Further Mathematics in one year?

Where I want to go to university to do Maths requires Further Maths at an A*. I haven't done further maths at all but was wondering if it is possible to self teach further maths in 1 year and get an A*? Is it too ambitious or achievable?

Thank you in advance :smile:

For A-level maths I got an A

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Reply 1

Plagioclase

Original post by Melanierobertson

For A-level maths I got an A

I honestly don't know, of course it's theoretically achievable but whether it actually is depends on you. The thing that's concerning me most of all is that you got an A in A Level Maths - I would consider A Level Further Maths (specifically A2 Further Maths, depending on which modules you take) to be considerably more difficult than Maths so if you were unable to get an A* in A Level Maths, I do not think it's very likely that you'd get an A* in A Level Further Maths, although on the other hand you will be older when you take the exam. Would you be studying it on top of other A2s?

Reply 2

Melanierobertson

Original post by Plagioclase

Thanks for the reply. I was actually predicted an A* for A level Maths this year but I feel like the only reason I didn't do so well is because I also had chemistry and biology to study for.
I spent no time on Maths A2 and so didn't get the A* I needed unfortunately. I wouldn't be doing any other exams apart from further maths.

For the modules would this be ok:
FP1
FP2
FP3
D1
D2
M1

Thankyou :smile:

Reply 3

Plagioclase

Original post by Melanierobertson

Well I think FP2 and FP3 are considerably more difficult than anything in A Level Maths. If you've got the time to focus on it though then I guess it could be possible. It's really not possible for us to say!

Reply 4

Melanierobertson

Original post by Plagioclase

Have you done further maths?

Reply 5

Plagioclase

Original post by Melanierobertson

Have you done further maths?

Yes.

Reply 6

fefssdf

Original post by Melanierobertson

For A-level maths I got an A

someone from my school self taught Further Maths in a year AND got an A* and ended up with 4A*'s overall and is now at cambridge..... it is possible yes but i doubt many people could achieve it

Reply 7

Melanierobertson

Original post by fefssdf

someone from my school self taught Further Maths in a year AND got an A* and ended up with 4A*'s overall and is now at cambridge..... it is possible yes but i doubt many people could achieve it

Oh my goodness that is crazy haha!! Were they doing A2's in 3 other subjects alongside the further maths as well?😳

Reply 8

Melanierobertson

Original post by Plagioclase

Yes.

Did you find it a lot more harder than A level Maths? I don't want to waste a year if it's not achievable but also don't want to regret not trying! Decisions, decisions haha

Reply 9

Plagioclase

Original post by Melanierobertson

Did you find it a lot more harder than A level Maths? I don't want to waste a year if it's not achievable but also don't want to regret not trying! Decisions, decisions haha

Yeah I did, hence why I've written the above. I'm not trying to discourage you, it's possible that you can do it particularly if you've got a year, but without a doubt I'd say that Further Maths (specifically FP2 and FP3) is hard.

Reply 10

B_9710

If you're only doing further maths this year and no other subjects then you will be able to do it in much much less than a year. What modules do you plan on taking?

Reply 11

Melanierobertson

Original post by Plagioclase

Of course. Thanks for the reply and for your help :smile:

Reply 12

Melanierobertson

Original post by B_9710

If you're only doing further maths this year and no other subjects then you will be able to do it in much much less than a year. What modules do you plan on taking?

Not too sure exactly but was thinking
FP1, FP2, FP3, D1, D2, M1

What do you think? Thanks :smile:

Reply 13

Muttley79

Original post by Melanierobertson

Not too sure exactly but was thinking
FP1, FP2, FP3, D1, D2, M1

What do you think? Thanks :smile:

Which applied modules did you take for A level?

Reply 14

Melanierobertson

Original post by Muttley79

Which applied modules did you take for A level?

I did C1-C4 and then S1 and S2

Reply 15

Muttley79

Original post by Melanierobertson

I did C1-C4 and then S1 and S2

I would have thought M2 was more useful than D2.

Which uni are you thinking of?

Reply 16

Luke7456

I have to ask something here, a lot of this seems to have little context. When people say something could or could not be done within a year within a month or etc it makes little sense. Because peoples circumstances are different. Eg someone might be studying the A level with a full time job whilst another person might have no commitments other than this alone.

or family commitments gf bf etc.

surely it makes more sense to ask how many hours it would take to do the further maths A level, or a level. I seem to be seeing these how long can an A level maths or further maths be done in threads often.

so could we maybe get how many hours? I mean if someone said they could study 9 hours a day six days a week I doubt people would say they would have difficulty getting it done within a year.

so for better context for OP and myself as I am planing to self teach myself A level maths and an as in statistics this year, then an a level in further maths and complete statistics next year, on top of a full time job.

how many hours does it take a student who is a capable student with an ability for maths to get an A or A* grade in both A level maths and A level further maths?

I heard one source said 250-300 hours for A level maths to get an A+ grade and another source said 700 hours plus to get an A+ grade. that is quite some difference. I know every student has different abilities and study techniques etc but just some figure for what it would take an able student in terms of hours would be really helpful thanks.

Reply 17

Kevin De Bruyne

Original post by Luke7456

The thing about hours is that there's not a huge point in trying to do x hours of work a week that someone else has done (they may be exaggerating or miscounting and most definitely working at a difference pace, if only slightly) because it's far more about what you achieve and how long it takes you to do it and what your deadlines are, what your other commitments are etc. So if you want to figure out how many hours YOU need to be doing something, try sampling and extrapolating. Measure how long it takes you to do one normal chapter in a textbook, and to practice questions, become confident in it etc and keep a rough mental note of how long it all took, and that will help you more than me saying that I used to work for maybe a few hours on the weekend and 1 or 2 on a schoolday with other subjects.

Reply 18

username2130115

in theory further maths can be easier than straight maths. it sounds weird but the difficulty varies greatly depending on the modules you pick. most people think further maths is hard, it isn't. well the combination people took at my college was a joke.

Assuming edexcel
Hardest combo:
FP1 (easier than c3)
FP2 (slightly harder than c4)
FP3 (has some tricky linear algebra but not much harder than FP2)
M3 (uses C4 level calculus)
M4 (first order and second order de from FP2)
M5 (it has vector differential equations. need i say more??)

Easiest combo:
FP1 (easier than c3)
FP2 (slightly harder than c4, but not much. its easier than FP3)
S1/M1 (both around C1-C2 level difficulty)
S2/M2 (C3 level difficulty)
D1 (GCSE level difficulty)
D2 (C2 level difficulty. very easy to make calculation errors)

further maths is far from difficult. very very few schools do the difficult combinations. the only truly difficult maths exams you can do in school are AEA maths, STEP II/III, BMO and IMO