My Conquest of Functional Skills Maths | by Brian Gallagher
If I can do it, so can you.
Doing a data apprenticeship course is a major commitment. However, for me, there was an extra challenge. By UK law, to embark on such an apprenticeship you need either GCSE grades at C or equivalent for Maths and English. English was no problem – but I didn’t have Maths.
It is fair to say that it was never my favourite subject, which is a common enough thing. Nonetheless, I think I would have liked to have mastered it at the required level. It is an important discipline – and does anyone really like saying ‘I’m bad at maths’?
Multiverse assured me that they could help me with preparing for a Functional Skills Level 2 exam – a qualification that would do the trick. It would be difficult to do two qualifications at the same time, not least because time relating to Functional Skills does not count for the on-the-job training apprenticeship hours. However, to achieve both would be quite something. I decided to firmly grasp the opportunity.
There was a Multiverse maths course I attended online. Some of the exercises were tricky but I persevered. At the end of the course, I had to book the exam. Functional Skill is exam-based and you either pass or fail, with no grades or coursework. A brutal, but efficient method. I managed to put it off for a bit, which is not really advisable, for reasons including work and a close encounter with Covid-19 - and then a bout of gout.
After a prod from Multiverse, I set a date and put time aside to revise.
The day came, and I headed to the Multiverse offices to sit the exam, which is online. I came prepared: rulers, paper for working out and not one but two calculators in case of malfunction. The invigilator was impressed – it also helps with confidence.
It was an intense 2 hours, the mind being further concentrated by a countdown on the screen. Afterwards, I felt really positive about it and had a pleasant walk around sunny central London, coffee in hand. I thought I had made a good effort with the questions.
Indeed I had – I later received an email telling me I had passed. It was a great moment. It gave me extra confidence to conclude my apprenticeship successfully.
My advice to others is to revise heavily – even if this means taking some leave. What’s very important is practising past papers. Sit as many of those as you can and mark yourself. Look at the questions you got wrong or did not understand and work it out – speak to a Multiverse tutor (use them!) about those.
Do the paper again until you get a good pass mark. This will help get you to the point of passing for real. Within the exam itself, if you have any time left – even if it’s a minute or so, go back to any difficult question. I did this on a multiple-mark question and I think I may have calculated the right answer, which might have got me over the pass mark.
Gaining the FS Maths qualification is one of my great life achievements – and whisper it - perhaps more than the apprenticeship. I also take a bit of pride in it being exam-based – no AI help on coursework. It means that I no longer need to be concerned if a Maths qualification is needed in the future. It's worth the effort.
Brian Gallagher is a Media Analyst based in London, England and is writing for the Apprentice Lens. He is a Multiverse Data Literacy/ Data & Insights for Business Decisions alumnus. He is keen to develop his data skills from his apprenticeship and is highly intrigued by Artificial Intelligence.