Further Maths, Yay or Nay?

Original post by aymanzayedmannan

The data is very skewed as only the most able candidates take the subject.

I know average students who've taken further mathematics only to end up with Cs and below.

Ahh yes, never really thought of that. I guess OP does seem pretty able tbh

Reply 41

ULTRALIGHT BEAM

2

Original post by Ano123

Surely at top uni's the engineering courses are very mathematical (I don't know anything about engineering so maybe I'm wrong). How could a language be preferred over further maths. I highly doubt that. How does a language indicate that you will do well on an engineering course.

AL Maths is enough for Engineering. Find a module on any BEng programme in the UK (and potentially in the world) that you think requires mathematical ingenuity above Advanced Level Maths. When you start working, in any profession, it'll appear evident the benefit of linguistics in everyday life - and that is beyond the fact linguistics being the most facilitating AL subject according to Imperial College London. When it comes to FM & Languages for a BEng course itself, neither is preferential.

Original post by Joman_X

Hello, i am just wondering if its a good idea to take further maths as an A-level because it is offered and my school and i really enjoy maths and am enthusiastic about it, i should hopefully get an A* in my GCSE and i also plan to take maths and physics along side it as my other two A-levels, would you recommend ? Thanks

You sound a suitable candidate for FM and it is a very highly regarded A Level. Why not ask your teachers for advice?

Reply 43

ULTRALIGHT BEAM

2

Original post by Mr M

You sound a suitable candidate for FM and it is a very highly regarded A Level. Why not ask your teachers for advice?

Doing FM can actually be a waste of option assuming the student isn't doing Maths at obvious unis

Original post by ULTRALIGHT BEAM

Doing FM can actually be a waste of option assuming the student isn't doing Maths at obvious unis

Nonsense. It is a facilitating subject. The only time it might not be a good choice is for a handful of medicine courses.

Reply 45

ULTRALIGHT BEAM

2

Original post by Mr M

Nonsense. It is a facilitating subject. The only time it might not be a good choice is for a handful of medicine courses.

If Unis don't mention their preferences for a student doing FM, it is 90% a waste doing the subject. Even for top Eng (where no modules require FM knowledge), they'd reject all applicants if they didn't do FM if FM was benefical for the course. There seems to be a false general consencus that doing FM is mindblowingly excellent. I would however advise AL Maths to all student regardless of degree intentions

Original post by ULTRALIGHT BEAM

If Unis don't mention their preferences for a student doing FM, it is 90% a waste doing the subject. Even for top Eng (where no modules require FM knowledge), they'd reject all applicants if they didn't do FM if FM was benefical for the course. There seems to be a false general consencus that doing FM is mindblowingly excellent. I would however advise AL Maths to all student regardless of degree intentions

We've all heard and understood your message. The trouble is you are uninformed and wrong.

Reply 47

Wired_1800

20

If you really want to do it, then go ahead. As long as you are confident that you will achieve a decent grade, there is no issue with it. However, if you have another course, where you can "easily" earn an A or A*, then please do that instead.

Reply 48

Conservationofmass

12

Nay it's honestly far too much work and most uni's don't even care about it.

Reply 49

Alexion

17

Yay!

Maths, Further Maths and Physics master race :cool:

Reply 50

Alexion

17

Original post by Conservationofmass

Nay it's honestly far too much work and most uni's don't even care about it.

That's much more dependent on the course rather than 'most unis'...

Reply 51

Ano123

15

Let's face it, the people who are saying not to do it didn't do it themselves or flopped it.
The people who are saying to do FM are doing it or have already done it and done well.
Further maths can also be beneficial if you want to do physics at a top uni in the future. If you want to do maths at a good uni, then FM is a must, and even then you may be required to do STEP.

Some links from the FMSP might help ...

http://www.furthermaths.org.uk/whystudyfm

http://www.furthermaths.org.uk/shouldistudyfm

http://www.furthermaths.org.uk/universities

Reply 53

dragonkeeper999

17

Original post by ULTRALIGHT BEAM

Doing FM will NOT subsidise the difficulty of any Eng course, even at top level (which I am now). Doesn't matter if the Universities say that FM is highly desirable, etc - you'll never be expected to know anything from FM since only merely a handful would've taken it.

Disagree with this, for my course (NatSci at Cambridge) I have no idea how the couple of students without FM taking the physics modules survived first year, they essentially assumed everyone had completed every possible module of M, FM and AFM and started from there...

Mind you, I know last year there were discussions about making FM compulsory for applicants, not sure whether this went through or not.

Original post by dragonkeeper999

Disagree with this, for my course (NatSci at Cambridge) I have no idea how the couple of students without FM taking the physics modules survived first year, they essentially assumed everyone had completed every possible module of M, FM and AFM and started from there...

Mind you, I know last year there were discussions about making FM compulsory for applicants, not sure whether this went through or not.

One of my students took Cambridge NatSci without FM about 10 years ago and told me afterwards he had made a massive mistake by not choosing FM as one of his A Levels.

Reply 55

dragonkeeper999

17

OP: I found further maths a bit challenging at first (my college did maths and further maths alongside each other rather than maths in first year then further maths in the second), but once I'd got past that first term and realised that I had to actually do some studying outside of class (eg completing the textbook excersises, nothing too strenuous) my grades went up and I started to really enjoy it. The module choices are a lot more interesting than maths, and you start to actually understand all the maths equations and cool ideas like imaginary numbers. Plus, it makes maths super easy :smile:

Reply 56

dragonkeeper999

17

Original post by Mr M

One of my students took Cambridge NatSci without FM about 10 years ago and told me afterwards he had made a massive mistake by not choosing FM as one of his A Levels.

Yeah, I did FM and still found the maths really challenging... Tbh, if you stick to the biology modules/ chemistry you're fine, it was just physics and the maths for physicists options which really require FM.