Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

M1 or D1?

I've just finished AS Maths and I did C1, C2 and S1. I'm allowed to pick 2 extra modules for next year (either M1 or D1) and am completely unsure which one!

I did Physics OCR Gateway and got an A* but hated it and didn't understand anything. For me C1 and C2 papers went a lot better than S1. Generally I'm quite organised in answers and fairly good at spotting silly mistakes (which I hear is something you can make a lot of in D1).

I hear in D1 questions are quiet similar but you can easily make mistakes and there are limited method marks. At the same time I hate physics and I do hear M1 is quite tough. Preferably I'd like to do an easier topic leaving me more time to focus on Core.

I don't really mind if the topic is long/time consuming/boring, I just want to be able to do well in it!

Any help is appreciated, thank you

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

CheeseIsVeg

D1 cos its easier apparently

Spoiler

Reply 2

Mrs House

In your case, I think you'll do well in both. But if you had to choose, choose D1. It's boring as hell but so easy to get 90+ UMS if of course you don't make any mistakes (it's so easy to make mistakes so make sure you have time to check your answers)

Reply 3

Lawliettt

Original post by CheeseIsVeg

D1 cos its easier apparently

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Top banter right there.

Your grade in M1 is entirely controlled by you. If you revise and do past papers, you'll do well. Your D1 grade is dependent on whether or not it's physically possible to finish the exam on time. You can know every algorithm and have done every paper then be forced to miss out questions anyway. And if you make a small mistake at the start of a question, once you've spotted it, you need to spend about 10 minutes fixing the mistake.

Reply 4

NeverLucky

Having done both, I personally think D1's content is definitely easier - there's practically no actual maths involved beyond simple arithmetic. However, D1 was the only exam I had where I struggled to finish. Granted, I didn't do much revision for the module cos it was almost irrelevant to me but it's very hard to manage your time in the exam so you do have time at the end to check at the end. It's also hard to spot mistakes in the exam and it's hard to check over the work unless you essentially do the question again.
M1 is definitely harder and the content can be hard to get your head around at first but there was almost a moment for me where everything just clicked. M1 is more akin to the pure maths out of any of the applied modules and as such, there's almost an instinctive feeling where you know if the answer you got a as right or wrong. You don't have to be careful as you have to be for D1 but your understanding of the fundamentals behind each topic has to be solid.

Reply 5

-Miracle

Original post by Lawliettt

Agreed, a lot of my friends having sat D1 this year found it impossible to finish

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Reply 6

Kyx

Mechanics in maths is completely different to mechanics in physics.

Reply 7

Student403

D1 many people couldn't finish this year.

Yeah the content's easy, but the exam is a *****

Choose M1

Reply 8

PurpleDelight

M1 was the death of me. Nothing gets harder than that

Reply 9

PurpleDelight

I wish my school gave me the choice to do S1 in my AS year as I really enjoyed GCSE Statistics

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 10

Ayman!

Original post by _4everfaithful__

M1 was the death of me. Nothing gets harder than that

There's M2, M3, M4 and M5 - they get harder than that. :lol:

OP please do M1 and save yourself from a lifetime of pain.

Reply 11

HopelessMedic

Definitely M1, if you work hard then the low grade boundaries mean high ums is easy.

Reply 12

PurpleDelight

Original post by Ayman!

There's M2, M3, M4 and M5 - they get harder than that. :lol:

OP please do M1 and save yourself from a lifetime of pain.

I'm not doing Maths next year. Next year is S1 in the A2 class

Reply 13

crashMATHS

D1 has easier content but the exams are certainly getting more difficult, so I wouldn't say it's an easy ride.

I'd pick M1 nonetheless, because it's just so much more interesting in my opinion and once you master the basic ideas of resolving and so on, it can be simpler than some of the more recent D1 questions

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Reply 14

JLegion

A similar thread can be found here:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4212634

The choice is completely up to you. As you can tell, it genuinely depends on person to person.

If I could go back a year now I know what they're both like, and I could only choose one, I would choose M1. But that's me.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 15

Lawliettt

Original post by -Miracle

Agreed, a lot of my friends having sat D1 this year found it impossible to finish

Posted from TSR Mobile

It's frustrating. The content is so easy that you're not even tested on how good you are at maths. You're tested on how quickly you can write. That's completely flawed. At least if I miss a grade in any other module then I probably deserved it. I can easily check through my M1 paper to make sure I've answered everything to satisfaction. If I'm lucky to spot a mistake, I can correct it with ease. If I don't then I can only blame myself for not paying attention enough. I finished our M1 exam with about 25 mins to go this year. That's despite me having to spend 15 mins completely baffled on one question

But if you've had to fix more than 1 silly mistake by the time you're halfway through a D1 paper, Lol. Consider your high ums gone. Not because you'll find the rest hard. But because you probably won't finish in time.

Reply 16

Gogregg

I did OCR and I also did D1 and D2 this year. If I'm honest, I didn't find the time constraint too bad? If you know the algorithms then it is actually very easy. I actually found it quite fun, also :h:

If you do get halfway through a question and realise you're wrong, then yes, there will be a time constraint, but that's why you take care in exams and revise properly beforehand.

Reply 17

AlesanaWill

I did both D1 and M1 and enjoyed them both. M1 is basically physics, so if you're not a fan of physics I don't recommend it.

D1 is fun, if you like that sort of thing. I found it interesting and really enjoyed it. I recommend having a look at some of the course content to see if it's something you'd like before you decide, because I know some people who absolutely hated it and couldn't get their head around it.