Posts Tagged ‘GCSE Maths’

GCSE English and maths – more important than ever!

Monday, November 28th, 2011

It’s not so much about how many GCSEs you obtain but what GCSEs you obtain. This may seem to be a surprising statement to make but recent research has found that there is a strong link between cities that have a high youth unemployment rate with the lack of GCSE English and Maths. Between 2007 and 2010 nearly 50% of pupils living in cities left education without GCSE grades A* to C in these subjects.

In Hastings and Grimsby where youth unemployment stood at 8.4% and 8.8% respectively between 2007 and 2010, the percentage reaching the official government benchmark of five A* -C GCSEs, including English and maths was 35% and 45%.

However, in Cambridge, where youth unemployment stood at 1.3% for the same period, young people obtaining five good GCSEs including maths and English reached 54%.

The above findings appear to reflect that over the last few years, schools have been encouraging pupils to study for qualifications that are seen as easier to achieve to boost their position in league tables. Pupils living in cities that have less buoyant economies are not being equipped with the skills required in the changing labour market. The consequences could leave young people with less employment opportunities in cities where skills in English and maths are in high demand.

The government is taking steps to rebalance these issues to ensure schools are equipping young people with the basic numeracy and literacy skills they will need to get a job.

The Office for National Statistics in October showed the UK jobless total for 16 -to 25 year-olds, hit a record high of 991,000 between June and August 2011.

If you want to boost your grades in English and Maths, consider one to one tuition, we have tutors that can help with a variety of learning styles.

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Congratulations to GCSE students!

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Another happy parent this morning wished to thank their tutor Ajmal!

“Henry got a B in his Maths GCSE – thank you so much for all your help – we are over the moon! Would love it if you would come and help Adam this year. Hope you are well. Emma.”

Nearly one in four GCSE entries has been awarded an A or an A* grade in results published this morning. This a great news!

Around 750,000 children receive their GCSE results today in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The overall pass rate at grades A* to C has increased to 69.8%, while the percentage getting an A or A* has risen from 22.6% last year to 23.2% this summer.

This year’s GCSE results also show an increase in entries for physics, chemistry and biology. Physics is up 16.4%, chemistry 16.2% and biology 14.2%.

Results show the continuing trend for grades in Northern Ireland to be highest, with England second and then Wales.

The gender gap widened yet again. Girls have increased their lead on boys for top grades in GCSEs, 26% of exams taken by girls were given the top grades, while just under 20% of those taken by boys were.

The numbers of pupils taking modern foreign languages continues to fall. Fewer pupils are taking history and geography, with history entries down around 2,700, and geography entries slumping dramatically by 13,800 in one year.

Figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications suggest that students are starting to return to tough subjects favoured by employers and leading universities – mirroring a trend in last week’s A-level results.

For those students who didn’t receive such good results, please don’t despair! If you are thinking of resitting some of your exams why not consider receiving one to one tuition? Some resits can be taken as early as November or January, with Maths and English being particularly popular subjects to resit, as Cs in both are considered an important benchmark in terms of basic skills.

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Becoming a Maths tutor

Monday, October 4th, 2010

There is lots of work about for Maths tutors, especially now that children are tested at many points during their academic careers. Understandably, parents want their children to do well in Maths in their Key Stage tests as well as in their GCSEs and A-levels. Accordingly, many if them are in search of good quality Maths tutors to help their children through the exams.

Generally, Maths is one of those subjects that people of all ages need an extra hand with. For some reason, people feel as though Maths is one of those subjects they either can or can’t do. That’s just not true, as you’ll know if you’re a Maths specialist. Sometimes, all it takes is a little care, attention and one-to-one tuition to give somebody the understanding and confidence to shine at Maths.

So what does it take to become a Maths tutor? Well, a specialist understanding of the subject along with some teaching experience. Many of First Tutors’ Maths tutors are already teaching Maths in schools across the country.

There are lots of good reasons for signing up with First Tutors as one of our Maths tutors. Why not get in touch with us to find out more?

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Maths tuition and reasoning exam papers

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Our tutors for GCSE Maths and A-level Maths are gearing up for a busy academic year ahead, with lots of new students lining up for extra help in one of the curriculum’s key subjects.

As we mentioned in Monday’s blog post, it is vital for pupils to get to grip with Maths, especially if they are sitting entrance examinations for state or independent schools, because Maths is a core subject when it comes to testing aptitude.

But did you know that a good grasp of Maths can also help with other entrance examination subjects?

Many schools these days have entrance papers in reasoning, which is split into two sections: verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. You may think that something with ‘verbal’ in the title may be a world away from maths. This is not the case!

Verbal reasoning typically consists of tests on alphabet reasoning, word patterns and codes as well in straightforward tests on spelling and word meanings. Regular Maths tuition will certainly help when trying to spot word patterns and crack codes. This is not just because of the Maths itself but also because of the logical, sequential ways in which a mathematically trained brain can think.

Similarly, non-verbal reasoning may consist of tests on patterns, layering and other tests of logic. Again, a brain trained by Maths tuition will be able to tackle these well.

Why not find out how a Maths tutor can help your child?

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Maths tutors in high demand

Monday, September 20th, 2010

We’re proud of our whole range of tutors here at First Tutors. There really is a specialist in every subject on our site. But did you know that some of our most sought-after tutors are our Maths tutors?

Maths tuition is becoming increasingly popular. We’ve certainly noticed a rise in demand over the past couple of years. Why is this?

Firstly, for some reason, Maths is seen as one of those subjects that you either get or you don’t get. Children assume at a young age that they either can or can’t do Maths and accordingly apply themselves or give up as a result. Now, there is no need for this, as Maths is of course a subject that everybody can understand – especially with the help of  quality Maths tuition.

One-to-one Maths tuition is invaluable as it gives a child quality time with a private Maths tutor to work through all of areas of the subject that they may not understand. With understanding comes confidence, and a renewed trust in the subject, whether at GCSE or A-level.

Secondly, it is unfortunately becoming more and more competitive to get your child into a good school, and that’s true of both the state and independent sectors. Maths is of course one of the key subjects for entrance examination papers. Children sitting entrance exams need to be comfortable with all areas of Maths and that’s something that a dedicated Maths tutor can help with.

Why not find out how your child can benefit from Maths tuition?

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GCSE pupils achieve record results

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

First Tutors would like to wish all of our tutees the very best of luck as they collect their exam results today. Good luck as well to our tutors, who are probably just as nervous!

If national data is anything to go by, today’s exam results should be the cause of celebration for many of our tutees and tutors: 2010 has proved to be another record-breaking year for GCSE results.

Almost seven out of ten GCSE entries this year have been awarded a C grade or above and the pass rate overall has risen for the 23rd year in a row. This year, 98.7% of entries achieved a pass grade.

The results also mirror the A-level trend for an increase in entries for the Sciences and a decrease in that for the traditional modern languages.

In individual Science GCSEs, Biology entries have increased by 28.3%, chemistry by 32.2% and physics by 32.1%.

By contrast, entries in French and German have gone down by 5.9% and 4.5% respectively. However, there were big rises in those for Portuguese, Chinese and Polish.

This year also shows an increased trend in pupils sitting GCSE English and GCSE Maths a year early. This year, more than 10% of pupils sat Maths early whilst just under this figure took English early – a 50% increase on last year’s entries.

The figures have attracted criticism by some educators, with many saying that the exams are becoming “too easy” and “too predictable”. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers stated that the exam system was in “disarray” and that even those who achieved “a string of A*s” were not well served by GCSEs. However, First Tutors would like to offer sincere congratulations to all the students who are today celebrating the results of their hard work.

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