[lovetosmile]

Thinking of picking statistics for my a levels because I think I only got a C at gcse, and I wanted to know whether it is a good subject or whether i shouldn't pick it at all..... ?!?


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[gdunne42]

(Original post by lovetosmile)
Thinking of picking statistics for my a levels because I think I only got a C at gcse, and I wanted to know whether it is a good subject or whether i shouldn't pick it at all..... ?!?


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Are you talking about AS maths with Statistics (2 units of pure maths + 1 stats) which is quite common or AS Statistics (3 units of stats) which is rarely offered? Either way with a C in GCSE maths you are going to find either of them very challenging and might be better off choosing something else. You might also think about resitting GCSE maths to improve your grade. Although a C is adequate for most things a B or better could open a few more doors in the future. What do you want to do in the future? How important is maths to that goal?

[canŵio]

(Original post by lovetosmile)
Thinking of picking statistics for my a levels because I think I only got a C at gcse, and I wanted to know whether it is a good subject or whether i shouldn't pick it at all..... ?!?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

i agree with the above poster - i've not heard of 'statistics' as a stand alone subject - only with C1 and C2 (pure maths) or S1, S2, S3 which would be really hard. with a C at GCSE, i wouldn't advise doing either. i got an A at GCSE and still found it quite challenging!

however if there is a stand alone statistics subject, it would probably be worth doing, as statistics is really the most important part of maths in most jobs/degrees!

[pinklover1993]

I did a pure Statistics A level and got a C at GCSE. I have to say its not one of the easiest A levels in the world but if you are willing to learn and put in the hard work then you should be fine. Statistics is used a lot in very day life without us knowing.

[lovetosmile]

(Original post by pinklover1993)
I did a pure Statistics A level and got a C at GCSE. I have to say its not one of the easiest A levels in the world but if you are willing to learn and put in the hard work then you should be fine. Statistics is used a lot in very day life without us knowing.

This was very useful thank you !!

Also I should go added that I've picked Economics, English literature, and history so I thought maths would go well with economics considering that is the area I would like to pursue a future career in.


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[para:lel]

A maths A level would be a better choice than just stats. It would be much more respected by universities. However, obviously you have to determine whether you think you would be able to do well. You may struggle with a C-grade maths GCSE. My college won't let anyone do A-level maths without at least a B at GCSE. What grade would you be aiming for in AS maths/stats?

[lovetosmile]

(Original post by para:lel)
A maths A level would be a better choice than just stats. It would be much more respected by universities. However, obviously you have to determine whether you think you would be able to do well. You may struggle with a C-grade maths GCSE. My college won't let anyone do A-level maths without at least a B at GCSE. What grade would you be aiming for in AS maths/stats?

Minimum a B definitely...l


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[Zenomorph]

(Original post by canŵio)
i agree with the above poster - i've not heard of 'statistics' as a stand alone subject - only with C1 and C2 (pure maths) or S1, S2, S3 which would be really hard. with a C at GCSE, i wouldn't advise doing either. i got an A at GCSE and still found it quite challenging!

however if there is a stand alone statistics subject, it would probably be worth doing, as statistics is really the most important part of maths in most jobs/degrees!

You mean you got an A at GCSE and still found A stats challenging or A maths in general and can I ask why, meaning what exactly did you find challenging ?

[lovetosmile]

Reading some of the posts......do people not take statistics seriously ?


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[canŵio]

(Original post by Zenomorph)
You mean you got an A at GCSE and still found A stats challenging or A maths in general and can I ask why, meaning what exactly did you find challenging ?

well i found all of a-level maths a bit challenging - there was just so much new to learn!! there's a whole load of stuff that i had no idea about before, and you're expected to remember and understand all of it. statistics seemed to be either easy or hard. in the sense that some people in my class found it the easiest module, but personally i found all the graphs and symbols really hard to understand - even if you understand the concepts, if you don't know all the symbols you can't even grasp what the question is asking you! for example probability has all the P(A ∩ B) P(A | B) bla bla bla, and you have to learn loads of combinations of probabilities in order to solve questions. this makes statistics really easy if you're good at just learning formulae and regurgitating them, but i was really bad at that so i couldn't even answer most of the questions.

[Jimmy Mullen]

I don't think people should be writing off other peoples chances just becuase they only have a C at GCSE level! Plenty of instances where people with an A* completely mess up, and those with B/C end up with an A at A-level.

Personally, Statistics was the worst part of A-level Maths and I would only recommend it to the die-hard student or people who were absolutely in love with it at GCSE.

And YES, A-level Stats is better than no A-level Maths at all.

[ZerofeX]

I loved the CIE stats modules in AL math personally. Was just so easy and logical

[ThatPerson]

(Original post by lovetosmile)
This was very useful thank you !!

Also I should go added that I've picked Economics, English literature, and history so I thought maths would go well with economics considering that is the area I would like to pursue a future career in.


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Hang on, Do you want to do an Economics Degree? If so then you'll need the full Maths A-Level as it is listed as a requirement for most universities due to the fact that economics is maths-based.

[lovetosmile]

(Original post by ThatPerson)
Hang on, Do you want to do an Economics Degree? If so then you'll need the full Maths A-Level as it is listed as a requirement for most universities due to the fact that economics is maths-based.

Yeah but a relative told me they'd accept statistics aswell...... Is that wrong !?!


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[Zenomorph]

(Original post by canŵio)
well i found all of a-level maths a bit challenging - there was just so much new to learn!! there's a whole load of stuff that i had no idea about before, and you're expected to remember and understand all of it. statistics seemed to be either easy or hard. in the sense that some people in my class found it the easiest module, but personally i found all the graphs and symbols really hard to understand - even if you understand the concepts, if you don't know all the symbols you can't even grasp what the question is asking you! for example probability has all the P(A ∩ B) P(A | B) bla bla bla, and you have to learn loads of combinations of probabilities in order to solve questions. this makes statistics really easy if you're good at just learning formulae and regurgitating them, but i was really bad at that so i couldn't even answer most of the questions.

Ha Ha, you and me are in almost the exact situation except I got lower GCSE grade than you. I like you find Stats quite irritating, how do you find pure maths C1 et al and what do you think is the best way to go about it ?

Don't you just love how practical and real world related the Probabilities problems are ?

[canŵio]

(Original post by Zenomorph)
Ha Ha, you and me are in almost the exact situation except I got lower GCSE grade than you. I like you find Stats quite irritating, how do you find pure maths C1 et al and what do you think is the best way to go about it ?

Don't you just love how practical and real world related the Probabilities problems are ?

haha i know, 'real world problems' my ****! i found the pure maths easier because it wasn't even pretending to be real world - i didn't try to understand how it could relate to the world! it's just about learning the concepts, then practising them. i think in core maths, achievement is directly proportional to the amount of work you put in. some people need more practise than others, but doing questions and exam papers is the only way to do well. C1 and C2 also seem Really easy after you've done C3 and C4 - so retakes are good- i went from a U to an A in C2!

[Zenomorph]

(Original post by canŵio)
haha i know, 'real world problems' my ****! i found the pure maths easier because it wasn't even pretending to be real world - i didn't try to understand how it could relate to the world! it's just about learning the concepts, then practising them. i think in core maths, achievement is directly proportional to the amount of work you put in. some people need more practise than others, but doing questions and exam papers is the only way to do well. C1 and C2 also seem Really easy after you've done C3 and C4 - so retakes are good- i went from a U to an A in C2!

Well you took the words right out of my mouth. I guess you can see through the sheer excitement of examples like finding the amount of screws whose threads are dodgy falling under 30% of the sample, given the mean and the SD and asking to look up the Z values. Repeat 15 x.

You're right about pure, like you say there's no pretense.

Fabulous result going from U to A, in some ways I think that's even better than getting an A straight away. Any tips or is it more of the same - understanding the concepts and then practice, practice, practice.

[canŵio]

(Original post by Zenomorph)
Well you took the words right out of my mouth. I guess you can see through the sheer excitement of examples like finding the amount of screws whose threads are dodgy falling under 30% of the sample, given the mean and the SD and asking to look up the Z values. Repeat 15 x.

You're right about pure, like you say there's no pretense.

Fabulous result going from U to A, in some ways I think that's even better than getting an A straight away. Any tips or is it more of the same - understanding the concepts and then practice, practice, practice.

yeah i think it is just practise. the more familiar you get with the style of questions, the better you'll be because after a while you'll realise that every paper is pretty much the same with different numbers! it just becomes routine - in this kind of question i use this formula etc etc. i even managed an A in C3 from just lots of practise!

at the beginning i found it annoying when the teacher would derive formulae and stuff like that... but when you get it, it makes your life so much easier - you only need to learn a couple of formulae and you can work out the rest yourself!

for example (not sure whether this is from AS or A2)

you have:

sin²x + cos²x = 1

then divide everything by sin²x

you get

sin²x/sin²x +cos²x/sin²x = 1/sin²x

you know that sin²x/sin²x is 1
cos²x/sin²x is cot²x (1/tan²x)
and 1/sin²x is cosec²x.

so you get one of your formulae, without learning it!

1 + cot²x - cosec²x.

and you can get loads of the others if you know what to do.

(sorry if this is A2 and i've just confused the hell out of you)