Getting them grade up

What is it that really makes the difference in grades?

This is a question that haunts all maths maths teachers I guess - the job is after all to make a real difference to grades, and so lives.
There are of course many answers to this question.One needs good written methods, one needs patience, one needs confidence..., All of which it is of course the maths tutor's job to add.
And yet the philosopher in me knows this is not really it. What one really needs for maths is rhythm. Maths is a game of noticing, writing, checking and experimenting. Problems then come in maths because no one really teaches (or even seems often enough to appreciate) exactly how one orchestrates these facets of 'doing maths'. This is a real problem, as kids want permission, they crave to be old what to do next, and the point of the maths exam is exactly that one is not told, on has show initiative, and think: One needs therefore to impose ones own rhythm, ones own inner knowledge of what is next (and why). This is genuinely terrifying - it is what scares adults about maths: They never know what to do next....
 It is no surprise that most of the time when a maths teacher is called in it it is because one or other of these elements is out of sync with the rest and the rhythm has broken down. It is your job, as a maths tutors to get them all lined up with one another, as best they can.
 What do I mean when I say maths is rhythm. Only this, to successfully navigate a question, one needs to know what one is doping and when: all too often mistakes happen because one tries to do every at once. Or even worse one gets right, but at the wrong moment, and that stifles ones ability to think what one has done, and actually know what one has worked out. It is only rhythm that defines when one is thinking, when one is looking and when one is writing: whether one is good or not at maths in the end is all about rhythm. A rhythm some kids have innate, and other have to be taught.
 To teach maths one first needs  always to check that pupils know how to notice, think, write and correct, (all of which are real skills in their own right, and again never formally taught) - but in the end grades are made or lost of rhythm. If you know what should happen next, what you should look for, or check or write it is all so much easier.
It is the rhythm that makes the difference between knowing what to do in  question, and seeing that it is so easy, and being at sea with it all. It is therefore the first and last job of maths teacher to give thought rhythm!