First question in mock foundation maths today:

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ginx
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First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by ginx »

"There are sixty minutes in an hour.

How many minutes in a quarter of an hour?"

I think my six year old could answer that.

Unbelievable.
Tinkers
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by Tinkers »

I'm sure my DD could answer a lot of GCSE foundation maths questions and she is in year six.

Thing is there is a scary number of sixteen year olds who can't answer this.
There is also something to be said with starting any question paper with a very easy question to settle the nerves.
Daogroupie
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by Daogroupie »

Ginx, The Foundation paper is meant for students who would not be able to do the questions on a Higher paper. Foundation students would be those who finished primary school on a Level Three or below. It is basically the old CSE. Most schools would try and put as many of their students as possible into Higher and would only drop a student to the Foundation paper if there was no hope of them being able to get any type of decent grade on the Higher paper. DG
ginx
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by ginx »

my six year old in year two got it straight away.

I know Foundation is like the old CSE's but were CSE's that easy?

Although I should add the paper did get harder. The Higher was harder - as you'd expect.

Just thought, what a stupidly easy question!
daveg
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by daveg »

ginx wrote:my six year old in year two got it straight away.

I know Foundation is like the old CSE's but were CSE's that easy?
They had to contain questions that would distinguish between a CSE 5 and a CSE U. Likewise, GCSE Foundation Tier has to be able to distinguish between G and U. There's no point in having an exam which all poor performing students get zero on, unless that threshold is below the point the exam is supposed to measure. Just what skills do you think distinguish a GCSE G from a GCSE U?
ginx
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by ginx »

You're right, daveg. Maybe that is the kind of question that could tell the difference between a GCSE G and U grades.

Perhaps I'm a little unkind towards less able dc - of my four dc I have one who will probably do a few foundation papers; although she got that question right!

I was just surprised to see it! Perhaps that's because I'm so bad at maths, I was surprised to see a question I could do!
Yummiemummie
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by Yummiemummie »

Agree with previous posters. This paper is aimed at students who find maths tricky and the first questions are aimed at just settling the student down nerves-wise. My cousin took this level maths and for him it was a huge achievement to do well. Not too comfortable with original post. Maths (and in fact any subject) doesn't come easily to some pupils even though they try their best.
ginx
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by ginx »

Sorry, Yummiemummie.

Did not mean to offend. My dd will be doing the same paper. Sorry. :( I will think harder about what I post in future.
bucks mum1
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Re: First question in mock foundation maths today:

Post by bucks mum1 »

Also remember the first few questions on maths papers are often straight forward to help settle nerves etc. Makes children feel happier if at least they can answer the opening question correctly!
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