David Giloi Math Tutoring

A-Level Results Day

A huge congratulations to everyone receiving their A-Level results!
If you've achieved the grades you needed for university, enjoy the moment, you've earned it.

And if you didn't get the results you hoped for, don't panic. One set of results doesn't define your future. There are still plenty of options, including Clearing, alternative courses and resits.
Whatever your results, be proud of the effort you've put in and remember: this is one step in your journey, not the destination.

Don't compare yourself to other students.
Everyone learns at a different pace. The only comparison that really matters is whether you understand more today than you did a few weeks ago.

Summer holidays represent an excellent opportunity to get ahead in your mathematics.

We all experience the slow fading of information from memory through disuse.
The brain is remarkably efficient. Use it or lose it.

So while most students take that extended break, giving no thought to the next school year, keeping your mind fresh on key concepts gives you a profound edge.

Not only can you prevent the backslide, but you can get ahead and make the next year your strongest ever.

Frequent, unpressured, short exposures go a long way!

BEWARE of maths products and services that offer fast results.
The reality is that good progress takes consistency and time.
Anyone promising you short cuts and super quick, profound results is most likely selling you false hope.
Be prepared to put in the work, focussed and engaged and progress will come, in time.

Confidence comes from practice.
Many students wait until they feel confident before tackling difficult questions. In reality, confidence is the result of doing the work, not the starting point.

Don't be afraid of making mistakes.
Every incorrect answer tells you exactly what you need to work on. The students who improve the fastest aren't the ones who never make mistakes, they're the ones who learn from them.

Fifteen minutes a day is enough to make a difference.
You don't need hours of revision every evening. Just solving a few questions regularly keeps your skills fresh and builds competence over time.
Small efforts really do add up. Even and especially during holiday time where you have more free time and minimal stress.

Students generally know far more maths than their grades suggest.

But errors can come from many different places in an exam.

Common sources of exam errors and lost marks include:
●Skipping working
●Rushing easy marks
●Not checking answers
●Panicking after one hard question
●Spending too long on a single problem
●Careless calculator errors
●Poor notation or presentation
●Not reading questions carefully, or only once through
●Wasting time on questions that a student doesn't understand without having started on questions they do

At GCSE and A-level, exam management alone can shift grades significantly.