Transition 2021

OCR, Bridging the Gap – A Student Guide

My post, Transition Time 2021 on Mathematics for Students includes the excellent guide from OCR on the Transition from GCSE to A level and numerous other resources which are aimed at the transition from GCSE to A level and also a collection of resources for students who may be going on to study Maths or a course with mathematical content at university.

Plymouth University – Calculus workbook

From Craig Barton, his podcast, Episode 11: University transition and oral assessments with Paola Iannone looks at the transition to university mathematics and the potential power of oral assessments. I note from Craig that Paola Iannone’s Big 3 includes Kevin Houston’s blog. I have included Kevin Houston in the Transition Time 2021 post, see his ‘How not to get a good mathematics degree‘ and ‘How to get a good mathematics degree‘. He also has provided a pdf file you can download: 10 Ways to Think Like a Mathematician.

See also at the end of that post, The Eleven Commandments for Mathematicians!

The 11 Commandments

For UK Year 12 and 13 students, note these excellent (free) opportunities from AMSP. For current Year 13 students or those taking a gap year the free online Preparation for Higher Education course is designed to help students revise some of the later content of A level Mathematics. It offers the opportunity for an introduction to some topics studied in AS Further Mathematics, such as complex numbers and matrices, which will be helpful to those progressing to degrees in maths, physics, engineering and closely related subjects.

For Year 12 students, see the Problem Solving Matters course, and also information on regular problem solving classes.



At the other end of the school – for younger students, remember that MEI’s Calculator Crunch begins on Monday.

Calculator Crunch 2020

This is aimed at Transition from Year 6 to Year 7 (UK ages 10-11). MEI’s transition resources for this age range include an excellent series of webinars. The webinars explore curriculum and pedagogical continuity across the KS2 to 3 transition and look at the Primary Maths Guidance Document. The guidance for Year 6 is a valuable document for looking at the transition from Year 6 to Year 7 and includes example assessment questions for each of the ready-to-progress criteria.

Primary Guidance – Year 6

NCETM has produced an extensive library of resources offering support with the Primary Guidance documents. This includes 79 PowerPoints, these focus on the ready-to-progress criteria in the DfE maths guidance for KS1 and KS2. These can usefully be viewed by topic or by year.

You can find NCETM guidance videos on YouTube.

Leave a Reply