My Maths teacher was dreadful. What can I do?

In secondary school I had an extreamly poor Maths Teacher for my last 2 years. As such any learning my class did was self taught mostly and that was bad. He left about 6 months before our GCSE exams and our take over teacher was appaled by how little we knew. As such our last few months were spent cramming instead of revising. I managed to get a C on my exam results but, three years on, i'm very disappointed with that as I know if I had had a decent teacher I would have had a much higher grade. Yes I should have worked harder myself, but when there is no one who will explain something to you before you attempt it I thought that there was little point. What are my options now? I'm in a part time job and with a long term partner, and we can't afford for me to pay for a course to get a better grade. Help?

My Maths teacher was dreadful. What can I do?
I appreciate your question very much, i understand it as i was in the same situation before :)


Now try the following and i promise you a higher grade:





1) Search for the chapters' names over google or yahoo and trust me you can find v. good explanations from different resources ..





2) You may not afford a course, but you might afford to buy a good book that takes everything gradually and with plenty of exercise .. try GCSE Mathematics by Karen Morrison or General Mathematics by D. Rayner ..


Ans you will be lucky if you could get IGCSE Mathematics for Prof. Dr. Nabeel R. Elias -Ph.D. University of London ..





3) Answer as much questions as you can, because the key of being an A or Star student is in getting yourself on the desk and solving exercises ..





4) The most important of all is not getting bored or lose hope or self confidence .. if you know you have a good mathematical brain that just needs to be taught, you can do it by yourself :)





5) If you need any help in one or more problems you can ask your question here at yahoo answers, but make sure it is under the suitable category :)





Now goodluck, and just do your best !
Reply:Well, in short, if you got a C in such poor circumstances, think what you could do in good ones? I'd forget getting a better grade on the GCSE and move straight onto A Level (I know you said you can't afford this, but just keep reading). If you have the determination to help yourself as much as you can, you should be able to make up any deficit from your previous poor teaching by doing plenty of homework.





If you are on a low income, have children or other dependants or receive benefits, your local council should pay your A Level fees (which are round the £100-£180 mark this year). You would be looking at a couple of clsses per week, and these are often available in the evenings if daytimes are no good. Look at your local college prospectus for what's on offer and talk to their financing department to go about getting your fees waived. Good luck.
Reply:I wouldn't worry about it at all!





How long ago did you do the exam? If it was this summer, you may be able to appeal through your school, but I'm thinking you've missed the deadlines by now.





If you're applying for other courses now (A levels or university) they should only require a pass at grade C to allow you on to the course.





If you're intending just to stay in employment, your GCSE results will mean less and less as time goes on, as your experience will count for much more.
Reply:type in www.mathsforum.org





good luck
Reply:you might be able to get a cheap course at your locl college - if you get tax credits most will reduce your fee - at my local college they charge £10 if you are on certain benefits including tax credit.





You could also write to the school and tell them they had a duty to provide you with an education and they failed in that duty. You have a right to recompence but you will not sue if they will pay for a college course for you to resit your GCSE.





The most expensive courses are about £200 which is what it would cost them to get a solicitor to reply to you so you may just get lucky.
Reply:You did very well to get a C grade under the circumstances. Most employers will accept C grade as a pass for Maths, but if you feel particulalry drawn to doing more in Maths I can recommend the Times GCSE cdrom -it has a pic of a jigsaw piece on the cover. It contains the full course content for GCSE, all the lessons, explanations and short exercises anyone could ever want. It includes half hour test sessions which you can take to see how ready you are for the exam. All you would need after that would be some practice on exam questions. target price £5 on ebay.
Reply:have you tried talking to the head of department about your teacher. if thats no luck what you have to is buy a book but make sure that its thorough. i've always liked LETTS as i find them easy to understand, and they often start with easy examples, to make sure you have the basics and then goes to further in depth ones. the next thing to do is search the web and try and find any website that might be helpful. if your parents are willing to pay you could always get a tutor. its a pain in the ***, but if it helps you pass your exam then so be it

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