I’ve joked from the very introduction of the new GCSE that I wanted to sit the exam with the year 11 group that would be sitting it for the very first time … well .. I’ve only gone and flipping entered!

The idea is not to prove that I can get a 9 (but shouldn’t every teacher that teaches Maths be able to easily achieve that?) the idea is to show students that even though I’m a teacher I’m not going to just “ruck up” on the day having done no preparation and for some students that haven’t started doing anything it is never too late … something is better than nothing. I also know some students struggle to know how to revise in Maths which is why I put together a revision mat/poster a couple of years ago on this blog post ->

As an adult, I know for me that I need to be “doing” maths so my plan is to work through as many papers as I can using the given time (1 1/2 hours) and then MARK IT – I cannot just assume that I’ve got it correct! I know that I will make mistakes and there are a few topics that I need to revisit (I hate transforming functions!). TIP 1: Mark any practice/past papers you complete – you may be perpetuating misconceptions by assuming you are correct!

So, my revision (I’d rather call it preparation!) began today and I still made silly mistakes at the start of the paper  … getting too cocky and not checking my answers TIP 2: check your answers twice and if you have time in the exam check them 3 times! As a first attempt I’m happy … some obvious areas of improvement with topics that I haven’t taught for a while (remember I haven’t taught a set 1 or 2 in year 11 for years now!) but I’m annoyed at some silly mistakes I’ve made.

Anyway … wish me luck and I’ll be blogging more about my prep which may be worth sharing the tips I’ll be giving (none of which will be ground-breaking I assure you! but will hopefully be common sense) along the way ..

Wish me luck!

EDIT: Just to confirm that it has been confirmed that by my doing this exam I am precluded from any calculations used in grading and also from the “proportions” awarded at each grade. Needed to say that because some people seem to think that if I get a grade 9 I will be stopping a student from getting a grade … its doesn’t work like that! Like I say, I will not be included because of my age and all calcs etc are being done based on year 11 only!