If you want your school to achieve a GCSE maths pass rate of 90% one day, then you must remove the target grade system or at least make it oblivious to the students.
The target grade system does nothing but lowers a student’s expectations and creates a delimiting belief about their ability. Unless the student has a strong mindset (only a few have at that age), they will only achieve their target grade, at best. It’s unlikely for them to surpass their target grade. I feel it is wrong to dictate what a student can and cannot achieve. Students have the right to decide for themselves and strive for whatever grade they desire.
Believe it or not, one of my relatives was predicted to fail her GCSE maths. She was predicted to get an ‘F’ grade. How absurd! If you are predicted to fail, what do you think is going to happen? You are going to fail! In the end, she lived up to her expectation and failed her GCSE maths miserably. It was only until she shifted her mindset i.e. she knew she had to pass her GCSE maths in order to enter higher education, she passed her next GCSE maths exam with ease. Who was to blame for her predicament? The school was largely to blame for labelling her a ‘failure’ in the first place.
Students do no not know any better at that age. Once a target grade has been set for them, they’re almost convinced that, that’s the best grade they can achieve. It plays on their subconscious mind and that’s why they hit a plateau during their revision – they keep falling short of their target grade in mock papers and find it difficult to improve. They may achieve their target grade in the end but what if they could have achieved a much better grade in their final exam but it was their target grade that was holding them back? Thus, a target grade is merely a psychological barrier and once we lift it, results will improve dramatically.
When thoughts/ideas enter the subconscious, it becomes a big problem. Scientists have proven that whatever is stored in the subconscious will become a reality at some point in the future so if a target grade is continuously floating around in their subconscious mind, they will achieve that grade in the end, whatever happens. Is that all we want for our students? Don’t we want them to overachieve in their exams? If we do, then we have to do something about the target grade system.
In my GCSE Maths Revision Program, the first thing I address is target grades. I advise my students to drop their target grade altogether and strive for the 100% mark. This is followed by evidence of students achieving 100% in their modules after failing their GCSE maths in the past. Their confidence grows immediately after reading this section because they can see that passing their GCSE maths exam is not an impossibility. I guess this is the main reason why every student who has adopted my program in the past have gone on to boost their result by, at least, one whole letter grade.
Purdip B. from Birmingham is a great example of shifting one’s mindset in order to boost grades. After failing his GCSE maths on the first occasion, he came across my GCSE maths revision system. Here is what he said about it:
“The program designed by Jeevan summarise what you need to know for your exam by focusing on the key concepts. The resources are well written and take the complexity out of the topics covered. The shortcuts and tips are especially useful and I’m already reaping the benefits; I can answer exam questions far quicker than I previously did. I achieved a ‘C’ grade in the foundation-tier paper this summer (2015). I am not satisfied with just a ‘C’ grade so I’ve entered the higher-tier paper in November 2015, where I am aiming to get an ‘A’ grade overall. Before I came across Jeevan’s program, I would have been happy with just a ‘C’ grade at GCSE. I now want to aim for the best grade possible because I know I can do it. Thanks Jeevan for giving me the belief that I can do well in in this subject. I’m even considering A-Level Maths! That’s quite phenomenal for someone who failed their GCSE maths before!”
With Purdip’s attitude, it was inevitable he was going to pass his GCSE maths resit with ease. That is why we need to change the mentality of our students if we ever want your school to achieve a GCSE maths pass rate of 90% one day. The only way we can do that is by, firstly, removing the target grade system.
Sadiya, from London, recently bought my GCSE Maths Revision System. She sent me this email the other day :
Click on the image above to expand it
Now you may think, striving for a ‘B’ or an ‘A’ maybe a little over optimistic for her considering that she’s failed her GCSE maths twice in the past. However, by removing this delimiting belief about her ability, she should do far better in her retake. Even if she strives for a ‘B’ or an ‘A’, there is a good chance she’ll pass her GCSE maths, at worst. That’s why, removing the target grade system and advising your students to aim for the best grades possible will boost results, overall.
Why not test this ideology in your school? Take two sets of similar ability. Set a target grade system in the higher set. In the lower set, remove the target grade system altogether. Advise the lower set to, instead, strive for the 100% score and no less. They should strive for better results with each new paper they take until they get the 100% mark. What you’ll find is the lower set, who were not set target grades to begin with, will outperform the higher set overall.
If you take part in this experiment, please share your results by leaving a reply on this blog post.