How hard is it to get a grade 9 in Maths? The answer... very!
Around 5% of all GCSE Maths grades are grade 9's and we expect the top 20% of all student aiming grade 7 and above, to achieve a grade 9. The Covid pandemic has made it more challenging to look at the data available, as 2020 and 2021 saw the GCSE grades assessed by schools themselves, we still have some data to go off.
According to the 2019 grade boundaries, the boundary for grade 9 was 83% for Edexcel and 85% for AQA and OCR. These grade boundaries will be different each year based on the difficulty of the paper. For example if this year's paper is considered to be harder than last year, the percentage to get a grade 9 will be lower than on average.
You're going to need around 85% average across the 3 Maths papers. Here's my advice on how to get that grade 9
Check out the spread of the topics. For AQA for example: Number 15%, Algebra 30%, Ratio 20%, Geometry 20%, Probability and Statistics 15%. Knowing this information informs the time you allocate to revision. As Algebra takes up double the marks of Number, it makes sense to spend twice as much time on Algebra than it would on Number.
Practise exam questions. Knowing exactly how certain questions can be asked is crucial. 60% of your exam is testing AO2 and AO3 skills. These skills are problem solving. It's great knowing how to answer questions when you're told what Maths to use, but knowing how to put them into context and apply the Maths is where all the marks are. Practising exam style questions is where to be!
Don't practise until you get it wrong, practise until you can't get it wrong! All too often we stop when we get the first sign off success. I want you to be able to answer 20 of the same questions on a certain topic without getting a single question wrong. Once you're at that stage with 85%+ of the topics, you're almost ready!
Master the basics. It may be tempting to just practise the grade 8 and 9 questions. I'm sure you've all seen the smartest kid in your class type "2 x 4" into their calculator. Why is this? It's because they are so focussed on the hardest questions, that they question themselves on the basics. Don't assume that because you know how to do grade 8 and 9 questions, or if that's your target, you'll be able to get away with no prepping the basics. You will be asked on grade 4 to 9 questions. Make sure you know the lot!
Practise different methods. Go to Maths Genie and check out all the grade 8 and 9 content. Have a go at their exam questions. When you mark your work, see if you can work through the same questions where you use a different method. This is because every exam question is different and whilst your favourite method may work on one question, it might be completely different for another question
As you can see there are lots of things to consider, so the motto "try your best" ultimately isn't going to work here. You need to be strategic and put your own unique strategy in place
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