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Self teaching Further Maths AS

Sorry to have posted this in general section and Maths but I thought it more appropriate here.

I'm currently in year 12 doing AS Maths with Edexcel, my optional module is D1. I'm likely to get an A in the summer. I will continue with A2 Maths next year and will study S1.
I want to self teach AS Further Maths for some extra UCAS points and something fun to do, as my school cannot timetable for me to do Further Maths.
I was wondering which modules you would recommend I sit?
Thanks

Reply 1

tyvcubnm

If you have done physics AS, then i highly recommend that you do M1 and M2. If not then you might want to pick M1 and S2.

Reply 2

qwertymaths

Original post by tyvcubnm

If you have done physics AS, then i highly recommend that you do M1 and M2. If not then you might want to pick M1 and S2.

That's great, no I haven't done Physics unfortunately, thanks for your help :smile:

Reply 3

tyvcubnm

yeah, so I'd recommend taking M1 and something else, depending on where you think your strength lies, remember it doesn't matter which choice you do well in, because they will optimise your grades accordingly.

Reply 4

qwertymaths

Original post by tyvcubnm

Oh I didn't know they'd do that for you, that's really helpful. Cheers

Reply 5

TheBBQ

What are you going to study at university?

Reply 6

qwertymaths

Original post by TheBBQ

What are you going to study at university?

English Lit, I know taking further maths seems highly illogical but I thought it'd be quite interesting anyway haha :smile:

Reply 7

TheBBQ

Original post by qwertymaths

English Lit, I know taking further maths seems highly illogical but I thought it'd be quite interesting anyway haha :smile:

Do you enjoy D1? If so, have a look at D2. Take a look at S2 and M1 after your exams. I recommend doing FP1 during the summer.

If you really enjoy FP1, you can take a look at doing FP2/FP3 next year. But these assume C3/C4 knowledge so if you decide to do FP2/FP3, you should do C3 and C4 in your own time during the summer.

If you really enjoy M1, you'll have to do C3 before you can do M2 if you want to do that.

Play to your strengths :smile:

Reply 8

qwertymaths

Original post by TheBBQ

Haha, got a lot to think about now, thanks for the detailed advice :smile:

Reply 9

Themathgeek

Original post by qwertymaths

Haha, got a lot to think about now, thanks for the detailed advice :smile:

Any module is doable with enough time and practice - choose whatever ones you enjoy and you can ace them

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Reply 10

Joye019

Original post by tyvcubnm

If you have done physics AS, then i highly recommend that you do M1 and M2. If not then you might want to pick M1 and S2.

Are you currently doing physics?

Reply 11

JLegion

I haven't done AS Physics but I do enjoy M1 - I consider it a fun module but I know others who hate it. It's worth checking out to see if you like it, and it's relatively straight forward to self teach. M2 however as your second module I wouldn't recommend unless you do Physics or are excellent at M1; I imagine it can be a pain to self teach without a strong passion for it.

S2 could be a good choice, although it isn't very similar to S1. A lot of people enjoy self-teaching it (that I know of) and I'll be self studying it next year, too.

It may be worth asking your school / College if they'd lend you text books just to see the topics and judge which you'd like to study the most. Also, you could ask your teachers which modules they know of and can actually teach in case you need help on anything.

Reply 12

sweeneyrod

Original post by qwertymaths

If you want to end up with an AS in time for university applications, you will need to be careful about which modules you choose. As far as I know, you can't include M2 or S2 (for instance) as one of your three modules without doing M1 or S1 in the same qualification. Modules can be swapped around between A-level Maths and Further Maths (e.g. you could end up counting your D1 as part of your Further Maths AS), but counting on that is risky - for instance, if you choose to teach yourself D2 and M1 you would actually end up with one of those modules as part of your AS Maths qualification, which would be bad if you didn't do well in them.

So here are the combinations I think you could do:

M1, M2 (no problems with modules being swapped around, but you have to like mechanics)
M1, D2 (one of these modules will end up being used for maths (provided you want a Further Maths AS) so you need to do well in at least 1)
FP2/FP3, M1 (I've checked the specification, and you don't need to do two applied modules in AS Further Maths)
FP2/FP3, D2

Doing more further pure would be most interesting in my opinion, but also much harder than any of the other options, and you would need to teach yourself much of C3 and C4 before starting. I would try a bit of M1, and if you enjoy it, do M1 M2 (they're relatively easy and quite interesting). You could also try D2, which is similar to D1 but has some really boring content and higher grade boundaries.