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Secondary education

Should I be worried about this - Year 8 maths?

8 replies

swifts · 27/03/2007 23:51

My ds has just done end of term assessment in maths (Y8) and did unexpectedly badly (30% below his previous marks). I had a quick look through his answers and he's made some really daft mistakes and also didn't answer quite a few questions as he ran out of time. He's got good grades during the year but tonight he was very upset saying he can't do maths. I think he's perhaps feeling sensitive as at the beginning of Year 8 he was moved down a set (from top to middle) which did affect his confidence. I'm suppose I'm feeing anxious myself whether this is just a blip or something more serious. I'm also annoyed as over this year he did seem to have got his confidence back and now this has set him back again. I've asked if I can speak to the teacher - am I overreacting? Would it be better just to make light of it and move on? I'd be grateful for any thoughts as I don't want to make the situation worse for ds.

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Soapbox · 27/03/2007 23:57

Swifts - was it lots of random mistakes or was it on one particular topic?

If they were random is it possible that he is finding it hard to manage the timing of the tests and so is rushing and making mistakes?

TBH I think this is probably a good age to start helping them to do exam technique practice - e.g. sweep throught the paper and answer all the questions you can do quickly, then go back and choose those with high marks which you think you can do well, then lower marks you think you can do well and then high mark questions whihc you thing are tough, then lower marked tough questions. These strategies really can make an incredible difference to the overall result - but will only bed down with lots and lots of practical application

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fairyjay · 28/03/2007 00:00

Could he have just been under the weather on the day of the test? If it's a one off result, I wouldn't be too worried.

Is the exam technique you mention for maths particularly Soapbox? It looks very sensible - I must remember to talk to ds about it!

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swifts · 28/03/2007 00:06

Thanks. They were random ie across all sections and when I asked him earlier he said he was upset partly because he knew he could do it and did understand it but ran out of time. He had to leave out questions not because he didn't know how to do them but due to lack of time and the last section (worth 25% of marks) he said he did in 5 minutes! So yes, perhaps exam technique although he's always been pretty good at that previously. I think he clearly did panic for some reason this time - again unusual for him as he's normally pretty good at tests. And the others in his group did manage to get reasonable marks apparently. I suppose my main worry is his fragile confidence in this subject, largely due to what happened at the beginning of the year, and I suspect his concern that he might float down to the bottom set (or is that my concern rather than his...!!).

Apparently the teacher didn't say anything to him when he gave back the tests so perhaps if I do get to talk to the teacher I could ask him to have word with ds? Unfortunately it's end of term so it might have to stew over the holidays.

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swifts · 28/03/2007 00:17

Thanks Fairjay. Yes, he might have just had an off-day. I remember one of the teachers telling parents at an information evening that boys have 'blips' at this age and aren't consistent - something to do with hormones apparently! I do also wonder if ds's doing quite enough work at home so perhaps this might have a good effect in waking him up a bit.....

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Soapbox · 28/03/2007 00:18

No - not just for maths - I used these techniques in my professional accountancy exams across a range of topics.


Despite having done Highers (a-level type exams in scotland) and a degree, doing my professional exams was the first time that exam technique was really drummed into me!

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fairyjay · 28/03/2007 00:46

I think I'd better start drumming .

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Lilymaid · 28/03/2007 11:09

It sounds like my DS. We didn't act soon enough and he ended up in Y11 down to do intermediate GCSE rather than higher. We felt that he was really quite good at maths, but he did make silly mistakes and often forgot topics soon after they had been taught. We let the matter drift from Y8 to the end of Y10, not realising that the school was very short of maths teachers so that his class would have several supply teachers each year and progress was slow. In the end he asked us if we could find him a private maths tutor, who confirmed that he was good at maths and has given him one hour of tuition each week since September. He did very well in his mock GCSEs and was then put up into the top group again so he could do the higher paper. He continues to have tuition so he can catch up and consolidate and is intending to do Maths A Level.
Moral - don't do as we did. Tackle the problem immediately or your child may end up in a set where he is not taught sufficient maths to take the higher GCSE which he needs if he may consider doing Maths (or Physics) for AS/A Level.

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swifts · 28/03/2007 17:41

These are very much our concerns Lilymaid. Although schools say there's movement between sets surely as they get older they must get more entrenched in a particular group as the sets all move at different speeds. Presumably it then becomes more difficult to move as the gap between them gets wider? Anyway, we managed to speak to his teacher this morning who was actually very reassuring, said it was a difficult test and most of the group didn't do particularly well. He was encouraging about ds and said he was normally near the top end of his set. Just need to make sure this is all communicated to ds so he doesn't lose confidence! Thanks for all your comments.

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