How to Achieve Your Target Grade in GCSE Maths with ‘Aiming for’ Practice Paper
If you want to do well in your exams, the GCSE grade you’re aiming for is hugely important, whatever the subject. But when it comes to GCSE Maths, achieving your target grade could be the difference between getting into college or not.
Research has shown that a large number of students struggle to move from a grade 5 to a grade 6 in GCSE Maths. However, many students who wish to pursue their studies in further education are often required to have obtained a grade 6, making aiming for a higher target grade desirable. Which is why our ‘Aiming for’ practice papers are so important.
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‘Aiming For’ Practice Papers
‘Aiming for’ practice papers have been carefully created by the Edexcel exam board to assist students who are aiming for a specific target grade in Maths – whether the aim is for a grade 6 or a grade 9, ‘Aiming for’ practice papers are a great foundation. Once students have gone through the GCSE Maths past paper questions and checked their answers, they will have the feedback they need to understand how much study and revision they need to do in order to raise their grade.
They are also extremely useful as a guide and indicator for students to get an assessment of their current abilities. Once they know their current working grade in GCSE Maths, they will know how much work they need to put in, and how much support they will need from parents and teachers, as well as how much they could benefit from additional Maths tuition.
Set up Your Goals
GCSE Target Grades: Why Your Goal Matters for Success
If you’re aiming to do your A levels, generally you’ll need at least five GCSEs that are at least grade 4 which is a ‘standard pass’ (it used to be termed a C grade). If you want to study Maths at A level, then you need at least a grade 6 (an old B).
You may have seen on the news that the requirement for apprentices to have both Maths and English qualifications has been scrapped. However, the new rules only apply to those who are 19 and above at the beginning of their apprenticeship. Apprentices between the ages of 16 and 18 still need that qualification, so even if a student does not expect to do well in GCSE Maths, they still need to pass.
Success comes with practice
Why Past Exam Papers Alone Are Not Enough
Doing past exam papers from your exam board is a great way of getting to know your abilities. As a general rule of thumb, the questions in each exam paper will get harder as you go along. So, as a rule of thumb, if you are expecting to get a grade 4, you can expect to get halfway through the paper before the questions start to get a lot more challenging. While completing past papers is a good way of getting more confident about doing the exam, they aren’t focused on improving grades.
manage your time
‘Aiming for’ Practice Papers: A Targeted Approach to Grade Improvement
What the ‘Aiming for’ papers do is give students the types of questions they’ll need to be able to answer if they want to get a certain grade. So if you are currently confident your child can achieve a grade 4 GCSE, then doing the ‘Aiming for’ grade 5 paper is designed to familiarise them with the types of example questions they’ll need to answer successfully.
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How St Albans Maths Tutors Can Help You Achieve Your Target Grade
If your child needs additional support with GCSE Maths, get in touch for advice about how we can help.
Our experienced Maths tutors are qualified teachers, and provide face to face tutoring at our premises in St Albans and Redbourn. Whether your child is struggling with the basics or needs additional help getting a grade 9, with targeted help, our tutoring can give them the confidence and ability they need to increase their grades.
NB We do not provide online tutoring as we find face to face learning is more suitable for achieving more successful learning outcomes.
Aiming for Grade 4 Practise Papers
Aiming for Grade 5 Practise Papers
Aiming for Grade 6 Practise Papers
Aiming for Grade 7 Practise Papers
Aiming for Grade 8 Practise Papers
Aiming for Grade 9 Practise Papers
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Get in touch with our team for further details on individual assessments.
