steve m
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 09:09 PM |
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A Level maths paper/exam
Hi all
Grandson has been primed up for doing his A level exam in Maths, when he is 16 instead of his O level
This has been organised, by is teachers/ dep head
Question, can we get an A paper exam to check his suitabilty, even an old one would do
What have others done? as we really do not wanting a serious fail, when he could of passed an O
BTW, he is nearly 12
[Edited on 13/6/12 by steve m]
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blakep82
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 09:13 PM |
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you can buy books of past papers from most bookshops. amazon definitely has them
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 09:20 PM |
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If he can manage an A level in maths at 12 he's one special kid, i know a number of folk who have PhDs in maths and are uber maths smart folk
but who didnt get straight A's at GCSE/A level lol. The difference between GCSE and A level is quite significant but his school should be able
to provide past papers, if not call in at a local college, they're bound to have some old ones going spare if you cant find them elsewhere.
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steve m
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 09:38 PM |
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This is basicly, "our problem" he is, and has been for 4/5 years been in the top stream of maths,
and even his current teacher, says he is not up to teaching him, as already at 11, he is further than his teacher. can teach
and i did here that from the teacher!
At only 11, he is way better than, myself, and my father who is Great grandad and a retired accountant,
So, do we leave it up to the school to decide, or take more action, and involvement in Grandson well being
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 09:52 PM |
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I don't know what you do but I'd say "accounting maths" is not necessarily as difficult to deal with as a lot of the abstract
nature of A level maths (though further maths A level is notably more abstract again). Without knowing the student it's really difficult to say
and I'm glad you're cautious and going about it a sane way. Problem is that I suspect he won't be able to deal with the exams for A
level now but may still be perfectly suitable to doing it. You can get the equivalent of Letts guides all the way up to A level I think - worth
getting those and working through a few of the more advanced chapters such as calculus or the more detailed probability concepts.
I have two friends who are a level and degree level maths tutors (PhD's in maths who set up their own business to cover some bills), I can see
if I can ask them for advice or put you in contact for a short discussion if you like?
[Edited on 13/6/12 by coyoteboy]
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eddie99
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 09:57 PM |
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Couple of years since i did my alevel maths but use to be able to get them from the relevant OCR and AQA website under old papers. Otherwise a good
search of the internet should bring up some.
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 10:25 PM |
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Trouble is unless he has covered the syllabus, he won't have any idea about some of the stuff (calculus for example) so he needs experience of
that.
And by the way, O levels disappeared nearly 30 years ago they are GCSE's now, with a huge gap between them and A level.
Get him to do the GCSE ones first, have a look at the specification (syllabus) for the A levels, make sure he know what he is doing before scaring the
living daylights out of him. You will probably need to get a specific tutor in if you are unable to do all the stuff yourself.
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jonrotheray
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 10:55 PM |
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It sounds as though you need more information from the school.
How many pupils are in this position?
Are they offering teaching to the group to achieve this? If not, how will it be taught?
What is the timescale - are they expecting GCSE Maths at 14 (quite possible, and would give a good indication of A level prospects)?
Maths is a subject where younger pupils can excel, and many youngsters are entered for A level early.
Jon
PS I'm only just down the road, and retired not so long ago after many years teaching A level and as a deputy head. I'd be happy to talk
to you about this.
[Edited on 13/6/12 by jonrotheray]
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 13/6/12 at 11:14 PM |
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Can't ask for better than that ^^
quote:
Maths is a subject where younger pupils can excel, and many youngsters are entered for A level early.
Really? I don't know a single person who was entered for A levels early (I left them in about 1997), there weren't any in my college
(which was rated either 4th or 6th highest performing in the UK at the time) and haven't dealt with one while working at two universities in a
maths intensive course area? Where are all these maths geniuses going? Not suggesting you're wrong at all, just baffled I've never met
one!
[Edited on 14/6/12 by coyoteboy]
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 06:31 AM |
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They probaly go largely to oxbridge if they truely excell, or other top uni's, or burn out and never touch maths again.
Flipside here is that my daughter got an A in her GCSE last year, started maths A level at 6th form, 6 weeks later gave it up. Seems some GCSE boards
and schools prepare the kids rather better than others
There is an increasing swing to doing GCSE's early. Place I teach wants to do the KS3 work (normally years 7,8+9) in 2 years. Then do GCSE in
year 9+10. Not sure what we are supposed to do with them in year 11. Maybe start them on courses to prepare them for A level. (ha ha, nobody will
openly admit that is needed. Apparently the main idea is that by year 11 many of the kids are disillusioned and lose their way a bit. So I am sure
"filling" a year with no identifiable purpose will help, and pusing 3 years work when younger into 2 is a real perk as well!)
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designer
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 07:01 AM |
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Shouldn't you be asking his school about this?
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 07:55 AM |
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Good idea, but ALWAYS look for motivations and reasons. Things are not always done with kids best interest at heart.
And take notes of what is said, ask awkward questions and so on. DO NOT be fobbed off.
(BTW been teaching over 20 years now, but mainly contracts/supply the last 10 years, so see inside whilest still being outside, most teachers do not
see what is creeping up on them)
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steve m
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 08:04 AM |
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Thanks for the replies,
We would be interested in more details, and all the school have said, was that when he reaches GCSE level at 16, (O level, lol, showing my age!) it
will be in there few pointless him doing an GCSE, but move staright to an A
Now having asked the question here, and with some very worthy answers, we will have to put more thought into it
Firstly are the school, going to start him on the A sylabus soon, as if they are, they would be a good sign of there intentions
Just for Info (grandson) Reece's father is an A level holder, and studied maths at university, but dropped out, if you knew him you would see
why! he is extremley intelligent, and should be on programmes like Egg heads, Millionaire etc, and he would
get 95% right
Yet he has the personality of a fish !
Regards
Steve
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mtechmatt
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 09:56 AM |
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Steve,
My friend got a 1st from Notts in Maths, and is now an ACtuary, so obviosuly its good to excel, the problem is excelling to quickly, he will be
'stagnent' through secondary school, as I guess he can only really go further straight away.
I myself did a degree in software engineering at Loughborough, and as I have played with computers all my life, my grades were poor as the stuff I was
writing (assembler/C++ etc) was more advanced than the syllubus, or what the lecturers wwere willing to marl if that makes sense.. my friend who didnt
know how to get his router working for the internet (yes really, he was doing a Degree in Comp Sci!), did his final project, an Excel spreadsheet for
football scores, got a higher grade than me becuase my software wouldnt run on the lab computers (A neural network simulator with net based
processing) (I wrote it in the then 'new' .NET stuff) whereas the labs etc were in the dark ages, as most sllyabus' are 5 years
behind.
Just make sure he understands he has to learn the rubbish/easy stuff and 'follow the rules' to get the good marks on paper...
Matt
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big-vee-twin
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 10:18 AM |
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My Lad went through a similar experience was way ahead at GCSE level, went onto A levels and there is a whole world of difference between the two.
He was pushed too hard because the school wanted the kudos and he didn't pass his A levels because he turned off. The following year he had
another try and the same happened again did better but didn't get the grades he need to go to University.
During the interviews he had with university professors, whilst waiting for his second set of results one particular prof at Newcastle seemed to spot
something in him. When the second set of results were poor this guy actually wrote to him and said your coming onto my course I'm giving you a
wild card entry.
This guy nurtured my Lad and he ended up with a first class honour degree and is now finishing off his masters at Cambridge. He has just been offered
a PHD by Cambridge sponsored by Microsoft.
So what I am trying to say, please don't rush your lad and turn him off or burn him out, even if he gets an A level early what are you going to
next, what is the next step.
Personally I would let him have a childhood and let things take a more sedate pace.
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JoelP
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 05:52 PM |
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I did maths gcse at 11 and started the alevel at 15. I was home educated though so spent proportionally more time on maths as it was my favourite
subject. You can get a copy of the syllabus for either level, and plenty of past papers.
What does the lad want to do? If he wants to try his hand at it, he can enter himself into an early gcse that doesnt have to be anything to do with
school - thats what most home educated people do.
Being 'bright' or 'gifted' is a good start but he does need to be aware that if he doesnt apply himself, he can still make a
pigs ear of it. I started my degree at 17, got sidetracked by the joy of uni life, and ended up getting a third.
Beware! Bourettes is binfectious.
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phelpsa
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| posted on 14/6/12 at 08:11 PM |
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I started my maths A-level at 15 and found it quite intense. Didn't enjoy it that much. I did 3 modules which I ended up retaking and improving
the following year. It definitely helped to be ahead though as it gave me more time to concentrate on the further maths modules when I did those.
[Edited on 14-6-12 by phelpsa]
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