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Giles Meehan

@gmeehan.bsky.social

Maths teacher (GCSE, A Level), M.E advocate, Musician (piano, bass, songwriter)

266 Followers  |  268 Following  |  34 Posts  |  Joined: 15.12.2023
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Posts by Giles Meehan (@gmeehan.bsky.social)

Whilst it's great :D that most teachers' requests from the previous models have been implemented, is it really true that Engineering form has been removed after decades?!! Maybe not needed for GCSE, but I used it constantly at uni & in real life. Also still a few strange design/button choices imho.

18.01.2026 00:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
A Level - Integration Summary v2.pdf

I made this for my students a while ago (replaced a very busy hand-drawn single page!) drive.google.com/file/d/1vqRP...

16.01.2026 20:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Very wise words, thank you for writing and sharing

18.09.2025 18:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Examiners' reports do often say explicitly that sinx^4 as incorrect notation loses marks

21.08.2025 15:07 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The ones I find a bit painful are the "show that A = kB" when you're told A and B are directly proportional, but you have to write 3 or 4 or 5 separate things to get 1 or 2 marks!

19.08.2025 19:30 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

That seems harsh, although depending on the context, all A level & similar maths exams (nowadays??) are very demanding about conclusions; candidates must state clearly exactly what they've found or proved.

19.08.2025 19:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

If the full examiners' mark scheme is any good, it shouldn't leave anyone in any doubt as to exactly what is and isn't worthy of the mark, down to every single word, for a transformation question. And presumably should be the same every year.

19.08.2025 19:25 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I would've had the horizontal axis at about 5'2" and included Kylie being upside down!

19.08.2025 19:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I wonder if "translation by 4 units in the positive x direction" would've got the marks, and if so, how is it different? I always insist that students write translations as vectors, as it is (I think) the guaranteed notation to get marks in every syllabus (even if not always the preferred).

19.08.2025 19:03 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I did!

14.08.2025 14:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thank you, looks like a very likely distribution of topics!

21.05.2025 06:24 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

A tiny fraction of a league per eon?

16.05.2025 16:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

That's fair!

15.05.2025 11:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

If only their app as an option weren't so terrible (according to the reviews)

15.05.2025 11:40 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thank you - saw that, and others' replies, and all makes sense! I shouldn't try to do maths before 9am, the number of times I also tell my students not to get bogged down in the algebra if they've not looked at a simple diagram and seen if there's a "simple" geometric explanation!!

02.04.2025 20:25 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Sorry running out of time this morning, and also got stuck so far, nice numbers so 30โฐ and (1, 1, 2)? And 4a+3b+5c=0? But the other one should be solveable but feel like I'm missing something crucial while brain not woken up yet!

02.04.2025 07:23 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

So dot product of L2's direction vector with normal to plane is 0, and dot product with L1's direction uses the angle given - feels like it should be possible? Will have to get pen and paper out over breakfast now!

02.04.2025 07:03 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Ah sorry, and the number of times I complain to my students that they haven't read the question!! I'll try again!

02.04.2025 07:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

All Students Try Cast diagrams and get them wrong...?!

02.04.2025 06:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Yes, it's asking for the reflection of the original line in the plane, without saying it in those words!!

02.04.2025 06:54 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thank you very much, all booked now and looking forward to it!

07.01.2025 11:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Yes that's what I got yesterday! ๐Ÿคจ

06.01.2025 14:10 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@tombutton.bsky.social Hi, I just tried booking for the Maths Behind AI sessions, and after I'd filled in the form it said booking had closed - am I too late? Thank you!

05.01.2025 21:30 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Can't believe I've done 851 of these!!

04.09.2024 20:16 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Any chips that aren't fried in with gluten-containing breadcrumbs or batter are a win for me, to be honest!

19.08.2024 15:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I like the idea that you might have submitted 19 of the scripts a minute before the July cut-off, and just one a minute later! Still, it's halfway towards buying a Costa!

19.08.2024 15:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

That's wonderful! Not seen that before!

17.08.2024 12:58 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

When I go to emojis on my keyboard, there's a tiny "search" field - typing "pin" in there brought it up for me. I feel there's probably an even easier way than that...?!

17.08.2024 12:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Loading Google Slides

docs.google.com/presentation...

17.08.2024 08:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Maths A Level Intro notes general.pdf

drive.google.com/file/d/1kr98...

17.08.2024 07:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0