Is it hard? Should you stay at Higher? And what actually moves the grade. Thirty-four years of teaching this subject, condensed.
For a lot of students, it's the hardest subject they take. It will need more of your attention than anything else on your timetable, and you should allocate the time accordingly.
There is a reward for that, and it's unique to this subject. Since 2012 there have been 25 bonus CAO points for anyone sitting the Higher paper and coming out with H6 or above. The scheme did what it was meant to do — more students sit Higher, and those who get the bonus are more likely to land the college place they wanted.
Worth knowing the arithmetic: a H6 is worth 71 points with the bonus, more than a H4 in any other subject. The gap between H6 and H7 is 34 points, because below H6 the bonus disappears entirely.
Whether you're chasing a H1 or you're at Ordinary hoping for the best grade you can get, the same things move the needle.
Most of what follows will look like common sense. It is. Getting the simple things right is most of the job — it's just that "simple" and "easy" aren't the same word.
You have to be there. Missing classes repeatedly means falling behind, and falling behind in maths is not like falling behind in other subjects — each week's work stands on the last one.
If you do miss a class, double down and catch up that week. Get the notes, work through what was covered. Small amounts of information, kept on top of, are far easier to hold than a backlog.
And if you've missed a lot and you're serious about the grade, consider grinds now rather than in March. The students who come to us in September do considerably better than the ones who arrive after the mocks, and it isn't close.
If showing up is 80%, listening is the other 20%.
Listen and you understand what's being explained. Better still, listen and you find out when you don't understand something — which is the more valuable of the two. When you're stuck, ask. The best classes I've taught are the ones full of questions, and you should listen closely when other people ask them too; someone else's confusion is usually yours as well.
Homework is where maths is actually learned. Split it every day:
First, revise what was covered in class that day. Write out exactly what you need to know, simply and precisely. Not everything that happened in class again — I've watched students copy the whole lesson onto cards and learn nothing from it. Three things to capture:
Then do the written homework as if it were the exam. No notes, no help. If you can read the question, know what it's asking and answer it unaided, that's a real signal. If you can't, you've found something to bring back to class.
Whatever level you sit, there's exactly one way to get good at answering questions. Practise. Practise. Practise.
More on the mechanics in study skills and the structure of the exam.
Only you can answer that. But after Fifth Year, you're in one of four groups — and the answer follows from which.
You find it hard, but you're staying with it. Nothing to decide. Keep working.
Stay.You haven't made your mind up. But you know that with more effort a H4 or H5 is there.
Stay.You also know you could sit the Higher paper and do well. So the problem isn't the subject.
Go for it.Give it everything until Christmas and see. But if you're still not understanding it, drop down and put that time into your other subjects. That is a sound decision, not a defeat.
Decide by Christmas.If you recognise yourself in one of those, you already know what to do. And if your difficulty is bigger than any of them, you probably know that too.
If you were at Higher and came down, that's fine. If you're comfortable and happy with the decision, it was the right one.
But don't mistake Ordinary for easy. An O1 or O2 still takes real study and real effort — the same listening in class, the same homework done properly. Take the approach above and you'll be grand.
I think the maths exam is largely about confidence. Set yourself a goal and work toward it. Then, whatever happens on the day, attack every question — get down everything you know, show your working even when you suspect you're wrong.
That will always beat a blank space. You get marks for trying, and you get nothing at all for leaving it empty.
If you want someone in the room with you: weekly maths grinds in Kilkenny and online, Higher and Ordinary, 3rd, 5th and 6th Year. Every session recorded, so a missed week isn't a lost week. Mathslive notes included.