Is it worth resitting the GCSE maths exam?
Discussion
Hi Folks
My daughter is in year 12 (6th form) at school. She sat her GCSEs last year and achieved a grade B in maths.
She would like to go into dentistry, and that requires getting a fair few grade As at GCSE level.
Would it be worth my daughter resitting the maths GCSE exam again in order to hopefully get grade A? If so, would you suggest waiting until September to join the GCSE maths group at her school or is it more advisable to learn it on line from now, instead of having to wait a few months for September?
Finally, if in the unlikely event that she gets a worse result such as grade C or below, which grade would prospective universities consider - the grade B because it is a better result or the grade C because it would be the more recent result?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
My daughter is in year 12 (6th form) at school. She sat her GCSEs last year and achieved a grade B in maths.
She would like to go into dentistry, and that requires getting a fair few grade As at GCSE level.
Would it be worth my daughter resitting the maths GCSE exam again in order to hopefully get grade A? If so, would you suggest waiting until September to join the GCSE maths group at her school or is it more advisable to learn it on line from now, instead of having to wait a few months for September?
Finally, if in the unlikely event that she gets a worse result such as grade C or below, which grade would prospective universities consider - the grade B because it is a better result or the grade C because it would be the more recent result?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Jimmy Recard said:
She might as well. I know when I was at school, only the better grade was considered rather than the more recent one.
I don’t know if that has changed
Why not?I don’t know if that has changed
She probably knows where she did well - and where she did badly and what to focus on improving.
Especially if she is motivated - and had good exam technique - it is most likely her result will improve.
geek84 said:
My daughter is in year 12 (6th form) at school. She sat her GCSEs last year and achieved a grade B in maths.
She would like to go into dentistry, and that requires getting a fair few grade As at GCSE level.
What A-levels is she doing? If she's doing maths, just concentrate on that. I'd be surprised if they got hung up on a B rather than an A at GCSE to get onto a dentistry degree.She would like to go into dentistry, and that requires getting a fair few grade As at GCSE level.
I did a couple of O-level resits, back in the lower 6th. Chemistry was a November re-sit, there were a small handful of us who just took a few extra lessons as a group. The other was French, and I just joined in with the next year down.
p1stonhead said:
geek84 said:
Good Morning Folks
Many thanks for your replies.
My daughter is doing 3 'A' levels - Maths, Biology, Chemistry.
Slacker! Many thanks for your replies.
My daughter is doing 3 'A' levels - Maths, Biology, Chemistry.
Seeing as she is doing maths a-level, I wouldnt imagine the GCSE matters much any more?
I say she’s got enough to focus on, and no university will care about a B at GCSE if she’s got a decent A level result, she’s ‘proved’ she can learn at the higher level. Anyways, all the universities really care about these days is if you’ve got you £9k a year in Place.
My daughter is sitting her 'A' Levels now although wanting to be an engineer rather than a dentist.
I would say from her experience 'it depends'.
Some of the universities she was interested in applying to didn't focus on her GCSE results but some did use it as an indicator of how well she is expected to go in her 'A' Levels.
If your daughter was in Lower Sixth next year and didn't do as well as she hoped this summer in GCSEs I would say resit in 12 months but as your daughter is going into Upper Sixth it won't go on her UCAS application form.
I would imagine dentistry is a highly sought after course so my suggestion would be to phone or email the Head of Department at each University she is thinking about and ask the question directly. Don't leave it to chance.
Universities take different views on things, for example, I was speaking to a boy at my kids school who wants to study business at University. He chose Maths, Economics and Business Studies at 'A' Level. Good choice? Nope, because the University he really wants to go to treat Economics and Business Studies as the same thing. As far as they are concerned he is only doing 2 'A' Levels. He can still apply for Business but not to the Uni he really wanted.
My experience has been the Department Heads are very helpful in explaining their criteria for entry. You should ask them the question directly about the Maths.
I would say from her experience 'it depends'.
Some of the universities she was interested in applying to didn't focus on her GCSE results but some did use it as an indicator of how well she is expected to go in her 'A' Levels.
If your daughter was in Lower Sixth next year and didn't do as well as she hoped this summer in GCSEs I would say resit in 12 months but as your daughter is going into Upper Sixth it won't go on her UCAS application form.
I would imagine dentistry is a highly sought after course so my suggestion would be to phone or email the Head of Department at each University she is thinking about and ask the question directly. Don't leave it to chance.
Universities take different views on things, for example, I was speaking to a boy at my kids school who wants to study business at University. He chose Maths, Economics and Business Studies at 'A' Level. Good choice? Nope, because the University he really wants to go to treat Economics and Business Studies as the same thing. As far as they are concerned he is only doing 2 'A' Levels. He can still apply for Business but not to the Uni he really wanted.
My experience has been the Department Heads are very helpful in explaining their criteria for entry. You should ask them the question directly about the Maths.
I'd imagine concentrating on A Level maths would be more beneficial than worrying about a B at GCSE level.
As above, universities will look at A Level results to make their decision. Once you've got A levels GCSE's become pretty irrelevant.
Likewise once you've got a university degree A Levels become irrelevant.
Then a professional qualification renders your degree less relevant.
And then X years of experience renders all the above irrelevant.
As above, universities will look at A Level results to make their decision. Once you've got A levels GCSE's become pretty irrelevant.
Likewise once you've got a university degree A Levels become irrelevant.
Then a professional qualification renders your degree less relevant.
And then X years of experience renders all the above irrelevant.
p1stonhead said:
geek84 said:
Good Morning Folks
Many thanks for your replies.
My daughter is doing 3 'A' levels - Maths, Biology, Chemistry.
Slacker! Many thanks for your replies.
My daughter is doing 3 'A' levels - Maths, Biology, Chemistry.
Seeing as she is doing maths a-level, I wouldnt imagine the GCSE matters much any more?
A Level is a notable step up from GCSE. Typical dentistry entry criteria is AAA. Genuine question OP, how confident is your daughter at getting an A at A Level for maths?
Consider also extra curricular activities. All applicants to dentistry will typically be high academic achievers. Your daughter needs other strings to her bow (music, sport, clubs etc) to stand out.
Best of luck to her!
Dicky Knee said:
I would imagine dentistry is a highly sought after course so my suggestion would be to phone or email the Head of Department at each University she is thinking about and ask the question directly. Don't leave it to chance.
I wouldn't phone the Head of Department, this is not really their job and there is is a fair chance your enquiry will disappear into a black hole. This is not because all academics are heads are Prof Branestorm (although some are) but it's a massive job, they will have hundreds of emails about more important things and in most cases they would only refer such a query on to someone else.Department's will have an admissions tutor (or similar) - an academic member of staff with responsibility for admissions, and the University/department will have an admissions team who are well set up to handle these questions. Get in touch with them instead.
here_we_go said:
I wouldn't phone the Head of Department, this is not really their job and there is is a fair chance your enquiry will disappear into a black hole. This is not because all academics are heads are Prof Branestorm (although some are) but it's a massive job, they will have hundreds of emails about more important things and in most cases they would only refer such a query on to someone else.
Department's will have an admissions tutor (or similar) - an academic member of staff with responsibility for admissions, and the University/department will have an admissions team who are well set up to handle these questions. Get in touch with them instead.
This ^^^Department's will have an admissions tutor (or similar) - an academic member of staff with responsibility for admissions, and the University/department will have an admissions team who are well set up to handle these questions. Get in touch with them instead.
I know everyone thinks academics sit around all day contemplating their navels, but in reality a Head of Dept is a senior manager and won’t be close to this sort of detail for undergraduate admissions.
Definitely phone the admissions team (probably a central function) who will be able to help.
+1 for the step up from GCSE to A level maths. To this end it may be key to resit because GCSE results will be part of the indicators for full A level results that the universities will base their offers on. That said, is trying to resist GCSE maths going to hamper her chances of success in her A levels?
Definitely a good career choice - seems to involve not working especially hard (relatively speaking) and making decent money. A bit of a holy grail..!
Perhaps one thing to consider is the course work element of it? I got a 'B' (erm... 25 years ago) Teacher pushed me to resit, but ironically it didn't matter mathematically as my coursework score was so low, B was as best I could get. I redid the year whilst doing A Levels, but didn't complete it. there didn't seem any point.
Probably worth doing. If she has the same A-level results as other students they might look at GCSE results to differentiate between applicants.
I assume she has extra-curricular activities too? Again, these can be used to select the ‘best’ students (although they shouldn’t IMO). It was a number of years ago now, but playing rugby at semi-pro level trumped my friend’s higher academic grades when we both applied for the same course at the same university (French).
I assume she has extra-curricular activities too? Again, these can be used to select the ‘best’ students (although they shouldn’t IMO). It was a number of years ago now, but playing rugby at semi-pro level trumped my friend’s higher academic grades when we both applied for the same course at the same university (French).
P-Jay said:
Perhaps one thing to consider is the course work element of it? I got a 'B' (erm... 25 years ago) Teacher pushed me to resit, but ironically it didn't matter mathematically as my coursework score was so low, B was as best I could get. I redid the year whilst doing A Levels, but didn't complete it. there didn't seem any point.
Coursework!!! There's no coursework in Maths. and why was there ever?eltax91 said:
This! As someone who got a B in maths GCSE and then attempted Maths A level, the step up in standard was incredible! I fell HARD to earth with a bump and ended up with only an AS level instead as I wasn’t up to the full A level.
Exactly the same here! I found it akin to going from reading Enid Blyton to War & Peace. Backwards. In Mandarin.Spent 90% of my AS level study time on Maths and just missed out on a C by a whisker. Spent 10% of my time on the remaining 3 subjects and got an A and two Bs...
Appreciating that complex maths wasn't my strong point, I lowered my sights and have since persued a successful 14 year career in accountancy.
Squirrelofwoe said:
eltax91 said:
This! As someone who got a B in maths GCSE and then attempted Maths A level, the step up in standard was incredible! I fell HARD to earth with a bump and ended up with only an AS level instead as I wasn’t up to the full A level.
Exactly the same here! I found it akin to going from reading Enid Blyton to War & Peace. Backwards. In Mandarin.Spent 90% of my AS level study time on Maths and just missed out on a C by a whisker. Spent 10% of my time on the remaining 3 subjects and got an A and two Bs...
Appreciating that complex maths wasn't my strong point, I lowered my sights and have since persued a successful 14 year career in accountancy.
I guess it seperates those who think they are good enough with those who could actually use it properly in a career?
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