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Further maths disadvantage

While talking to my career teacher today, I found out that the reason for me not being able to take further maths was that i did not meet the teachers requirement of A*A* in Maths and Additional GCSE and not that there were not enough student to have a class. Initially i would hope that she would mention in my reference( shes also my maths teacher) that the school was not able to accommodate me in having a further maths class. But now after knowing the real reason behind it, I realize that I seem to be really at a disadvantage not having further maths and with no valid reason as to why.

I am an international student so there's no Further Maths Network for me. I plan to apply to Oxford for Physics. How if possible should i go about this to explain why i was not able to take further maths ? Thanks and sorry for the lengthy post
Reply 1
Avatar for BJack
BJack
19
Original post by lyamlim97
I am an international student so there's no Further Maths Network for me. I plan to apply to Oxford for Physics. How if possible should i go about this to explain why i was not able to take further maths ? Thanks and sorry for the lengthy post


This sort of thing should usually go in the reference rather than the personal statement. Your post makes it sound like there was no Further Maths class offered in your year, in which case that should be mentioned on your reference. I don't think it needs much elaboration beyond that.

Don't forget that there's a maths section on the PAT (or at least, there was last time I checked) and a strong performance on that should help to allay any concerns the tutors might have that you'd struggle mathematically with the course.
Original post by BJack
This sort of thing should usually go in the reference rather than the personal statement. Your post makes it sound like there was no Further Maths class offered in your year, in which case that should be mentioned on your reference. I don't think it needs much elaboration beyond that.

.


I thought that their point was that a class would have been offered, but the teacher did not feel the OP was bright enough to warrant such a class.
Reply 3
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BJack
19
Original post by 999tigger
I thought that their point was that a class would have been offered, but the teacher did not feel the OP was bright enough to warrant such a class.


Yes, but you can hide that in some careful wording if the school thinks, in hindsight, that the student would have been capable.
Original post by BJack
Yes, but you can hide that in some careful wording if the school thinks, in hindsight, that the student would have been capable.


Surely the school would take the teachers opinion as they are in the better position to judge on his ability and thats what they did? All this ofc is notwithstanding your second paragraph about the test.
Reply 5
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BJack
19
Original post by 999tigger
Surely the school would take the teachers opinion as they are in the better position to judge on his ability and thats what they did? All this ofc is notwithstanding your second paragraph about the test.


Yes, you're right – it depends how well the OP did in the AS maths exams, and whether the maths teacher's opinions have been revised in the light of that. Hopefully the exams went very well and the OP is now excelling mathematically, or a competitive Oxford application is probably not on the cards!
Reply 6
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xboc
OP
12
Original post by 999tigger
I thought that their point was that a class would have been offered, but the teacher did not feel the OP was bright enough to warrant such a class.


Yeah, this is exactly my concern. They were asking for A*A* whereas i has A*A so yeah. if i had then knew that they wanted A*A*, i could have tried to convince the teacher to allow me on to take it but i was otherwise convinced by the teacher that further maths would not give me an advantage and will be more of a disadvantage if i am unable to get at least an A.

Original post by BJack
Yes, but you can hide that in some careful wording if the school thinks, in hindsight, that the student would have been capable.


My maths teacher (also the career teacher in charge) mentioned that she would not mention anything about further maths in he reference.

Original post by BJack
Yes, you're right – it depends how well the OP did in the AS maths exams, and whether the maths teacher's opinions have been revised in the light of that. Hopefully the exams went very well and the OP is now excelling mathematically, or a competitive Oxford application is probably not on the cards!


I got an 4 As for AS in Maths, Physics, Computer Science and Thinking Skills (Sort of like critical thinking but from CIE board)
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 7
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BJack
19
Original post by lyamlim97
I got an 4 As for AS in Maths, Physics, Computer Science and Thinking Skills (Sort of like critical thinking but from CIE board)


If they were high As (around 90+), you should make sure that your referee mentions that in the reference.
Reply 8
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xboc
OP
12
Original post by BJack
If they were high As (around 90+), you should make sure that your referee mentions that in the reference.


Nope. Had 88 PUM for maths. CIE board uses PUM instead of UMS like the other boards.

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