topic, it’s always a mix of skills from diff topics.

Do a lot of past papers, by that I mean at least 2 a week starting from today because getting good grades in maths is all about the amount of practice you do and your exposure to diff types of questions.

Always check for silly mistakes at the end. I can never emphasise enough the importance of avoiding silly mistakes, and the truth is, everyone including me still do so in every exam. So just make sure you do every question carefully and underline the important information to reduce the chance of having silly mistakes at the first place!!

Don’t stare at a question for 10 minutes in an exam since you do not have time for that. You’ll rather revisit it at the end if you have time cuz maybe by that time your brain will have a different way of interpreting the question!

Don’t avoid studying the topics you hate and go for the ones you love since there’ll be absolutely no point studying if you let your brain to just avoid it!

Don’t make notes! I do know this is very controversial, but think about you could’ve spend the time on actually practising some questions instead of taking notes. (Maths is a incredibly practical subject, it’s not memory based, you have to adapt on doing the questions). Plus I never make notes for maths.

Doing maths is so much better with a buddy there with you, so you can support each other and aim for improvements together.

I hope that you will find some of these information helpful!

Remember it’s never too early or late to start working hard on maths, the more you practice, the better you’ll be!

Please feel free to ask me in wtv way if you have a specific question or topic that you need explaination on (I’ll try my best to do so) or just anything at all about maths! There’s never something too big or small to ask about maths!

GL to everyone on revising! ^^