Reply to: GSCE Mathematics

[SlipTheJab]

Regardless of grade inflation etc. I say go for it. My missus got D's in English and Maths at school 20 yrs ago and has recently gone back and ended up with 2 Bs which means she can move on as a mature student in nursing, you're never too old to learn and better yourself. Good luck.

[BrilloPad]

1979. Maths and FurtherMaths O level. A in both....

Of course, then 10% got A, 10% B, 60% C, 10% D, 10% E. Or similar....

[BrilloPad]

and my '86 grade 'C' == Nobel Prize for mathematics.

1979. Maths and FurtherMaths O level. A in both....

[Pogle]

At the risk of putting it in here...

The wife wants to try for GCSE Maths, she missed most of the 5th year (old skool) with illness but she got a D then, now wants to see if she can knock it up to a C as many jobs are asking for this. Oddly enough some are asking for a degree for an Admin job! But I digress...

Has anyone recently taken this? (Or your kids have.)I remember back in the day (1991 IIRC) there were 4 papers, I took papaers 2&3 so I got C, (the highest possible with those papers), I have now seen it has changed to number grading 1-9, with 4 and higher equivalent to A-C.

qh

Pogle Jnr took the new style GCSE in June. Its 3 papers and the grades are now 1 to 9 with 9 being the highest.
Only the top 3% will be given a 9 (Jnr got an 8).

For this year a 4 was a pass with a 5 being a good pass - whatever the F%^& that means!
But I think they may revise that over time to just have 5 as a pass.

The papers -( as least the board that my daughter did ) do not seem to have straightforward questions either and some are worded to be designed to catch the student out - which is not helpful.

Best of luck to your wife

[unixman]

and my '86 grade 'C' == Nobel Prize for mathematics.

[unixman]

Due to grade inflation, your wife's 1991 grade 'D' is roughly equivalent to a 2:2 maths degree now.

[mudskipper]

Good on her. Best of luck!

[Paddy]

Mrs qh was a crack shot in the Army (one of only two other that regularly won shooting comps) She also did a sniper course.

I'm a good boy who behaves himself.

qh

The mind boggles what goes on in your bedroom with her dressed in uniform. Do you play the naughty new recruit?

[TheFaQQer]

Thank you, I thought it was 4 papers, but so long ago. I remember paper 2? was a doddle but 3 was bloody hard.

qh

I did papers 4 and 5, then additional maths, then AS maths and some QA and stats at university - and I still had to use google and Skype to find out how to find the nth term in an arithmetic and geometric progression (year 7) and issues with factoring an equation (year 9) the other day.

The method for teaching multiplication has changed from when I was at school (now using the Chinese grid method, which I learnt in history as the Elizabethan method), and so has ways to work out factorising and multiples.

So it could be hard work - though if she missed a lot then at least she won't be comparing how it used to be taught to how it's currently taught

[quackhandle]

Very dangerous, she is probably trying to calculate how much she will get in a divorce.

Mrs qh was a crack shot in the Army (one of only two other that regularly won shooting comps) She also did a sniper course.

I'm a good boy who behaves himself.

qh

[eek]

1991 had 5 papers and you took 2 of them - paper 4&5 was the only way you could get an A.

There is a little confusion about what counts as a "pass" these days, since DfE have described a 4 as a "pass" and a 5 as a "good pass" - nobody knows (or will know for a little while yet) whether colleges or universities will accept a 4 as a pass or not (there have been indicators that some will accept a 4 and some will accept a 5).

What does seem to be true about GCSE subjects at the moment is that a certain amount of the curriculum has been pushed down from A level to GCSE - whether that's true for maths or not I'm not certain, but I did struggle with some of my daughter's homework the other day

WTFS - no one knows whether a 4 or a 5 is a pass at the moment. Equally things have been moved around and my 2 have done things I didn't do until the upper 6, equally they have missed out bits I would have done by their age....

[quackhandle]

1991 had 5 papers and you took 2 of them - paper 4&5 was the only way you could get an A.

There is a little confusion about what counts as a "pass" these days, since DfE have described a 4 as a "pass" and a 5 as a "good pass" - nobody knows (or will know for a little while yet) whether colleges or universities will accept a 4 as a pass or not (there have been indicators that some will accept a 4 and some will accept a 5).

What does seem to be true about GCSE subjects at the moment is that a certain amount of the curriculum has been pushed down from A level to GCSE - whether that's true for maths or not I'm not certain, but I did struggle with some of my daughter's homework the other day

Thank you, I thought it was 4 papers, but so long ago. I remember paper 2? was a doddle but 3 was bloody hard.

qh

[Paddy]

At the risk of putting it in here...

The wife wants to try for GCSE Maths, she missed most of the 5th year (old skool) with illness but she got a D then, now wants to see if she can knock it up to a C as many jobs are asking for this. Oddly enough some are asking for a degree for an Admin job! But I digress...

Has anyone recently taken this? (Or your kids have.)I remember back in the day (1991 IIRC) there were 4 papers, I took papaers 2&3 so I got C, (the highest possible with those papers), I have now seen it has changed to number grading 1-9, with 4 and higher equivalent to A-C.

qh

Very dangerous, she is probably trying to calculate how much she will get in a divorce.

[quackhandle]

What's a GCSE grade C in oold money? i.e. O' Level equivalent?

Yes, I remember back in the day my parents not having a clue about GCSE's until the teachers told them that C or higher is equivalent.

Also remember getting the mother of all bollockings from them both after the mock exams parents evening in the 5th year.

Fergie's hairdryer had nothing on them. *shudder*

qh

[TheFaQQer]

1991 had 5 papers and you took 2 of them - paper 4&5 was the only way you could get an A.

There is a little confusion about what counts as a "pass" these days, since DfE have described a 4 as a "pass" and a 5 as a "good pass" - nobody knows (or will know for a little while yet) whether colleges or universities will accept a 4 as a pass or not (there have been indicators that some will accept a 4 and some will accept a 5).

What does seem to be true about GCSE subjects at the moment is that a certain amount of the curriculum has been pushed down from A level to GCSE - whether that's true for maths or not I'm not certain, but I did struggle with some of my daughter's homework the other day