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How long would it take me to learn A level maths by myself?

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Original post by NeverGrowUp
2 years?! lol


2 years is a maximum from nothing for an average student.

EDIT: Hadn't read what you were planning on doing, you could easily cover it all over summer if you work hard.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Shazen
Is M1 easy? Because I'm planning on choosing that next year for chemical engineering


Not easy, but not overly difficult either - it is meant to be an AS module :tongue: It takes practice and patience and confidence with trig and being able to draw diagrams, and ultimately, understanding of the topics. Mechanics modules are the ones where they can throw weird stuff at you sometimes, and you have to be prepared.

But if you're doing ChemEng I suppose it feels as though you don't really have a choice but to do it (whether unis actually care, not too sure). Just like other modules - practice enough and you should be fine.
Original post by SeanFM
Not easy, but not overly difficult either - it is meant to be an AS module :tongue: It takes practice and patience and confidence with trig and being able to draw diagrams, and ultimately, understanding of the topics. Mechanics modules are the ones where they can throw weird stuff at you sometimes, and you have to be prepared.

But if you're doing ChemEng I suppose it feels as though you don't really have a choice but to do it (whether unis actually care, not too sure). Just like other modules - practice enough and you should be fine.

Ah ok thanks because I asked Birmingham University and they said that they would prefer if you chose M1 as your optional module, but nothing will happen if I don't they just prefer it for some reason. Which one did you chose?
Original post by Shazen
Ah ok thanks because I asked Birmingham University and they said that they would prefer if you chose M1 as your optional module, but nothing will happen if I don't they just prefer it for some reason. Which one did you chose?


I did Further Maths and Maths, so I had to do 6 applied units, so I chose S1-S4, M1 and D1. (I am also self studying D2 this year, but that is by the by). But I did that because I'm not a mechanics type person. You get people that enjoy doing like M1-M3, but find statistics utterly boring - I was the opposite, in that I liked stats way more but I found mechanics to be difficult (as a whole, not M1 in particular).

By the sounds of things though, you should do M1 :tongue: and it should be fine.
Original post by SeanFM
I did Further Maths and Maths, so I had to do 6 applied units, so I chose S1-S4, M1 and D1. (I am also self studying D2 this year, but that is by the by). But I did that because I'm not a mechanics type person. You get people that enjoy doing like M1-M3, but find statistics utterly boring - I was the opposite, in that I liked stats way more but I found mechanics to be difficult (as a whole, not M1 in particular).

By the sounds of things though, you should do M1 :tongue: and it should be fine.

Thanks and yeah for some reason I would prefer mechanics either way. Statistics, I just hated from GCSE Maths lol. Did you self-study maths and further maths then sit the exams as a private student?
Original post by Magic Member
2 years is a maximum from nothing for an average student.

EDIT: Hadn't read what you were planning on doing, you could easily cover it all over summer if you work hard.


ohh right, thanks! :biggrin:
Original post by Shazen
Thanks and yeah for some reason I would prefer mechanics either way. Statistics, I just hated from GCSE Maths lol. Did you self-study maths and further maths then sit the exams as a private student?


Oh, fair enough :tongue: GCSE maths is a bit icky to be fair, especially the shapes and circle theorems etc.. always hated them :hide:

I was taught Maths at school, but picked up Further Maths in Year 13 (self studied that) and my school paid for it, so I was lucky :lol:
Original post by SeanFM
Oh, fair enough :tongue: GCSE maths is a bit icky to be fair, especially the shapes and circle theorems etc.. always hated them :hide:

I was taught Maths at school, but picked up Further Maths in Year 13 (self studied that) and my school paid for it, so I was lucky :lol:

Wow, very impressive Sean! I want to do Further Maths instead of Biology but, if you look online I haven't seen one website that offers further maths. They do offer pure maths but that isn't the same as further maths apparently.
Original post by Shazen
Wow, very impressive Sean! I want to do Further Maths instead of Biology but, if you look online I haven't seen one website that offers further maths. They do offer pure maths but that isn't the same as further maths apparently.


:s-smilie: how strange.. I'm not sure - maybe it's worth talking your school about it (presuming that's where you'd enter it at). I'm not sure how reforms work tbh, but I would've thought you could find further maths somewhere.
Original post by SeanFM
:s-smilie: how strange.. I'm not sure - maybe it's worth talking your school about it (presuming that's where you'd enter it at). I'm not sure how reforms work tbh, but I would've thought you could find further maths somewhere.

Yeah so did I. I'll put it in the easiest way lol, our school is terrible they only offer a level maths and not further maths. I might just keep biology because I love biology and it's really easy as A-level. What other a levels did you do?
Original post by Shazen
Yeah so did I. I'll put it in the easiest way lol, our school is terrible they only offer a level maths and not further maths. I might just keep biology because I love biology and it's really easy as A-level. What other a levels did you do?


I'll send you a VM so that this doesn't veer miles away from what the OP is saying (I have a nasty habit of doing this :lol:)
Original post by SeanFM
I'll send you a VM so that this doesn't veer miles away from what the OP is saying (I have a nasty habit of doing this :lol:)


What is a VM?
Original post by asherdan1997
Firstly, I am only aware of the 2008 Edexcel specification. Thus apologies for any confusoin.

However, if it was "quite obvious" then students across the country wouldn't struggle to grapple with the concepts and the exam would be a walk on the park. But the fact is its not.

My comments are not disheartening. I have encouraged the student to do whatever he can achieve in the time and I personally advised that summer work is a good idea.

However, I did admit that what I have said could be 'daunting'. What is 'disheartening' is if a student is told a topic is 'quite obvious' and then during the summer the student is having trouble getting their head round this topic, despite being told it is 'obvious'.


Mathematics is one of the subject with the highest proportion of students achieving A*s and C3 is quite frankly the most basic A2 level paper. A lot of people find it to be the easiest, therefore not many people really "struggle" as you put it and majority comes out with a decent grade. Over 60% of students last year alone achieved a B or above in A level maths, so quite frankly, it is a bit of an easy A subject, and you're definitely exaggerating the difficulty of it. This is in fact discouraging, as misconceptions about maths at levels higher than GCSE is what frequently pushes students away from taking the subject further.
Original post by rxns_00
Mathematics is one of the subject with the highest proportion of students achieving A*s and C3 is quite frankly the most basic A2 level paper. A lot of people find it to be the easiest, therefore not many people really "struggle" as you put it and majority comes out with a decent grade. Over 60% of students last year alone achieved a B or above in A level maths, so quite frankly, it is a bit of an easy A subject, and you're definitely exaggerating the difficulty of it. This is in fact discouraging, as misconceptions about maths at levels higher than GCSE is what frequently pushes students away from taking the subject further.


I don't know if your stats are accurate. However, you may find the reason for such high pass rates for C3 and C4 is because most of the people who struggle with maths are filtered out through AS Level. Sometimes facts don't show the full picture.

Personally i agree with you, it is easy, but from experience the majority of people I have worked with tend to disagree. Most people I know wish they never chose maths despite achieving A or A* at GCSE. My experience has taught me that most people don't find it as easy as I have.

Your final point is quite a good one. I know many people who were put off by the idea that maths is a hard A level. It is a shame many people choose not to do such an important A level because of this.
Original post by NeverGrowUp
thanks! what did you do to revise??


When I had finished learning C3 I would do a past paper every 3-4 days (this is was in november, I increased the amount of past paper I did as time went on) I would keep a small a5 book(from wilko) and write down my grade, year of exam and my weak topics where I had lost marks. When I was doing my next exam I would make sure I went over my weakness (this part was crucial) and I made sure I understood how to approach those type of questions. My grade slowly improved and than I started challenging my self by doing international past papers, Madasmaths exam papers (someone made their own exam questions which can be easy to extremely hard to stretch your skills). AS maths you can get away without you requiring to understand but A2 its absolutely crucial you understand how to answer questions. All the best on results day and to your future A level exams :P
Original post by Shazen
Is M1 easy? Because I'm planning on choosing that next year for chemical engineering


It depends on the person, I like S1 so its easy and dislike M1 so its hard
Original post by Raizelcadres
It depends on the person, I like S1 so its easy and dislike M1 so its hard


Thanks, I prefer mechanics over statistics for some reason.
Original post by NeverGrowUp
Thanks for the responses! is c4 harder than c3?


You need C3 to be able to do C4.
The concepts are definitely harder for C4 than C3. However, my teacher claims that people often do better in C4 than C3. This is because edexcel split the questions up for you and almost tell you what to do in C4.

Personally I find the C4 exam itself easier than C3. But I actually found learning C4 was harder than learning C3. Hope that makes sense.

Good luck
Original post by asherdan1997
I don't know if your stats are accurate. However, you may find the reason for such high pass rates for C3 and C4 is because most of the people who struggle with maths are filtered out through AS Level. Sometimes facts don't show the full picture.

Personally i agree with you, it is easy, but from experience the majority of people I have worked with tend to disagree. Most people I know wish they never chose maths despite achieving A or A* at GCSE. My experience has taught me that most people don't find it as easy as I have.

Your final point is quite a good one. I know many people who were put off by the idea that maths is a hard A level. It is a shame many people choose not to do such an important A level because of this.


http://www.bstubbs.co.uk/a-lev.htm

Filtering out post AS level will not apply to this particular user because theyre quite eager to start A2 suggesting their exams have seemingly gone as planned.

I have had a majorly different experience and both myself and people I know found maths to be the easiest to revise for and generally the subject that takes least effort. Especially since maths modules are quite consistent in examinations papers and similar types of questions come up every year. It is easy to predict what sort of questions will come up

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