FP3 or DE?

Hey, I'm on MEI OCR and I'm about to start A2 Further Maths and was wondering; I want to go on to study Pure Mathematics at Uni and am not sure whether to do FP3 or DE. My class are definitely doing S3 but most of them want to do DE so is it possible to self teach FP3 and if so, should I? Dunno if that's a weird question xD Thanks for replies :smile:

Shameless self-bump

Hmm.. okay, I'm quite confident and want to study a Pure Maths degree, but I just wanna maximise my grade really

Reply 3

TwilightKnight

Original post by the.cookie.monster

what is a self bump?
And I am also going into my second year of FM, hearing from the year aboves, FP3 is a pain, so unless you're really confident it may be difficult but possible

It's something you do generally at night, hoping that God isn't watching...

Another, less common meaning is to raise a thread back into the "recent" section (i.e, page 1).

Reply 4

HouseStark

If you do decide to self teach you could get your school/college to look at signing you up to the further maths support programme (http://www.fmnetwork.org.uk/). They basically provide online lessons with a microphone and tablet and give you access to some useful resources :smile:

Reply 5

username219321

DE leads directly on from A-level, and will give you a solid understanding of how to solve most ODEs you'll come across in the first 2 years (or even all) of your degree. Whereas most of the stuff in FP3 requires knowledge from outside the module to properly understand (rather than just rote learning methods to pass the exam), so is IMO best to leave until university.

Reply 6

JHeseltine

Hi, I've just finished my OCR MEI A Level in Further & A Further Maths. I did DE with the rest of the class and self taught myself FP3. If you are going on to do a Pure Maths degree then I think FP3 would be more beneficial because it introduces a number of concepts you'll use in a maths degree like multivariable calculus and group theory. DE is still useful but is more useful for a physics or applied maths degree. FP3 is possible to self teach but it will take a fair bit of commitment so if you're looking to do the easier module do DE.

Reply 7

Ed4434

So it can be self-taught?

Reply 8

rubbermat

Original post by Ed4434

So it can be self-taught?

I'm sure the book doesn't have "Must be taught to you by a teacher" on the front.

If you have any plans at taking your maths further there will be times when you need to take responsibility for your own learning.

Reply 9

JHeseltine

Any of the maths modules can be self-taught, I was just saying that you need to put in a lot of work to self teach this one so only do it if you're pretty committed.

Reply 10

LoveLifeHate

Remember DE has coursework and FP3 does not
I did both and I would definatly say DE was less work as all of the chapers are needed for the next plus you can miss out something you dont like as you only answer 3/4 Qs
FP3 has free standing chapters of which you answer 3/5 so you can choose what you want to learn. The only think I would say is if you are self teaching will you have access to a teacher who can either guide you on the coursework or help you on parts of FP3
I had a further maths teacher who was the only one that could teach FP3 and still only knew about 3 of the chapters
Whereas diff equas all maths higher maths teachers would have covered at some point in their life
If you wanna know anything specific about the modules give us a shout :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)