IGCSE advantage?

fm · Post by fm » Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:26 pm

ealingmum -- Possibly a bit of both, but just because you get a child into a good independent (in top 10 of schools) on the back of a good independent prep. school, doesn't mean you can then make your child work or listen in class. Or indeed guarantee the quality of teaching, although, in this case, I think the child is the problem, not the teacher.

In fact, I tutor a surprising range of pupils for GCSE.

Grammar school boy: Brief to make certain of A* and foster a love maths before he does at A level.

Independent: Get independent boy A in maths (started on E prediction) so he has enough A's to be allowed to progress to sixth form.

Sink Comprehensive: Turn D into B, countering 5 years of disruptive maths lessons.

Good girls comprehensive: Provide a few lessons to foster confidence before exam and hopefully gain A.

I tutor GCSE maths as light relief from grammar school prep..

Post by **mad?** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:45 pm

fm wrote:
I tutor GCSE maths as light relief from grammar school prep..

mike1880 · Post by **mike1880** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:13 am

fm, I have a feeling I may be in touch in a couple of years...

Mike

stevew61 · Post by **stevew61** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:01 pm

Comprehensives are to be given the chance to abandon traditional GCSEs in favour of tougher exams modelled on the old O-levels...

However, they still appear reluctant to support IGCSEs in English and maths, amid concerns that these do not require teenagers to study Shakespeare or to answer questions without the aid of a calculator.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/200 ... rehensives

Hopefully a step forward to give those that are able a choice.

steve

T.i.p.s.y · Post by **T.i.p.s.y** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:47 pm

That is a big step forward but will there be a high up-take?

He had abandoned the syllabus from the AQA board, he said, because in the previous three years "the style of questions in paper 1 has got progressively harder and more tricky".He had then looked at those from a rival body, OCR, and found: "The questions are very straightforward and at least 40% easier!"

"It's about time that [AQA] started listening to their customers instead of blindly continuing with inappropriate questions on paper 1 with literacy levels that are beyond the average grade D student."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/200 ... oards-gcse

Tree · Post by **Tree** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:55 pm

My twopennyworth

I have a good friend who teaches maths in a top 10 independent school and who has mixed feelings about igcse she said that their school implemented it because they were finding it hard to keep a differential in results in maths gcse from their main competitors: the local grammars ,mainly because it was felt too easy to get a* in coursework based exams. However she feels that although the igcse has no coursework she thinks it is easier to get an a* than it was for the gcse based on the type of pupils and what they get in other worlds pupils that before she would have thought were going to gets a's are now getting a* she said that although it has a broader curriculum some of the trickiest questions on both papers difficult quadratics for example are easier on the igcse also she thinks the pass mark is probably lower or marked easier. The main issue is that the independents are able to boast on and appeal to old fashioned views on the merits of exam only tests etc, i realise this is only one opinion but i was interested.

another mother · Post by **another mother** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:54 am

DD1 is doing IGCSE maths - I have to say I think it's quite a challenging course at the moment (I did maths to SCE Higher). Her teacher's feeling is that it is more stretching than the GCSE which he used to teach (though I don't know) and has the plus that it covers quite a lot of AS level maths areas, which should make it less of a jump to do the AS next year. Personally I am amazed and pleased DD is definitely going to take maths to AS. She was always fairly able but never enjoyed it much. This year it seems to be falling into place.
On another note, it seems quite good to me (as a watchful mum) that some of her GCSE's include course work and others don't. Hopefully it means less summer won't be quite as stressful.

indepteach · Post by **indepteach** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:03 am

The IGCSE is also being adopted by independent schools for the sciences. It is a more traditional and rigorous curriculum that better prepares pupils for A level / IB. It can be taken as a single science or double award, although the distinction between foundation and higher levels is being phased out.

overpeck · Post by **overpeck** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:09 am

I have to say I believe that CSE and O levels were in my opinion a good idea. I went to a rubbish comp but somehow managed to come out with a couple of O levels and a handful of CSEs. If there had only been GCSE I may have come out with nothing to show for my 5 years at secondary school. Coursework is an unfair way of gaining qualifications in my opinion my daughters friend is always being chased up for it and missing deadlines and then gets better grades than my daughter! If teachers request work in on a certain date and it is not in on time unless there is a REALLY good reason they should be penalised....