GCSE Maths

So 13 years ago I thought my GCSE hell would never happen again, but oh no, when I got accepted to University just under a year ago as a mature student, they said I needed to redo my maths after epically flopping at it many years ago and getting a U.

Now, with a little over 16 hours to go until my EdExcel GCSE Maths Foundation Paper A (Non-calculator) exam at 9am tomorrow, and part B (calc) on Friday at 9am, I am absolutely pant-wetting myself in fear of failing it. I keep trying to study today, make it so far, before having to take a break (like this) for fear of crumbling into a mess.

I was never good at maths. I hate it. And I've really tried to put off studying too (including practically cutting myself off from the web in the last few days) because I am so terrified of it.

I'm probably more than capable of achieving it, I mean, I just completed my first year of a computing degree with 5 x A+s, 2 x A's and 1 x A-. But still, the pressure for this exam, and its only a foundation level, just feels immense.

How the hell do kids cope with doing some 8-9 (not sure how many now!) GCSEs in such a short time?! I'm ready to crack and disappear of the face of the earth with just one looming.. and I should be really looking forward to (and somewhat planning more) a great holiday to Europe due next Monday too, but I can't for the stress of this exam.

For anyone else out there taking your GCSE maths tomorrow... good luck. Think of those poor 28 year old "students" sitting completely out of place at the back of your exam hall bricking it too!

My memories of GCSE Maths are quite vague but we did edexcel iGCSE so both papers were calculator based (I think that helped a lot...)

Despite being a terrible Maths student (and doing no work for the whole year 11) the only way I got my A* was just doing ALL the past papers. School chucked them at us like no-one's business and once you've done a good few (and marked them) they get really repetitive and you start to feel the patterns the papers tend to follow.

That's how I did it anyway!

You'll be fiiiiine Joel

Good luck Joel

JOEL! If I can do GCSE A* star maths questions. I am sure you can too. And I am 13! G'wan Joel, you will be fiiiinnne.

Being someone who failed GCSE Maths first time and had to take an evening course two years later in college to re-sit it. I can safely say you'll do better when you resit it!

The foundation paper is pretty well designed these days so you should do just fine. Best of luck Joel!

GAGrathea said:

only way I got my A* was just doing ALL the past papers.

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This is the greatest advice anyone could give on how to succeed in exams. For all the subjects that aren't essay subjects, I can't stress how important this is to do. The sciences and maths are pretty easy at GCSE level and below if you do this, as the questions generally repeat themselves for the majority of the paper. As long as you regard marking your own paper as important doing them, you will understand that you will make mistakes on the same topics/questions, in which you should ask your teacher for help or look carefully on what the mark scheme says, and trying not to make the same mistake again. Also, make sure you look carefully at what you would receive marks for- especially in the sciences- to avoid making mistakes on questions that come up regularly.

If you've got questions, I'm sure they'll be people on here who can help you.

I did a mock GCSE a few weeks ago which was a fairly easy exam and I got an A with no revision.

If you say that you're doing Foundation, I'm sure that you'll be fine as I heard others commenting on how easy the exam was!

Just go on Youtube and search for the topics that you struggle on. There are loads of tutorial videos which explain the topics in easy steps. It helps a lot! (That goes for any subject too.)

Know how you feel.

I've had to take out over half a year of education, so I've missed out on a fair amount of maths. It's not my strongest subject either! Plonked down to foundation paper last minute means all that time I spent forcing myself hunched over a higher tier textbook is pretty much wasted. Lack of motivation doesn't help as well!

You'll do perfectly fine once you've settled into the exam. Besides, how hard can it be to draw a line 5cm?
Good luck aswell tomorrow, it'll fly past and you'll have a great holiday to reward yourself with.

Good luck! Maths is my strong point, and from papers I've done in the past, you just need to take it slowly, read the questions about 4 times to completely understand what they're asking you, and just go over everything. Also, remember to show all your workings out, as theycan give marks for incorrect answers, but good workings out.
Good luck, I'm sure you'll do great
& panda, I've done the paper with the 5cm line, I was surprised at how easy the first half was! It was really simple shape/ graph work with some equations at the back! I think another question was draw any isosilies (can't spell) triangle...

I did Foundation GCSE when I was in year 10. Problem was that for most of the year I had no permanent teacher so I did horribly on the exam. Then in year 11 I did the Higher paper and I had a teacher who just threw revision at us and I ended up passing thankfully.

Panda said:

Know how you feel.
Plonked down to foundation paper last minute means all that time I spent forcing myself hunchedover a higher tier textbook is pretty much wasted. Lack of motivation doesn't help as well!

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That's an annoyance in my opinion. Even though the higher is harder, you are also more likely to pass it! IIRC it was around 30/40 marks (Out of 100) per individually test on a higher paper to pass it, where as with the foundation, you'd need about 70 minimum I think. Hope this doesn't put pressure on you! But best of luck with your exam tomorrow, Georgia =)

As for Joel, best of luck to you too! I think that if you can create and break an awesome website like this, then you should at least do well on your test tomorrow. Once again best of luck and that goes for anyone also doing tomorrow

=)

I did the higher paper and got a B Good Luck!

Sit back and enjoy the experience, it will all be over quicker than you think.

Poison Tom 96 said:

enjoy the experience

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LOL, I don't think anyone's enjoyed an exam in the history of the world.

Yeah I'm sitting a GCSE non calculator paper tomorrow. It's a bit s*** really.

Good luck to us both eh?

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I got a C in GCSE Maths. I sucked at it hard, and I forgot pretty much everything.
Make sure you read the questions carefully and put down all your workings. Oh and dont stress. The more chilled you are the easier and faster it will be. The worst thing thing you can do is stress. Also dont revise on the day. Just relax.

I've got my Edexcel GCSEs tomorrow at 9am too. I'm expected at least a B so I should be fine with the majority of the paper. I also have my last maths and last exam on Friday at 9am which is calculator so that should be a breeze, hopefully. (Just been doing some more hardcore revision as well! Rock on!)

You'll be fine Joel. It'll be over so quick, as the time flies. I have to sit the foundation one tomorrow despite being only in year 10. Our school is a bit strange with what they do. I have to do foundation this year, and higher next year. :/

Joel. Also, don't cram your brain tonight with revision. Go to bed now. Cramming makes you forget things, trust me.

alee298 said:

Joel. Also, don't cram your brain tonight with revision. Go to bed now. Cramming makes you forget things, trust me.

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I always believe that if you don't know something on the eve of an exam, you won't ever know it. I always enjoy a warm bath, hot drink and listen to some kind of music (classical is best) before an exam.

Good luck to all sitting their exams!

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Phwoar... I don't think that was as bad as I expected! Thanks to everyone for their support

I only had to guess one question, and it looks like that guess should be right hopefully (forgot which way round to interpret vector co-ordinates, but guessed it must be X on top, Y underneath).

Hope everyone else did well... here's hoping Friday's paper isn't evil either now!!