What to do about Coronavirus – GCSE and A level Maths Students & Schools
The Coronavirus has been something we have never seen. It has affected many of us in ways that we could have never predicted. And at the present state, we are unsure of whether things are likely to become better or worse. Many of our students studying GCSE and A level Maths have been devastated by the news that exams have been cancelled. We at Air Maths Tuition are as well. All the hard work…
So, what’s happening? What are people’s thoughts? How are we at Air
Maths Tuition choosing to move forward? Read on to find out…
How will they give me a grade?
Ofqual and the powers that be (Gavin Williamson and his mates), have come to the agreement that GCSE and A-level students should be awarded a grade which, ‘reflects the amount of work they have put in’. The assessment will take into account students’ previous mock exam results and non-exam assessments.
Shake this up in a bottle and mix it with your teachers’ final thoughts and voila!
You have a grade!
You can find further details on the exams and grade here.
If you ask me whether this is a good decision or not, I would have to say it’s a tough one to call. The goal of the department for education is to ensure that students can progress to the next year of study. This is completely fair. But without a suitable means of examining students in a fair way, it seems unfair to award people with grades.
From the feedback I have received so far from several students, there are 3 types of notable reactions to this news.
The ‘I’m good’ Category
For some students, this could be exactly what you needed. You did well in your mock exams, you did well in internal assessments and you also have a good predicted grade. That’s your free pass to the Uni of your choice. You’re good. Congratulations. Summer starts now! But of course, you probably can’t leave your house, so your next challenge is finding a way to enjoy the summer. My advice would be to celebrate…quietly though. As you don’t know whether your close peers fall into the next category.
The ‘I don’t know if it’s good or bad’ Category
I have some GCSE maths students who started with me last year on a Level 6. They were predicted level 7’s and have since shown progression in my lessons and also non-exam assessments. They had worked so hard to the point where they even found themselves flirting with a grade 9. These kids have told me that they would be content scoring 7’s as predicted, but the unfortunate part is that they will never know whether they could have scored that 9. Neither are their teachers likely to give them a 9 as they haven’t yet scored it in any of the assessments. It’s one of those ones.
The other group of students that fall under this category are those who are just completely unsure. You might have good predicted grades, but your mock exams and internal assessments don’t reflect this. Which side is your teacher going to lean towards? You might be in worry that your teacher has failed to recognise your efforts.
For some of you and for most of us, the next months are going to be filled with uncertainty.
The ‘I’m screwed’ Category
Some of you dreaded hearing the news that exams were cancelled. It was your worst possible-case scenario. Your predicted grades wouldn’t give you admission into Uni, you haven’t performed well in any of your exams. Even worse, you had planned to step up in the last few months and shock the world! But now exams are cancelled.
Regardless of which category you fall under, one thing is for sure. Your grades, your future has now been taken out of your hands. I know that this in itself will be a worry for many of you. One of my good friends who reads a lot of books about Stoicism always tells me, ‘you should never worry about things you cannot control, only worry about the things you can control’. He’s right. The best thing you can possibly do is be positive, but also be proactive.
At some point, I believe the dust will settle. And this will
blow over. The question is, do you have a plan B?
At a Maths Tuition, we do. And we also have a plan for you.
Plan B is as follows.
Air Maths Tuition Updates
A level Maths Online
From now until September 2020, we will be merging the OCR, AQA
and Edexcel into 1 class. These will be called A level Maths Online Classes
(Y13) and you can view our schedule and book a lesson here. We will also welcome students studying any other similar exam boards such as Edexcel International and Cambridge International.
We aim to keep your brains active and stimulated during the period of time that schools are closed. We’ll do this by getting you engaged in several exercises during live maths tutorials every day for just 1 hour. In these tutorials, you’ll be free to ask questions and work in groups.
We also intend to use these classes to prepare students in anticipation of receiving exam results that are not desired. Of course, we hope this won’t be the case, however, if you choose to resit your exams in the next academic year, we will be here to adequately prepare you for those exams.
Which topics will I cover?
Conveniently for everyone, the content covered in most of the examining boards above are very similar and we will be covering several topics in Pure and Applied Maths. Our lessons will remain interactive and focusing on fundamental learning, past paper questions and student questions.
GCSE Maths Online Year 11/ AS Level preparation
We will be continuing to cover content in the GCSE course
and making sure that students are comfortable with most/all areas of the topic. We will also be using the class to prepare students who may find they have to take resits in November.
For GCSE students who are looking to take Maths at AS level,
this class will be ideal for you as we will start to look at AS level Material
once we complete the GCSE Maths course.
Year 10 and AS Maths Level Maths
Our AS level class will be moving from Saturday School to daily
online Lessons. We will also be running group lessons during the day for Year 10 GCSE Maths students. Our aim will be to prepare you for your final years (God Willing your exams aren’t cancelled next year!) To view our schedule for AS Maths please see our schedule and book a lesson here.
All changes will be effective from Tuesday 24/03/20.
We encourage you to send any enquiries to info@airmathstuition.com
As ever, stay safe and calm.