Where to start
- A bad mock is information. Read question by question, the paper can show whether marks were lost on knowledge, on method or on working that never reached the page.
- One habit worth checking at home: does your child do most of the maths in their head and write only the answer down?
- Keep the mock paper, because a tutor can use it as the starting point for a first lesson.
- Tutoring cannot promise a grade by a fixed date. What it can do is choose the next weeks of work from what the mock actually showed.
The mock came back and you still do not know what needs to change
A mock result can arrive as a grade or a percentage, but neither is a plan. Your child feels the disappointment, you feel the pressure, but neither of you can point at the thing to fix, because the result on the front does not say which questions went wrong or why.
The paper inside can. Read question by question, a marked mock separates topics that were never secure from questions where the method was right and the marks were still lost. That reading is something a tutor can do with your child in a lesson, working from the actual paper rather than a fresh worksheet, so the next weeks of work come from evidence instead of guesswork.
Your child did well at GCSE Maths and their A Level grade has dropped
The drop is a shock because the subject looks like the same one. It is not quite. A Level questions run longer, hold more steps at once, and leave more of the route for your child to choose, so a student who cruised at GCSE can meet marks they have never lost before. That is a change in what the paper demands, not a change in your child.
So a bad mock at this level does not mean the GCSE grade was false. One reason for the drop can be that A Level asks your child to use familiar habits in longer, less structured problems, and those habits can be strengthened.
Your child understands the maths in class but cannot do it in the test
You hear “I understood it in the lesson”, and that can be true. Following a worked example and producing an answer independently under time are different tasks. In a worked example, the method and the first step may already be visible. In the test, your child has to choose them, and the clock is running.
One reason the gap can open is what happens between those two moments: the practice a student does alone, and whether that practice looks like the test. A tutor can watch how your child approaches a question independently and identify the point where they get stuck.
Your child still loses marks even when the maths looks right
Here is one habit worth looking for on the mock paper itself, because it hides in plain sight. The answer is on the page, a mark or two is there, and the steps that produced it are nowhere. Everything happened in your child’s head.
Written working makes the method visible to the marker and can allow method marks to be awarded even when the final answer is wrong. It also does something quieter: writing the first line forces a choice of method before any numbers get involved. In a lesson on exponential modelling, a tutor had the student write the derivative line down first, before substituting anything, so the method existed on the page before the arithmetic began.
The point, in one line
“You don’t need M to differentiate. You don’t need a single number to differentiate.
”
Jessica, A Level Maths tutor
The operation comes first and the numbers come second. A student who reaches for the numbers straight away can lose the method before the question has even started.
The redo check you can run at home
The redo check
- Pick one question your child got wrong on the mock. Choose a question where your child had to show several steps of working.
- Ask them to redo it, writing every line down. Your child should not skip steps or leave calculations in their head, because the page should show the whole route.
- Ask them to talk you through what they wrote. You are listening for whether the method was chosen before the numbers started, and where the written route stops.
One redo cannot diagnose a whole course, and it is not meant to. It shows you whether the working reaches the page, which is one concrete thing to bring to a tutor.
Ask for one redo tonight
Keep the mock paper, crossings-out included, and run the redo check on a single question this evening. If you book a first lesson, have your child bring the paper. A tutor can start from what it shows instead of starting from zero.
Do you need to know why your child lost marks in their A Level Maths mock?
An A Level Maths tutor from Greenhill Academics can go through the paper question by question with your child, identify where marks were lost and work out what to focus on next.
Talk to us about a tutorThe next exam is getting closer and your child’s grade is not improving
After a bad mock the calendar starts to matter. Tutoring cannot promise a result by a fixed date, so we will not pretend otherwise. What a plan can do is spend the remaining weeks deliberately: the topics the mock showed as insecure, the habit of writing the method down, timed practice that looks like the real paper, and the feedback from each attempt feeding the next one.
That approach also gives you something to watch at home: on the next marked paper, you can check whether your child is writing out more of the method.
Can an A Level Maths tutor in Oman help after a bad mock?
Yes, where the mock shows the kind of problems lessons can work on directly: insecure topics, methods chosen late, or working that never reaches the page. A tutor can use the mock itself as the starting point, then teach to your child’s own course and specification rather than a generic one. Whether your child studies at The British School Muscat or another school following A Levels, the lessons match their exact course and exam board.
Lessons are online, on a shared board, at times that fit the school week in Oman. You receive a written report after every lesson, and where homework is set, a reminder goes out before the next lesson.
Inside a lesson
A Greenhill Academics maths lesson on the shared board, with the question, the student’s working and the tutor’s notes on one screen.
The A Level Maths tutors your child could work with
Two tutors who work from the paper
Martin · Mathematics, Oxford and Cambridge
Martin taught A Level Maths and Further Maths in the classroom at The British School of Córdoba, and is now completing a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge after an MSc at Oxford with Distinction. He teaches A Level Maths and Further Maths.
Jessica · Medicine, Cambridge
Jessica is in her fourth year of Medicine at Cambridge, after a BA in Psychology, and achieved A*A*A*A* at A Level in Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology. She has hundreds of hours of tutoring experience at GCSE and A Level.
What parents in Oman ask about A Level Maths tutoring
My child’s A Level Maths mock came back badly. What should we do first?
Keep the paper and read it question by question before making any plan, because the pattern of lost marks says more than the grade does. A tutor can do that reading with your child in a first lesson and turn it into the next few weeks of work.
My child did well at GCSE. Why has A Level Maths gone so much worse?
A Level questions run longer, hold more steps at once, and leave more of the route for your child to choose, so strong GCSE students can meet marks they have never lost before. That is a change in what the paper asks for, and the habits it rewards can be strengthened.
Will an A Level Maths tutor teach my child’s exam board?
The first step is to confirm the exact board and specification your child follows, so every question practised matches the course they will sit. Tell us the board when you enquire and we will match your child with a tutor who fits it.
Are your maths tutors based in Oman?
They are not. Lessons are online on a shared board, with times arranged around the school week in Oman, so your child learns from home.
Can the same tutor also help with Further Maths?
Yes. Martin teaches Further Maths alongside A Level Maths, so one tutor can cover both courses where that is what your child needs.
You have your child’s A Level Maths mock result and need a clear plan for what comes next
Tell us which course your child is studying and what the latest feedback says. We will match them with an A Level Maths tutor, and you receive a written report after every lesson.
Book a first lesson